The Prime Minister of the Island, Manuel Marrero Cruz, indicated that the tariff exemption for the import of food, hygiene and medicines that was implemented to deal with the shortage in Cuba would be extended again, something that has been done in recent months.
The current exemption was going to end on December 31, but the official took advantage of the Second Ordinary Period of Sessions of the 10th Legislature of the National Assembly of People’s Power to report that this will no longer be the case.
While recognizing that the measure has helped several families on the island deal with the shortage of items in the country, it has also been used to resell these products at “speculative” prices, so the government was looking for a way to eliminate it without Let this affect the people.
In that sense, he stated that the authorities were working to increase the offer in stores in MLC (Freely Convertible Currency), this with the aim that the Cuban people could acquire what they need from the network of national stores.
“We will work seriously to find ways and financing to guarantee a sustained supply in the stores, so that whoever wants to buy does not have to go abroad to import something that they can buy here,” declared Marrero.
The Prime Minister of Cuba considers that, in order to get rid of the tariff exemption, it is necessary to guarantee a stable supply in foreign currency stores, this if we want to maintain and eventually increase “the proposals of the network of national stores.”
Despite the clear preference that will be given to foreign currency stores, the official stated that the objective of the regime is not the dollarization of the economy.
Likewise, he stated that the island’s government had approved a “strong de-dollarization program,” however, he paradoxically said that to do so, it was necessary to go through “partial dollarizations.”
“To reach that goal, we have to go through partial dollarizations that allow us to raise or increase a group of currencies to be able to put them to benefit the economic and social development of the country,” he stated.
