Raul Castro calls for constant analysis of economic steps

Cuban President Raul Castro presided over a meeting of the Council of Ministers in which he called for deep analysis of each step to take and the consideration of every measure implemented so far in order to address and correct small mistakes committed along the way.

Everything we do must be constantly submitted to constructive criticism by everyone, he pointed out as the meeting focused on several points, beginning with the performance of cooperative initiatives in the non-agriculture sector, after over one and a half year the new economic modality was implemented in Cuba.

The cooperatives have an experimental character and although we advance in their implementation, we do not have to step up the process; we have to follow their development, said the president.

The opinions issued by Raul Castro came before a report on the issue presented by Economy Minister Marino Murillo, who heads the process of the implementation of economic and social guidelines in the country.

The report told about the authorization to set up 498 cooperatives thus far, with 347 are already operating, mostly in the sectors of domestic trade, catering, technical services, construction and the industry.

These entities have proven good production, economic and financial results but not everyone in that area has correctly understood the experimental nature of this process, or the priority to implement this economic form in sectors with a high impact on the development of different territories, Murillo said.

He said that the setting up of cooperatives have been tangled up in bureaucratic practice that leads to dispersion and delays. Other difficulties are related to supply of resources, while there is a trend to increase prices of products and services at the cooperatives, particularly in the catering activity and agriculture markets.

In tune with this, the Council of Ministers approved the expansion of the experiment to other non-agricultural sectors but under the principle of not spreading the creation of cooperatives, since the priority is to consolidate those in operations and gradually advance, if not the current problems would be expanded.

The Council also approved the proposal to determine how the cooperatives can be incorporated into the country´s Economic and Budget Plans.