Cuba to prioritize social spending and fiscal transformation in 2023

Havana, Dec 12 (RHC) Meisi Bolaños, Minister of Finance, and Prices said Monday that Cuba's fiscal policy in 2023 will prioritize social spending, territorial development, and the reduction of the fiscal deficit through the transformation of the tax system.

During the morning session, in the 10th ordinary period of sessions of the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP) in which the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Raúl Castro Ruz, and the President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel, participate, the deputies approved the law that supports the budget for 2023 that will allocate 69 percent of its expenditures to social sectors.

In presenting the State budget for 2023, the head of state stressed that these expenditures guarantee the operation of schools and hospitals, programs to care for the vulnerable, subsidies for housing, the basic food basket, subsidies for basic services, and pensions.

Tax incentives are also provided for high-tech companies, the production of goods and services for export, the use of renewable energy sources, and local development projects.

In 2023, the State will finance the business sector with 52,67 billion pesos in subsidies and will allocate more than one billion pesos to loss-making companies.

Likewise, investments in the order of 32 thousand 344 million pesos will be supported for the construction of housing, infrastructure, and transformation of the energy matrix and the agricultural development program.

According to the island's authorities, the intensification of the U.S. blockade and the global inflation limit the capacity to generate greater offers, which prevents the recovery of monetary balance, hence the need to minimize the gaps of tax evasion.

In this sense, transformations were announced in the control systems for a greater tax contribution, including the homogenization of the payment regime for self-employed workers and the elimination of the tax exemption for newly created MSMEs.

In addition, the rates, contributions, taxes, and payments for the sale and purchase of houses and vehicles, commercialization of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, personal income, and special contributions to Social Security will be updated.

With these actions, revenues in the order of 283 thousand 527 million pesos are planned, which represents 17 percent more than the estimate for 2022, although the fiscal deficit will still be 68 thousand 126 million pesos, lower than the previous year.

The deputies analyze the economic plan for next year, disaster recovery, the situation of electricity generation, and compliance with the legislative schedule. (Source: PL)