President Miguel Diaz-Canel He expressed this Wednesday an “enormous dissatisfaction” for not achieving, from the leadership of the country, the results for “the necessary prosperity of the people” during an accountability exercise on his management before the Cuban Parliament.
according to a office of the Prensa Latina (PL) agency, during the closing of the Tenth Ordinary Period of Sessions of the National Assembly of Popular Power (ANPP) The president reviewed the economic situation that the country has experienced during a year marked by adversities such as the accidents at the Saratoga hotel, the supertanker base in Matanzas and the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian.
.@DiazCanelB rendered accounts before @Cuba Assembly of his tenure as President of the Republic.
I assume it, he said, with full responsibility and with the conviction that I have of the importance of the accountability mechanism for the strengthening of the institutional framework. pic.twitter.com/pDzWyCwClk
— Presidency Cuba ?? (@PresidenciaCuba) December 14, 2022
Díaz-Canel considered that his administration “was characterized by compliance with constitutional precepts, respect for legality and the interests of the people, and his constant promotion of citizen activation mechanisms and popular involvement in all spheres.”
He insisted on the importance of “listening to the people and governing accordingly” and highlighted the emergence of numerous programs to confront economic difficulties, some linked to the so-called food sovereignty, the strategy to achieve the stability of the national electrical energy system and the control of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of the accountability of the government, he referred to the creation and promotion of social plans aimed at reducing inequalities and vulnerabilities. He assured that each law approved by Parliament will be more legitimate to the extent that more people participate in its preparation.
In another part of his speech, he criticized the tightening of the sanctions imposed by the United States government, classified as the “fundamental obstacle to the performance of our economy.”
However, according to a report by the Efe news agency, he acknowledged that the current crisis is also due to the “inefficiencies and obstacles generated” by internal “impertinence and errors.”
“I want to say it today before you, who represent the people of Cuba and all those who listen to us: I feel enormous dissatisfaction for not having been able to achieve, from the leadership of the country, the results that the Cuban people need to achieve the desired prosperity. », he expressed.
Estimated growth of 2% in 2022 leaves the Cuban economy far from pre-pandemic levels
«To say that the economy is going through a complex situation is true, undeniable, but it does not solve it. What you have to do is look for solutions, innovate and break the siege », he said.
The president acknowledged that there are “significant macroeconomic imbalances” in the performance of the country’s finances, which translate into problems such as inflation, a shortage of supply, and the depreciation of the Cuban peso.
One of the measures adopted as part of the so-called Ordering Task was to set the official exchange rate at 24 Cuban pesos per dollar, but the idea did not have the expected effect. The national currency was losing value in the increasingly widespread informal market. It currently stands at around 175 pesos per dollar, almost 100 times more than the informal exchange prevailing at the beginning of 2022.
He also referred to the loss of income in foreign currency suffered by the economy, its partial dollarization and the little productive response to generate the supply of goods and services.
In response to the situation, he pointed out the actions included in the government’s economic plan for 2023, which seeks macroeconomic stabilization, although he acknowledged that “a program of this type does not drive economic growth by itself.”
According to the information provided to the parliamentarians by Alejandro Gil, head of the Ministry of Economy and Baking (Mep), the Cuban economy will close this year with a growth of 2%, two points below what was planned by the government.
This figure would be far from the country’s GDP levels before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a trend that would not change during 2023 taking into account the growth projection of 3% advanced by Gil last Monday.
EFE/OnCuba
