The Cuban Government gave its plan to “correct distortions and reimprorate the economy“In 2025, in which currencies – and dollars in particular – are the protagonists.
The government program, approved by the Council of Ministers at its first meeting of the year, was defined by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero as a “transverse issue, which includes all the essences and policies of the country’s economic and social life”, in the middle of the severe crisis that the island suffers and the already chronic deficiencies of the state coffers.
According to review The state press, this program “contains a thorough action plan for its implementation, putting special emphasis on the new mechanism for the management, control and assignment of currencies for all economic actors; the implementation of the exchange market, and the partial dollarization of the economy ”.
Objectives, projections, indicators, goals …
In his speech at the Government meeting, Marrero highlighted two “key objectives” of the plan: “increase and diversify the external income of the country” – an essential aspect to capture currencies – as well as “national production, with emphasis on the food”.
2/10 In order to assess this type of government program, public information would be needed on a self -critical analysis, quantified objectives, deadlines, monitoring and evaluation indicators, and resources for its implementation
– Pedro Monreal (@pmmonreal) February 3, 2025
However, the press report does not provide details on how these objectives would materialize or on the other outlines.
In this regard, economist Pedro Monreal noticed X that the “informative note does not present the alleged ‘thorough plan’” and considered that “in order to assess this type of government program, public information would be needed on a self -critical analysis, quantified objectives, quantified objectives, deadlines, monitoring and evaluation indicators, and resources for its implementation ”.
In that sense, the official review confirms that the program “is composed of objectives, projections, actions, indicators and goals, schedule with compliance and responsible dates”, but does not abound on them.
When more, the report cites the prime minister’s assessments about the importance of consolidating “a work system that allows us sustainability in the monitoring and control of what we have planned.” But no more.
Partial dollarization of the economy: common places and speech with little substance
No self -criticism about distortions
In his analysis of what was informed about the government plan approved by the Council of Ministers, Monreal also caught attention to the absence in it, or at least in the informative note, of “a self -critical assessment” on distortions originated by government policy .
Among these, he mentioned “the ‘distortions’ not resolved by the failure of” ordering “(monetary and exchange unification), as well as” new distortions (impoverishment, inflation, dollarization, etc.). “
In addition, he regretted that “the announced government program seems to have forgotten the great promise of the ‘order’ about generating ‘important benefits for all'”.
“Has that kind of political objective renounced or indefinitely postponed?”
4/10 The announced government program seems to have forgotten the great promise of the “order” about generating “important benefits for all.” Have you renounced or postponed the government for this type of political objective? pic.twitter.com/wajbw14POQ
– Pedro Monreal (@pmmonreal) February 3, 2025
The report of the Cuban Executive Meeting, certainly, does not refer to anything in this direction, and details, on the other hand, that they are counted in “implementation process” half a hundred government projections among which mentions “the development of social programs” on topics such as demographic dynamics and “advancement of women.”
It also accounts for “advances” during January in the “Analysis of proposals to strengthen the attributes of the Special Zone of Development Mariel” and “The procedure for the implementation of the resolution of the Ministry of Internal Commerce on trade activity by the actors non -state economic. ”
Likewise, at the meeting of the Council of Ministers, it was said, “because of its importance”, a “monitoring” to “what was done for the execution of the new mechanism for the management, control and assignment of currencies and proposal for the official exchange market ”
Nor did details offered, nor a possible horizon for its entry into force, although it is a topic managed for months by the Cuban authorities and whose application – without the way it would be done – was advanced by Marrero in December during the sessions of the National Assembly.
Regarding dollarization, at the end of January in the Radiotelevisive program Round tableand the government He had ratified His intention to “partially” the economy in the short term, and then march in reverse and undertake a disdain process, something already sustained by the prime minister before Parliament.
In that space, it was asserted that dollarization would be a “short term, transient and gradual implementation” and it was confirmed that the MLC will remain alive for now, despite not a few rumors and speculations about an imminent disappearance.
