Cuba Approves Emergency Economic Reform Package to Boost Output

The Cuban Communist Party approved an emergency economic reform package on Thursday aimed at opening parts of the island’s tightly controlled economy. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel convened an unscheduled session of the Communist Party of Cuba one day before the reform package approval. He presented the measures in a nationally televised address Thursday morning.

“We need to unleash production, to have more output and less restriction,” Diaz-Canel said. Diaz-Canel said the reform package is the product of months of consultation and debate. He said officials studied the experiences of China and Vietnam.

He also outlined plans to encourage foreign direct investment, expand the private sector, and revitalize agriculture, foreign trade, and real estate industries. Diaz-Canel outlined plans to decentralize economic decision-making by granting greater autonomy to state-owned enterprises and local municipalities.

“I believe the country will always be stronger and have greater capacity to respond to the extent that its municipalities are also stronger,” Diaz-Canel said.

He stated state-owned companies should operate without intermediaries or interference in their management. Diaz-Canel announced a framework for Cubans living abroad to invest in Cuba. Diaz-Canel stated state enterprises will receive expanded authority to engage directly in international trade and retain portions of foreign currency earnings.

Diaz-Canel stressed that the measures were intended to strengthen rather than abandon Cuba’s socialist system. U.S. sanctions and pressure campaigns for worsening the island’s economic woes.

Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions against Cuba’s state-owned Union Cuba-Petroleo oil and gas company.