The economy has the potential not to recede.
Tamara Caridad Mesa González 5 septiembre, 2019
Alejandro Gil Fernández, head of the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP), said in Matanzas the great challenge because the country does not go back in economic terms, despite the great financial and fuel restrictions that exist today.
With such an outlook it is difficult to set a growth goal, but we do not give up on that, he said at the headquarters of the MEP Provincial Directorate. “We think that the economy has potential, has reserves and it is possible to take advantage of our internal potential so that the economy does not contract in 2019.”
He explained the marked purpose of growing at least 0.5 percent in the Gross Domestic Product, a desire based on the behavior of the first half of the year, where there was a report similar to that of the same previous stage, even with increases in activities such as transportation of passengers, communications, milk production and sugar.
Gil Fernández referred to the complex scenario in which the Cuban economy is inserted and how the results show that the United States government has not achieved its purposes, despite the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act and the resurgence of the blocking. The head of the MEP emphasized that in the midst of a panorama of this nature, not going back would be a political victory for Cuba, because a contracted economy is just what imperialism expects.
Referring to the characteristics that will mark the plan for 2020, he emphasized the follow-up of income, an indicator not yet sufficiently worked on and including investments that favor the increase in exports and guarantee the country’s vitality. In that regard, he said, investments in the areas of renewable energy sources and food production will be given priority, where too much is still imported.
Of great importance in the economic structure of the country, in Matanzas lies a good part of the fulfillment of the plans, that is why Tania León Silveira, president of the provincial Assembly of the Popular Power, referred to the search for alternatives that raise exports and decrease imports.
In a tour of centers of relevant economic interest, Gil Fernández called to make the maximum possible to meet the productive goals, from economic efficiency and the use of resources.
Accompanied by Liván Izquierdo Alonso, first secretary of the Party in Matanzas, and Tania León Silveira, the Minister received information on the performance of the efficiency indicators in the territorial division of Fuel Marketing, the investment and construction maintenance program of pier number 1 and the construction of tanks to store crude.
According to a report by the Cuban News Agency, he was interested in the relationship between productivity and salary of workers, because “in no way can it be that you work more and earn less, there should be no contradiction.”
At the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant, Gil Fernández learned about the construction of the definitive ship for the protection of seawater circulation pumps and the antiola retaining wall, in addition to the capital maintenance planned for 2020, which will leave the unit outside the National electroenergetic system for 90 days.
