Cuba Opens Up to Private Business to Revive Economy

AFTER DECADES of socialist state control over most types of business, Cuba will allow private enterprises to open and operate in a bid to revive its poor economy.

Since becoming a socialist state after the famous revolution of 1959, the Cuban government has owned and controlled most of the country’s industries and businesses.

In a bid to recover Cuba’s economy – which shrunk by a massive 11% last year due to Covid-19 and US sanctions – the government has announced that they will allow more private businesses to operate across many sectors.

Currently, private business in the Caribbean country is largely confined to the tourism industry. Labour Secretary Elena Feito has now announced that the number of sectors available to private enterprise will jump from just 127 to over 2000 under new reforms.

“That private work continues to develop, is the objective of this reform,” Ms Feito was quoted by AFP as saying. She emphasised that this “will help free the productive forces” of the private sector – without saying which industries would no longer fall under state control.

Cuba is seen by many as an example of why state socialism cannot adequately function – with many locals unable to afford basic goods in the country’s weak economy. Others say that Cubans are merely the victims of US sanctions – with the capitalist superpower unable to tolerate a socialist state so close to it.

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