To provide an organized response, without improvisation, to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Cuba's economy, the Council of Ministers approved adjustments to this year's Economic Plan, which will allow the country to advance in a more objective manner and create the conditions for recovery.
At the meeting - led by the President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz – guidelines were also agreed upon for the preparation of next year’s Plan and the Budget, and other key issues addressed.
As explained by Deputy Prime Minister Alejandro Gil Fernández, "Of critical importance in this adjustment process are protecting exports and prioritizing national production of food, medicines and sanitary supplies; intensifying measures to save resources of all kinds, not just energy, while maintaining productive activity and sales of basic goods.”
After detailing Cuba's hard currency plan and the pandemic’s impact on tourism, airport services and consular revenues, among other important activities, Gil Fernández noted that adjustments to the Plan were unavoidable, stating,
“We cannot do everything we planned: we must postpone some projects, slow down others, and prepare for recovery.”
He added that the adjustment does not include reduction of other exports, including tobacco, rum, charcoal and biotechnology products, of which we must continue to build up stocks for the eventual stabilization of the international market.
President Díaz-Canel noted, "Under these conditions the state must assume the planning and be more intelligent and precise."
He stressed that the focus must be on the recovery: "How are we going to open up in tourism, how are we going to open up flights, from what countries…”
Facing these challenges, he said, is when we must be the most innovative, "We must be courageous and do things differently, doing the same thing will not resolve anything...”
The President listed a long list of issues that must be evaluated and included in the strategy to mitigate the effects of the current crisis and emphasized "maintaining social justice, equity, social opportunities for those with limited incomes and public policies that support the most vulnerable.”
