Cuba faces a period of scarcity caused by the collapse of Venezuela

Faced with difficulties in obtaining foreign currency due to the Venezuelan crisis and sanctions imposed by the United States, the Cuban government indicated that It will reduce its imports and will examine the companies that have today this task to put pressure to obtain the replacement of their external purchases.

"We need to look at the entities that have approved the money financing systems, the imports, adjust them to the essential levels "Said the Minister of Economy and Planning of the island, Alejandro Gil, Saturday.

"Even reduce the retention factors to reach a level of contribution to the central funding account so that can prioritize the most important payments and debts with priority countries ", he added.

State companies are in Cuba charged with buying any type of inputs and products for industry and the economy, from oil to spare parts to tractors and some products that people buy in supermarkets.

Plans to buy abroadwe will examine them together with companies with the aim of reducing imports and finding solutions to the demands of the national territory ", Gil added.

Import substitution is often difficult for the sector because of the small local production of the Caribbean nation, which concentrates mainly in areas with low added value and problems, even in its circulation, as for example because of the lack of packaging, it must therefore conduct an investment program.

Gil appeared at a special session of the People's Power Assembly, the parliament chaired by the former president and first secretary of the Communist Party (CCP), Raúl Castro and the current president Miguel Díaz-Canel.

The political crisis in Venezuela, Cuba's largest trading partner and provider of half of the oil consumed by the island, as well as a sharp increase in the financial penalties imposed by the United States to lobby for a change in the political model of the country. ;island, they touched the Caribbean nation, whose population often suffers from shortages. The island also suffers from lack of raw materials for its industry and he does not have money to pay his suppliers.

In often state-owned business leaders often complain about centralism, which imposes bureaucratic obstacles or intervenes in their decisions, leading to low productivity. At the same time, foreign partners regret that Cuba does not pay its debts.

In parallel, Minister Gil insisted several times during his appearance on the urgent need to replace imports of food and fuel, that according to him this year reach a bill of $ 5,000 million, as well as the inputs of the tourism industry, the engine of the economy, so that every dollar that goes into this sector is not spent to bring in products from the outside, fruit towels.

The authorities are explicitly trying to ensure that the situation does not become a new "special period", the crisis of the 90s after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba's main ally at the time, left the islanders 12 hour power outages, complete shortages of food and shortages of all kinds.

During this week, the Minister of Internal Trade, Betsy Díaz Velázquez, indicated that even though it was possible to fill the basket that every Cuban receives every month, supply problems in products such as chicken, pork and eggs, and first-quarter retail sales reached 92.5% of what was forecast.

With information from AP – Andrea Rodríguez