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this NGO Monitoring Program food (Food Monitoring Program) warns New package of economic measures The Cuban government announced on Wednesday, July 17 This will lead to increased food insecurity. inflationCitizens’ insecurity and the deterioration of the serious situation experienced economy On the island.
After the Show An analysis The organization noted that the most important decisions announced by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero at the National Assembly of People’s Power included: These measures “will not only deepen the depreciation of the Cuban peso (because in the absence of a real exchange system, entrepreneurs will have to continue to enter the informal market), but this will exacerbate food price inflation, making it more difficult to enter food, while “Families will continue to lose access, as has been happening since the mandate was ordered.”
According to his assessment, “Overall, This economic improvisation and the regulatory intensity of the measures eliminated investment opportunities on the island.is seen as an unstable situation for entrepreneurship, which will affect the development of the national economy in the long run.”
“Similarly, given the criminal nature of the economic crisis, This could lead to increased insecurity among citizens. Furthermore, it is worth noting that ‘hand-crafted’ regulations that have no weight in reality have historically led to a greater prominence of black markets and informal transactions in society,” he added.
Noting that the major decisions announced indicate an increase in dollarization on the island, the Food Monitoring Program warned “Over the past five years, the Cuban government has attempted to channel and absorb much of the foreign currency entering the country by taking controversial measures. Such as creating MLC stores and redirecting essential products to this payment network by means of credit cards, currencies and abroad”.
“However, rather than meeting the expected targets, the stores did not meet the expected supply or demand; they experienced severe shortages, and Most Cubans who do not receive remittances do not have access to these markets. “This ultimately led to a further deepening of socioeconomic divisions on the island.”
“The government also announced the collection of more customs duties at the border and the payment of import duties in foreign currency for the non-state sector, as well as the collection of foreign currency cash in the tourism sector. The authority admitted that this measure “was not implemented because ‘it contributes to the dollarization of the economy and is detrimental to the development of the banking sector'”, the analysis added.
“The Cuban government’s latest temporary economic measures are justified within the context of a “war economy scenario” but fail to acknowledge that larger obstacles remain. The Cuban peso’s depreciation is determined by factors such as the lack of a formal foreign exchange market and the lack of liquidity of banking entities.”
The analysis emphasizes that These measures will once again have a serious impact on small, medium and micro enterprises and non-state-owned economies Generally speaking, “the entity that provides the greatest guarantee for national food security through food imports”.
In this regard, the Food Monitoring Programme warns that, despite its prohibitive prices for most Cubans, the Government’s influence on this economic sector is growing, including through criminalization bias.
“Through yesterday’s intervention, Official messages prioritize phrases that are expected to cause reputational damage to relevant economic actors in the country. Thus, faced with the transfer of resources outside the control of the state, the government declares that non-state forms of management are “appropriating” foreign exchange, and that the private sector is “enriched” and “diversified” ‘and that people are ‘illegally participating’ in these activities”.
“While it is not ruled out that there is an increase in illegal activities, which is often seen in authoritarian countries that control agri-food systems, this revisionist position is at least cynical, given the admission three months ago that there is corruption and money laundering at the top of the Cuban economy,” he noted.
“Given the growth of the sector that the government approved just three years ago, and which has diversified and circumvented Cuba’s economic crisis, The control and criminalization strategies are repeated and are seen as a new offensive against the industry. The authorities promised a “tough approach” to corruption and tax evasion, “order and discipline” against these entities, and accused them of having a “negative tendency,” a term that has been used in official discourse since the 1960s to justify authoritarian behavior. “Rearrangement,” he recalled.
Analysis shows that the current economic situation in Cuba “A crisis more serious than the so-called special period. Faced with this precarious situation, the government continues to arbitrarily criminalize and regulate without providing effective solutions to the country’s current multi-sectoral crisis. The tendency toward bureaucratic decision-making, responsibility shifting, and arbitrary regulation based on non-consensus regulations has become increasingly stagnant in a flawed deliberative process that is not backed by citizen scrutiny.”
But what was most striking about the government’s announcement, for the food surveillance program, was that it occurred amid the declaration of a “war economy,” as authorities baptized the preamble to the new adjustments.
“As we have already begun to see, A war economy is the highest level of national emergency, and under special circumstances, decisions are made directly by the executive branch. This state of exception promotes the acidification of public policies, broader aggregate controls, and the rationalization of goods and services.”
“At the same time, it threatens economic growth and productive development; for example, in the same official statement, the government announced the postponement and paralysis of ‘non-essential’ investments. Considering that the last ‘essential’ investments are destined to tourism, in a country where the number of international tourists is less than half of what it was five years ago, we can foresee similar negative effects,” he noted.
“The Food Monitoring Program reminds One of the main reasons for Cuba’s current economic climate is the failure of the ordering mission and the regression of security and social support without palliative measures. Targeting the vulnerable groups in the promotion. The collapse of food production in the past five years has reached 67%, the ineffectiveness of the so-called 63 agricultural revitalization measures, and the tendency of dollarization and hereditary contracts within Cuban state capitalism have led to this result. “More than 90 percent of Cubans have lost a significant amount of their food source.”
The NGO urged the regime to adopt a stance that prioritizes “a broad range of vulnerable groups, realistic and consensual terms that distance themselves from excessive state control, and accountability mechanisms that allow for greater influence over citizens in terms of food security.”
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