The 9th Ordinary Period of Sessions of the Second Legislature of the National Assembly of People’s Power ended a new work period that focused its analysis on economic, health and education issues, plus other matters of importance for the population.
Among the most important reports was the one made by vice president of the Council of Ministers and Politburo member Marino Murillo Jorge, head of the Permanent Commission for the Implementation and Development of the Guidelines, who updated the Assembly members extensively on the decisions of the Party’s Sixth Congress.
According to the directive, among the prioritized actions is the conceptualization of the economic model, which demands the design of a long-term program to clarify the goals to be attained in the future, the conditions required by the economy to achieve them and to verify the fulfillment of the plan. This long-term program will require its inclusion in the five-year economic forecast as well as in the annual plans.
Another moment of far-reaching importance at the meeting was the approval of a new draft of tax law presented by the minister of Finances and Prices, Mrs. Lina Pedraza. The unanimously approved measures foresee a higher stimulation in key areas for the progress of the national economy, such as agriculture, housing, local development and environmental protection, while at the same time it will allow an improvement of the tax discipline and culture.
Several governmental organs informed the session on their activities, among them Banco Central de Cuba (BCC). The report presented by BCC president Ernesto Medina evidenced the work being carried out in that central organ to meet the requirements demanded by the changes that are taking place in the country’s economic model.
One of BCC’s main tasks is the normalization of the bank and budget debt payments in the agricultural and sugar sectors. Since last December, BCC has introduced a new banking policy to financially endorse private workers, including small farmers and other population sectors.
Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the Councils of State and Ministers, said at the closing session of the Assembly’s session that the Party and Government leadership already approved the policies to introduce the macroeconomic reorganization of the credit, wholesale and retail price spheres, as well as the tax policy; in this last case, the Assembly approved the new Tax Law during this session. The essential principles of the new monetary policy have also been studied, all of which creates the conditions to carry out the most substantial transformations of the nation’s economic system.
