The reform goes on

By Elsa Claro

HAVANA – The question of whether a glass is half empty or half full allows us to consider that, while in Cuba the Gross Domestic Product (at constant prices) is 3.1 percent this year – although it was expected to be 3.4 percent – it was that high because Cubans performed better, despite the obstacles.

Because there’s always parameters to consider, let’s use one that’s close at hand. In 2009, the GDP was barely 1.4 percent. Therefore, there has been an evolution since then.

Without making easy comparisons (poor countries are almost always compared with industrialized nations), we’ll say that a small, underdeveloped country that has suffered serious setbacks and remains submitted to the global crisis, the blockade and grievous weather batterings is not yet in a condition to celebrate with fireworks but is keeping its head above the water. A little more than just its head, to be sure.

We cannot ignore the succession of changes announced throughout the year, especially in the last four months, which broke the inertia that hovered over society.

That period was prodigal in terms of announcements related to a reorganization of the State, that is, the start of the decentralization process, which will increase the ability of the provinces to make decisions or keep their own budgets, based on local activities.

These possibilities should encourage the official or private actors to improve their production – agricultural, industrial or service-related – in terms of quality and cost.

Other novelties

The proposal to make way for a wholesale market is very suggestive, pointing to urgently needed horizons, spaces and balances. It will have a major impact in commercial activities and relations, according to some experts I consulted.

Unless I misread the signals, it opens the way for the private sector to buy supplies in various amounts, for their direct or transformed use. This should generate sensible and gradual changes in the prices and the “free-lance” sector, to the benefit of the State and the needful society.

That announcement dovetails with the recent announcements regarding urban cooperatives, starting with food cooperatives and going on to the “pymes,” a Spanish acronym for “small and medium enterprises.”

Nothing in the economy will happen right away, much less when old structures, habits and concepts are being updated. But just the start is encouraging, especially if we consider the second part of the whole thing. According to the vice president of the Council of Ministers, Marino Murillo Jorge – the reforms czar, as some call him – the wholesale markets will guarantee their contracts with the producers and service providers.

Among other issues, wholesale trade may be conducted by legal and natural persons. Therefore, the limitations are few.

In addition, “the producers may sell (at prices determined by the demand) their surplus products and services after fulfilling the commitments they incurred under the Plan. Selected importers will be given enough financial capacity to bring into the market those products that are most frequently requested.”

Murillo did not stop there. He announced that “the most complex [changes] with the greatest impact” will take place within the next two years.

I am quoting from an account in the daily newspaper Granma of a meeting of the Council of Ministers that evaluated the implementation of the reforms.

A few days ago, speaking of the unrest caused by the prices of food, a farmer told a TV reporter: “The thing is, too many hands are involved, understand?” I remembered the bad reputation of Acopio and the evident unease of farm producers over its concentration of powers that are neither well used nor efficient.

[Translator’s Note: Acopio is the State’s procurement and distribution agency for food and other products.]

I consulted with several farm producers about the summary that appeared in the newspaper Granma. They all agreed that the wholesale market and related activities (such as the direct sale by farmers to tourism centers) will be an extraordinary step forward. And not only in agriculture, where everything is being changed at a rapid pace, with laws that are flexible, inviting and dynamic – and offer growing possibilities to the sector of foreign investment.

 “When we talk about productivity, efficiency, growth, product linkage and the place of each factor in the Cuban context, we’re talking about a more important problem: How to maximize an economic growth that does not lead to the total or social loss of a social system that is equitable and supportive,” wrote Edel José Fresneda Camacho, historian and sociologist, in an article published this year by the magazine Temas.

I don’t know what you think, but it seems to me that to uphold those principles while testing some almost-monumental transformations in a besieged little island will make a difference. Along the road, progress is coming.

It is true that these are the beginning steps down what used to be a frightening road. But the fact is that the actualization – or update, if you prefer – is advancing.

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