Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has announced greater freedoms for small businesses across the country, as the communist government takes steps to liberalize the island’s economy in the face of a crippling U.S. blockade.
In a speech broadcast on national television on June 12, Diaz-Canel said Cuba would open more sectors to private businesses and streamline the approval process for new ventures.
“For non-state forms of management, the list of prohibited activities will be limited so that their scope of operations is as broad as possible,” the president said.
Under pressure from the oil blockade imposed by Washington in January, the Cuban government has unveiled a series of reforms aimed at opening up the economy.
Private businesses — which can employ up to 100 people — were authorized in 2021 and have become an increasingly important part of Cuba’s economy. Since February, they have been permitted to import fuel, a sector previously controlled exclusively by the state.
As part of the new measures, the government will enable private businesses to invest in the economy on equal terms with foreign investors, after some of them recently left the country amid concerns over U.S. sanctions.
Diaz-Canel said the government was also considering scrapping state intermediaries in import and export operations.
The president reiterated his commitment to decentralizing the economy and granting greater autonomy to state-owned enterprises, which account for roughly 80 percent of economic activity.
He also announced an overhaul of the state bureaucracy that would reduce the number of ministries and trim the state workforce.
