Havana - The Cuban economy in 2018 will have among its priorities the support in production levels and investments associated to exports, import substitution , development programs and infrastructure as well as tourism demands, informed official sources. These and other economic issues were debated at the meeting of the Council of Ministers, presided by Army General Raul Castro, where directives were analyzed for the elaboration of the Economy Plan and the State Budget for next year, said today daily Granma.
At the meeting, the minister of Economy and Planning, Ricardo Cabrisas, exposed as part of work projections, the consolidation and guarantee the continuity and sustainability of what was approved in the 2017 Plan.
He added that other issues of interest will be the production and import of food, the increase in production of building materials and farm inputs and the insurement of education, health and basic services for the population.
Cabrisas highlighted the need for the Plan 2018 to include the search for coherent and sustainable solutions, with the purpose of conforming a project that ensures growth, the maintenance of macroeconomic stability, the continuity of fundamental development plans and a slight step forward in the transformation process of the economic structure of the country.
For that it will be essential to comply with productive and service commitments, through efficient saving and readjustment of the indicators of expenses to be lower than the Plan 2017.
Another of the issues discussed in the Council of Ministers meeting were the irregularities in operations of foreign trade identified in 2016.
Referring to this, the minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, put he example of damages caused as a consequence of delays in claims for missing cargo arriving to the country, breaches of contracts of imports and exports.
Malmierca confirmed the importance of increasing preparation of personnel that take part in port operations and control over the compliance of standing norms, to prevent demurrage of containers in ports and the delay in unloading ships.
