More Cubans will be allowed to work for themselves and hire their own workers as the government tries to create more productive employment, Cuban President Raul Castro said on Sunday.
The move could be a significant change in a country where the state controls 90 percent of the economy and the biggest complaint is about monthly salaries equivalent to US$18.
Castro, speaking to the National Assembly, said the steps were aimed at creating jobs for 1 million excess workers said to be burdening the Cuban economy and who are expected to be laid off over the next five years.
The measure eliminates “various existing prohibitions for the granting of new licenses and the commercialization of some production, giving flexibility to the hiring of labor,” he said.
He did not say how many people would get self-employment licenses, which do exist, but in small numbers. A substantial, but unknown number of Cubans work privately without a license.
It was Castro’s latest tweak to Cuban communism and it could be the most important if it includes a large number of people and stays in force.
A similar measure was taken in the 1990s when Cuba’s economy plummeted after the fall of its close ally, the Soviet Union, but when things improved, many licenses were not renewed.
Castro has previously taken steps to make agriculture more efficient and to allow barbers and taxis to operate more like small businesses.
For the past two years, Cuba has been in the grips of an economic crisis that has forced it to cut imports, freeze the Cuban bank accounts of foreign businesses and hold off on paying its bills.
A number of Cubans said they welcomed the change.
One of them, teacher Victor Fonseca, said: “It’s a measure that’s going to be popular. During all these years, there have been go-getters who want to move forward and this is an opportunity to fulfill their dream of having a small business.”
Cuba analyst Christopher Sabatini at the Council of the Americas think tank in Washington was more reserved, saying: “These are reforms on the margin that don’t address the fundamental inefficiency of the Cuban economy.”
Castro also spoke about US-Cuba relations, saying “in essence, nothing has changed” since US President Barack Obama took office.
“Although there’s less rhetoric and there are occasional bilateral conversations about specific and limited topics, in reality, the embargo continues,” he said, referring to the longstanding US trade embargo against Cuba.
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