The Associated Press
Wednesday, Dec. 22, 1999; 10:48 a.m. EST

HAVANA –– Cuba will set aside about 70 percent of its 2000 budget for social services like education, health care, public assistance and housing, the communist government said.

The $9.1 billion budget was approved by Cuba's National Assembly during its final session of the year, Cuba's Prensa Latina news agency reported Tuesday.

Cuba's free health care and education systems, as well as other heavily subsidized social services, remain the pride of the nation's communist leadership as it enters its fifth decade.

Since soon after the revolution that brought President Fidel Castro to power in 1959, Cuba's government has spent most of its annual budget on social services. Although communist allies such as China now have economies that resemble those of capitalist nations, Castro continues to reject a market-based economy for Cuba.

Detractors of Cuba's economic system complain that centralized financial control and a lack of competition lead to inefficiency and product shortages.