By Marisol Marin
Havana, Oct 6 (EFE).- The 5th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party, taking place in Havana October 8-10, will show continuity in the economic reform program, will be without surprises, and the government will continue to exercise its supreme role in the economy.
This, in short, was the opinion expressed at a press conference Monday by Cuban Economy Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez. He said that, "To get ahead in the reforms, we must strengthen what we have already done."
"Our model continues to be the socialist one and the state still has the main role in the economy. The state is in charge of concentrating resources to boost production in key areas such as nickel, tourism, and biotechnology," said the minister.
Still, Rodriguez did not clearly answer one question about possibly of legalizing small and medium private companies in the near term. "Right now, it is not a priority," he said, and he added, "We have not finished the economic reform process."
Currently in Cuba, the private sector is made up of farmers, who own 15 percent of the cultivated land, and some 170,000 self-employed workers mostly concentrated in the restaurant sector.
The minister said that before thinking about expanding the private sector, "We have to have the required mechanisms ready." These private sector mechanisms cannot yet function efficiently because they were just recently created.
Rodriguez explained the changes introduced in the island's economic policies since 1993, and he noted that these changes allowed an economic recovery to begin. This recovery is reflected in the 7.8 percent growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) in 1996.
The GDP fell 38 percent in 1990-93, when Cuba lost trading partners because of the crumbling of the socialist system in the former Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe.
According to Rodriguez, the recovery was aided by foreign capital entering the island, "which has been reasonably good, given that the (U.S. economic) embargo and the Helms-Burton law prevent us from having the same standing as other countries."
When asked about the total volume of these investments, Rodriguez mentioned a figure of 2.1 billion dollars, including debts, a figure that was made public two years ago.
"Cuba offers attractive business possibilities and we are going to keep on growing in the coming years because the businesses that have already been established have been profitable," said Rodriguez.
He added that there could be "more agility and transparency" in negotiations between the government and foreign firms interested in investing in the island than is presently the case.
The Cuban economy's main problem, according to the people in charge of it, is the scarcity of foreign currency, although remittances from Cubans abroad to family members on the island exceed some 800 million dollars per year, according to figures put out by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. These figures have not been denied by the Banco Nacional de Cuba.
Income from remittances exceeds the profits from the tourist and sugar industries.
Rodriguez explained that in 1997, projected GDP growth will be less than the previous year "because we had to allocate more resources to the reduction of foreign financial tensions."
Cuba, which has a foreign debt of more than 11 billion dollars, does not belong to any international financial organization, and must obtain credit virtually alone. Havana can only obtain short-term credit with high interest rates ranging from 14 to 15 percent.
"However, we have been able to fulfill our financial obligations," said Rodriguez, tacitly alluding to rumors that have circulated in diplomatic circles over the past few months that Cuba has been unable to pay its debts with suppliers. EFE