WATCH: Cuban entrepreneurs are optimistic as the government considers reforms to stimulate the economy
Thanks to a $40,000 loan from abroad, the family-run company, registered last year after a government rule change that authorized small businesses, upgraded antique equipment to state-of-the-art dehydrating ovens and a packaging machine.
Hammered also by blanket U.S. sanctions and the pandemic, the economy plunged nearly 10% during 2020-2021 and has struggled to revive. It has loosened some restrictions around foreign investment in the wholesale and retail sectors, which the economists Reuters spoke to critiqued as too little to make a difference.Dalieny Ortega, owner of a laundry service, speaks to her employees in Havana, Cuba, August 17, 2022. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini"The government must be more flexible," said Cuban economist Omar Everleny. "They have to allow direct foreign trade and any investment amount, in any area.
"Legalization of foreign investment would allow us to go further in the future and sit down with the suppliers or with different companies and be able to legally sign the necessary contracts," she said.Fernandez's and Ortega's companies are two of more than 4,500 small and medium-sized enterprises licensed since the government last year reversed a ban in place since the 1960s, legalizing private enterprise.
"Imagine the national government checking every micro investment as they do now with state businesses," he said, warning that would only "kill the goose that is laying the golden eggs."
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