The Cuban regime fired Alejandro Gil as Economy Minister amid the implementation of the country's biggest economic adjustment plan in decades, the Cuban state television network reported this Friday (1st).
Gil's resignation, who had been in office since 2018, occurred two days after the dictatorship postponed, for an indefinite period, the 400% increase in gasoline prices, one of the main measures of the package announced in December and which includes cuts in subsidies, increases in transport fares and services such as energy, water and liquefied gas cylinders.
It was also announced one day after the Havana regime postponed until further notice an increase of up to 400% in the price of interprovincial bus fares, 600% in the case of railway fares and 468% for internal flights.
The great shock plan of the Miguel Díaz-Canel regime – criticized by independent experts – seeks to reverse the course of the country's economy, which ended 2023 with a drop in GDP of between 1% and 2% and has a fiscal deficit projected for this year of 18.5%. Furthermore, tourism has not yet reached the numbers it achieved before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The now former Minister of Economy has been in charge of the department since the major monetary reform of 2021 came into force, which put an end to the dual currency in Cuba. In recent weeks, the government itself publicly acknowledged that the reform “did not achieve its objectives”.
Since then, the exchange rate between the Cuban peso (CUP) and the US dollar – which is 24 CUPs per dollar for legal entities and 120 CUPs for individuals in the official market – has skyrocketed in the parallel market, reaching 290 CUPs this Friday .
Substitute
Gil's replacement will be Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, until now Minister President of the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC), the Cuban Council of State said in a statement.
The new president of the BCC will be Juana Lilia Delgado Portal.
The Cuban regime also made changes to other ministries. In Science, Technology and Environment, Elba Rosa Pérez Montoya, who had held the position since 2012, was fired and replaced by Eduardo Martínez Díaz, who was president of the BioCubaFarma Business Group, a state entity.
Furthermore, Manuel Santiago Sobrino will leave his post as Minister of Food Industry. Alberto López Díaz, governor of the province of Villa Clara, was appointed to the position.
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