The government of Cuba said that it will trim the prices of few basic food products by 20%. The reduction measure comes amid various complaints from people regarding the huge prices of some stable foods. The public complained that state workers who earn just about $25 per month find it hard to purchase stable items like edible oil and rice.
The public can purchase food products like edible oil and chicken under the government price reduction scheme in stores, which take the convertible peso, a currency that is equal to the US dollar. Many people in Cuba find it difficult to buy even these staples as one litre of soy oil prices about one tenth of their pay in a month. Prices of beans and rice that costs 4 cents each in Cuban pesos will also reduce, abcNEWS reported.
The price reduction applies to food products like chicken, soup, cooking oil and hamburger meat and that the cost cuts differ from 10% to 30%, Reuters quoted a Ministry of Finances and Prices list that oozed through the internet. However, the officials did not confirm the price reduction details. According to an unidentified worker at a Havana store, the cost reduction covers products like detergent, edible oil, and toothpaste.
The reduction approach comes following President Raul Castro's speech when he agreed that market-related alterations started five years before have still to reach many residents who find it difficult to make both ends meet. In a country like Cuba, the communist government dominates imports and the transaction of these imported products, which are retailed at stores that accept the hard currency.
The silence of the Congress frustrated public that blamed the slowly moving pricing reforms. After the fall of the former patron, the communist-led Cuba to permit dollar to roam freely along with peso. In 2004, a local corresponding currency known as convertible peso (CUC) was introduced to replace the US dollar.
The value of CUC is attached to the dollar, while the value of peso is $0.04, making public more vulnerable to huge stable prices. The public is paid in peso at a median equivalent rate of 25 CUC a month but mostly has to buy essentials in hard currency retail outlets. In 2013, the government promised to remove the use of CUC from the state, however, the congress confessed that it had made only the initial step in accomplishing the target.
" The ideas of the Cuban Communists will remain as proof on this planet that if they are worked at with fervor and dignity, they can produce the material and cultural goods that human beings need, and we need to fight without a truce to obtain them," indiatoday quoted Fidel Castro in a valedictory speech on Tuesday. Castro's speech comes amid the government announcement that Raul Castro will maintain his brother's position in the Cuban communist Party.
The younger citizens complain about the poor pays in the state that makes them battle high stable prices, without any memories of the struggles in the past decades. The government views capitalism as a risk factor for its population.
