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Published: Friday, 01 March 2019 08:24

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Photo: RHCHavana, March 1.- The Council of Ministers met this week, headed by its President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who began this meeting by highlighting the motivation to carry it out "with the satisfaction of the result obtained by our people, and therefore the Revolution, in the constitutional referendum, with a resounding and massive Yes in support of the new Constitution ».

The meeting addressed vital issues for the country's development, such as the efficient use of water and its savings, the performance of exports and foreign investment, the improvement of the national system of authorship and the behavior of the economy's plan at the close from January.

As usual, it had the participation, by videoconference, of the main cadres of the Government and the Party of all the provinces and municipalities.

The Council of Ministers approved a new tariff system for the collection of water supply and sanitation services, which will be implemented progressively from the year 2020.

According to the president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, Antonio Rodríguez Rodríguez, the measures will begin with the productive sector and services, then the budgeted public and finally will reach the population.

"The new system is aimed at correcting regulatory gaps associated with modes of supply and service to the population, such as the cleaning of pits, the supply by tank trucks, desalinated water and indoor de-obstructions." The most important thing, said the manager, is to promote efficient water consumption practices in the country.

For the non-metered domestic sector, the fixed charge rate that currently applies for the collection of the water supply continues. The current rates for the domestic metered sector are maintained up to a consumption of 4.5 cubic meters per capita per month, higher than the international norm.

In the budgeted public sector -where the overconsumption trend predominates- the proposal preserves the current price when consumption is within the approved norm and will be penalized if it exceeds it.

For the productive sector, the tariff does not distinguish between legal entities and natural persons that provide services or produce goods, since it is based on the principle of the established norm according to each use. This has been classified into several groups: hotel, commercial, service and office facilities; industries or other productive processes; irrigation of green areas, orchards or agricultural parcels and golf courses; as well as boats. Here, the penalty of consumption above the norm is also increased, because what has been applied so far has not demonstrated rigor as an indirect saving mechanism.

"The new system has as a priority the approval of rates for services that do not have today, as well as all of the productive sector."

From the second semester of this year, preventive rates will be implemented as an educational method, so that both the entities and the population will know the billing they may have after the measure is applied.

The President of the Councils of State and Ministers specified that the objective is to order the water distribution system and its collection, which allows saving this vital resource. It is important to design a detailed communication strategy that helps understanding the topic.

He drew attention to the widespread habit of wasting water, without awareness of the expense. The application of the new system of measures, he said, must be accompanied by an improvement in service, which includes a higher supply, the footage, the elimination of leaks and the solution to the lack of fittings.

The Minister of Finance and Prices, Meisi Bolaños Weiss, explained the situation of accounts payable and receivable due at the end of December 2018, including those in litigation and with court rulings. The figures of these balances are higher than the same period of 2017.

In the companies of the commerce and gastronomy sector the highest amounts due are concentrated. As a fundamental cause, it related the lack of liquidity, motivated by indiscipline originated fundamentally in the lack of control, and the lack of demand in the fulfillment of economic contracts between companies.
He stressed that in recent years measures have been taken to break the chains of non-payment, to which it is necessary to unite the immediate adoption of work systems that contribute to improving the situation. In this regard, representatives of the Government of several provinces intervened to analyze some of the most unpaid entities in the country.

This is a battle - emphasized the Minister - that we must face systematically and objectively at the base, where the economic events take place, in order to specify actions that guarantee a definitive solution, using accounting and financial indicators as instruments.

He ratified that, as a principle, the State Budget will not finance the decapitalization and lack of liquidity of the business sector, derived from inefficiencies, lack of control and theft.
Díaz-Canel reflected that the systematic analysis shows that one cannot look in the Budget, or in obtaining credits, the solution to the problems that generate the defaults.

As fundamental elements to take into account to reverse such behavior, he insisted on the preponderance that should be given to internal control and accounting in the entities, as well as to the practice of maintaining a discipline in the daily reconciliation of sales and the cash that It is deposited in banks.

The Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, presented the Comprehensive Strategy for the Exportation of Goods and Services, which is based on the importance for the national economy of increasing revenues through this channel.

This Strategy has been designed to be a coherent and realistic planning tool. To prepare it, a diagnosis was made that confirmed the problems that affect the current situation of exports, some of which are uncompetitive, low technological integration and highly concentrated.

The minister also pointed out strengths and opportunities such as human capital, Cuban goods with high recognition in the world market and potential in services.

The objectives of the Strategy include: increasing exports annually and steadily; modernize the national industry by applying innovation and promoting productive linkages; and develop exportable funds in each territory.

In addition, promote sectoral specialization through export poles, industrial and scientific-technological parks, special zones and high-tech companies; diversify and expand the export portfolio; encourage the articulation of state entities with forms of non-state management; and ensure quality and safety standards.

He noted that several items have been selected to focus efforts and resources in the period 2019-2021, such as nickel, sugar, tobacco, honey, coal, rum, biopharmaceutical products and the sea; medical, tourist, telecommunications, educational, cultural and sports services.

It is necessary to consolidate or recover the commercialization capabilities of traditional goods and incorporate new ones, privileging those with greater added value, but without neglecting any opportunity, even if it is small amounts.

The President insisted that all agencies have the possibility of exporting, each one must identify what their potential is and specify them. "The main concept with which we have to work on the export strategy is to remove the bureaucracy, the obstacles and what is affecting us in terms of thinking; Open your mind and be more proactive ».

Of fundamental for the development has been defined the foreign investment in diverse scenes. Consequently, the Council of Ministers this time analyzed the issue along with the behavior of exports and the use of external credits in the tourism sector, a priority for the national economy.

Malmierca Díaz explained that in the tourism sector it has won in the organization and solution to old problems of the joint ventures set up and the performance of hotel management and marketing contracts with international managers is depressed. At the same time, he acknowledged that there is currently an adequate representation in the portfolio of opportunities and diversity in the modalities and geographical distribution of the projects.
Regarding the obtaining of external financing in the sector, he pointed out the impact of the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States Government.

When referring to the Comprehensive Strategy for the Exportation of Goods and Services, he highlighted that the main lines of work in this sector are defined between 2019 and 2021, where the diversification of tourism products and the markets of tourism have an important weight. destination, as well as the generation of productive linkages with the national industry.

The need to continue working with the non-state sector, linked to tourism, was valued so that it becomes a complement to the activity; coordinate a strategy with the Ministry of Public Health to promote health tourism in spas; and increase extra-hotel activities with projects associated with culture.

The Tourism Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, said there are reserves to be exploited in the search for new options and to achieve greater effectiveness in the promotion of our destinations, as well as in the reduction of expenses that can help maximize results.

One year after the implementation of the policy to perfect the National Audit System, the Council of Ministers discussed the main results and challenges of this governmental decision that has allowed reordering, clarifying, defining and strengthening the audit activity, as well as knowledge and the support of the administrations in their performance.

The Comptroller General, Gladys Bejerano Portela, explained that problems have been faced with the completion of the staff of the National Audit System. In order to reverse the situation, the training of auditors in specialization and habilitation courses has been encouraged. We work with the Ministry of Higher Education to open the short cycle course in the specialty of Audit, as an opportunity to continue raising the professional level.

He highlighted the prophylactic and preventive role played by internal base auditors - a cost approved as a result of the policy - to help optimize management and administrative efficiency. He also referred to the need to improve the work and life conditions of the auditors, with the aim of achieving greater stability and the independence required for the fulfillment of their mission.

It also corresponded to the Comptroller to present to the Council of Ministers two acts of corruption detected in the framework of the investigation carried out to the chain of non-payments of the retail sector of Commerce: one in the Commerce and Gastronomy Company of the municipality of Jesús Menéndez, and another in the Basic Trade Unit of Havana. In both, shortages of cash were determined by the non-deposit of the sales of several products.

In both cases, violations of the cadre policy were evident, in terms of recruitment, research, selection and preparation of personnel; as well as ethical deterioration of executives, specialists and technicians who are involved in alleged criminal acts and administrative corruption, for lack of elementary control measures of those who must enforce the procedures.

The presidents of the Government of the two provinces where these events were committed explained the measures adopted with those responsible and the actions implemented.

Diaz-Canel indicated to discuss these cases in the boards of directors of the Ministry of Internal Commerce and in the entire system of Commerce and Gastronomy of the country, in order to take experiences to prevent similar events from happening again.
Samuel Rodiles Planas, president of the Institute of Physical Planning, presented an update of the universe of human settlements concentrated in Cuba during the period 2012-2018. As explained, this is considered the group of 15 or more dwellings inhabited or not permanently, separated from each other up to 50 meters, with a name that identifies it and certain boundaries that differentiate it from another; may or may not have within its structure, service, production or other facilities.

This update aims, among other purposes, to provide information for the decision making of the Government; the enrichment of the general plans of Territorial and Urban Planning; as well as to know the statistical information of the country with respect to this subject.

He said that in some places a reduction of the settlements has been planned, associated with the conversion of facilities in housing in areas of agricultural production and relocation to respond to those affected by extreme events.

At the same time, the spontaneous migrations of the population have also affected to access areas of services and economic development. The most unfavorable impacts due to the depopulation of agricultural areas are located in the provinces of Villa Clara and Ciego de Ávila.

The President of the Physical Planning Institute recommended using in each territory the update of the universe of concentrated human settlements for the analysis of uncontrolled growth and its incidence in areas such as employment, the occupation of undeveloped land and the increase in transport and technical infrastructures.
Díaz-Canel stressed that this document, together with the Territorial and Urban Planning Plan, should be converted into tools for planning and analyzing different issues of the economy and society.

As a last matter, the Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernández, presented the report on the behavior of the Cuban economy at the end of January.

Among other issues, he referred to the arrival in the country of 1 235 motor vehicles, as part of investments planned in 2018. They include 221 Yutong buses and 504 minibuses, 401 of the latter for taxi cabs, which should benefit the service the population. In addition, 290 modules were received to assemble buses and cargo vehicles.

Regarding electricity, it was reported that there were no service impairments due to generation deficit during peak demand hours.
At the end of January in the tourism activity, the plan is met at 102%, with the arrival of 489 629 visitors. This represents a 9% growth compared to the same period of the previous year. There is an increase in the main markets, including Canada and Russia.

The sowing campaign for various crops and tobacco is moving at a good pace. Meanwhile, the production of wheat flour has presented tensions, due to mechanical and electrical problems of the milling industry.

In this regard, the Minister of the Food Industry, Iris Quiñones Rojas, pointed out that in the month of March should increase the levels of flour production, while they will be recovering arrears.
The President of the Councils of State and Ministers noted at this point that there has been a shortage of products from the economic line such as bread, eggs, vegetable oil, wheat flour and chicken, which affect the population.

He insisted on closing the productive cycles related to these products, since an effort is being made so that financing or imports happen in time and then problems arise with transportation contracting or the delay of some shipments.

We need a more dynamic economy in this year, to achieve an impact on the population's food, housing, transport and computerization, just to mention some elements that are important for everyday life.

He reiterated that the monitoring of investments will be constant and month by month will analyze which are completed and how they are giving the impact that was foreseen in the feasibility studies.

He emphasized the need to comply with exports, those that are in the plan and those that can be added during the course of the year. "Everyone has to look for what they can export and, of course, charge it."He commented on the attention that must be paid to the economic lines, both industrial and food, so that the population is not affected.

In correspondence with instructions given by Army General Raul Castro Ruz, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, he stressed that short-cycle plantings should be increased to have food more immediately and continue developing the remaining crops to meet with the municipal self-supply program and the free sale of food. (RHC)