Cuba further loosens regulation of private sector

Cuba further loosens regulation of private sector
Reuters
May 17, 2011

HAVANA (Reuters) - Communist-run Cuba has given all small businesses the
authority to hire labor and will loosen other regulations governing
private enterprise, the government said in a statement on Monday.

The measure was the latest indication that President Raul Castro's
government has decided to loosen its grip on economic sectors that
include retail services, construction and transportation in favor of
private business.

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Last year, the government allowed some types of family businesses and
skilled trades to hire workers.

The government said that "the Council of Ministers agreed to extend to
all non-state activities authorization to contract workers and continue
the process of making more flexible regulations on self employment."

It provided no further details in the statement read on state-run
television.

The Cuban economy is dominated by the state, which employed about 85
percent of the labor force through 2009.

The government announced plans late last year to lay off hundreds of
thousands of workers and move them to what it called the "non-state"
sector as part of an efficiency drive.

In the years after the 1959 revolution, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, now
retired, nationalized all small businesses.

Self-employment, often a euphemism for small private businesses, was
first authorized in 1993 after the fall of the Soviet Union plunged Cuba
into crisis, but it was severely restricted until last year.

In September, the government began issuing new licenses, allowed family
businesses to rent space outside their homes, sign contracts with the
state, hire labor and seek bank credits, among other measures.

More than 200,000 new licenses have been granted since October, compared
with less than 150,000 that existed previously.

(Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Jeff Franks and Peter Cooney)

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