December
By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, November 24, 7:10 PM
HAVANA — Cuba announced a new credit system Thursday that will offer
loans to small-business owners, private farmers and other citizens
beginning next month, and established rules for paying independent
contractors who do business with the state.
Credit will also be available to people looking to purchase building
materials, pay for labor associated with home construction, "acquire
goods for their personal property or satisfy other needs," according to
the government's Official Gazette.
The lack of a system of lending has been one of the chief complaints of
the expanding class of entrepreneurs who are running independent
businesses as part of President Raul Castro's economic overhaul, which
aims to right Cuba's foundering economy.
Economists have also said credit is a necessary element if the private
businesses are to grow beyond subsistence levels.
Offering loans for home construction, meanwhile, could help address the
island's acute housing shortage and bolster Cuba's brand-new real estate
market, created earlier this month when property sales were legalized
for the first time since shortly after the 1959 revolution.
"This is very important for me. It's good for everyone," said Nidia
Corona, who makes a living selling bootleg CDs, one of the 181 legally
authorized private-sector activities. "My home is in bad shape, and now
I can ask for a loan to fix it up."
Applications will be evaluated using people's "legal personal income" as
the most common source of repayment, according to the law.
It also allows people to take out mortgages on second homes or vacant
lots, a novelty after five decades of prohibition against using homes as
collateral.
Under the housing law that took effect Nov. 10, Cubans are limited to
ownership of two properties — one primary residence and a second
vacation house — to avoid accumulation of wealth.
The Official Gazette, a publication that disseminates new laws, said the
credit system will take effect Dec. 20 and be rolled out "progressively,
as the country's economic and financial conditions permit."
Financial institutions authorized by Cuba's Central Bank will offer the
loans in Cuban pesos, valued at 24 to the U.S. dollar, rather than the
stronger convertible currency, which is one to the dollar.
The Central Bank will also set minimum and maximum interest rates.
The lending system is the latest piece of Castro's economic reform
package, which the government touts as an update of its socialist model
despite an increasing embrace of free-market mechanisms such as
self-employment, a new tax code and liberalized rules on home and auto
sales.
"I think these changes will have an impact," said Magaly Dopico, who was
sitting in the doorway of the home she rents out as a locksmith's shop.
"We have struggled for a long time, but finally things are improving."
A separate measure published in the Official Gazette set the rules under
which the state will pay private contractors, including a wide range of
options covering everything from cash, debit card and bank transfers to
checks, vouchers and IOUs.
Last week, the government put in place a law authorizing farmers to sell
their products directly to state-run tourist hotel and restaurant
concerns, eliminating the need to go through a state middleman, and said
they could negotiate their own prices.
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