Cuba says economy up 2.7 percent in 2011

Cuba says economy up 2.7 percent in 2011
Fri Dec 2, 2011 11:07am EST
* Economic growth just short of forecast
* Trade surplus seen for third consecutive year
* Government adopts measures to boost food output

HAVANA, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Cuba's economy will end the year up 2.7
percent, state media reported on Friday, an improvement over the 2.1
percent increase registered in 2010 but a bit less than the 2.9 percent
forecast by the government.

Granma, the Communist party newspaper, blamed investment-related
construction problems for the less than expected performance. It cited a
recently concluded meeting of the Council of Ministers which adopted
economic plans and a budget for 2012, without providing further details.

The newspaper said budget deficit reduction would also fall short of
plans this year, due mainly to lower than expected revenue from sales
taxes, indicating internal trade did not perform as anticipated.

Cuban President Raul Castro has been leading an effort to reform the
communist-run country's Soviet-style economy as it struggles with heavy
debt and stagnation.

Castro, since taking over for his ailing brother Fidel in 2008, has
drastically cut imports while promoting domestic production and exports.

Cuban Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca said a month ago that
trade was up 27 percent through September, compared with the same period
in 2010, and on track toward a third consecutive surplus.

Reserves at the Bank for International Settlements stood at $5.649
billion in June, double what they were three years ago.

Granma reported on Friday that the government meeting concluded that
efforts to improve domestic food production, through a series of
reforms, had not gone far enough. Combined with higher international
prices, that was undermining efforts to cut imports that cover 60
percent to 70 percent of domestic consumption.

Granma said the government meeting, chaired by Castro, adopted "a group
of measures to eliminate immediately problems affecting Basic Units of
Cooperative Production," a form of farming cooperatives established on
state-owned lands.

The paper said measures were also approved modifying a land-lease
program, which grants small plots of land to new farmers for 10 years,
in order "to encourage the incorporation, permanence and stability of
the labor force and guarantee the permanent settlements of the farmers'
families."

Farmers have complained the leases are too short, the acreage is too
small and that a ban on building permanent structures on the land works
against increasing production.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/02/cuba-economy-idUSN1E7B10C320111202