AREQUIPA, Peru – Authorities on the island describe the imposition of fines worth more than 13 million pesos in just two days, between July 12 and 13, as “actions of confrontation” and “popular control.”
The incident occurred in response to measures stipulated in Resolution 225/2024 of the Ministry of Finance and Prices (MFP), with which the Cuban regime capped the prices of several high-demand products in the country’s retail network.
A report from the official newspaper Granmapoints out that government officials carried out some 11,891 inspections on those dates, resulting in the aforementioned fines to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), among other additional sanctions such as forced sales and suspension of activities.
Vladimir Regueiro Ale, head of the sector, said that these exercises covered the entire island, and in the establishments visited “other regulations on payment of contributions to the Budget, commercial registration, digital payment channels, personnel hiring conditions, among others, were also verified.”
He explained that the detection of violations was 41.7%, with 4,954, for which 4,332 fines were imposed, for a value of more than 13 million pesos; of these, 2,065 fines correspond to Decree 30/21.
In addition to the fines imposed, 354 forced sales were applied (187 in Havana), 53 temporary withdrawals of operating licenses from the establishment, and 21 confiscations were carried out, “mostly from those who were operating illegally.”
The minister explained that, although maximum retail prices for high-demand products remain high, “they represent in themselves a reduction in relation to the levels prior to the entry into force of the regulation.”
Regueiro Ale acknowledged that reversing the inflation situation cannot be achieved only by establishing maximum prices for a basic range of products; there are other projections that “must be achieved at the country level, through production increases and higher service levels.”
Price caps and reactions
The measure, published in Official Gazette No. 61, establishes price limits for cut chicken, edible oils (excluding olive oil), powdered milk, pasta, sausages and powdered detergent.
The new prices are: 680 pesos (US$5.6) per kilogram of cut chicken, 990 pesos (US$8.25) per liter of vegetable oil, 1,045 pesos (US$8.7) per kilogram of sausages, 1,675 pesos (US$13.95) per kilogram of powdered milk, 835 pesos (US$6.95) per kilogram of pasta and 630 pesos (US$5.25) per kilogram of powdered detergent.
The Cuban government defends this measure as necessary to stop inflation, but both economists and private businessmen have expressed skepticism. Cuban economist Pedro Monreal criticized this initiative, arguing that inflation in Cuba is mainly driven by the increase in food prices.
He points out that “it is not just a matter of insisting on the ineffective price “caps” traditionally applied to agricultural products, but also of forcing national private companies to adopt the Soviet method of price formation.”
Monreal argues that the eventual reform of state enterprises in Cuba ignores the historical evidence that the “economic calculation” of centralized planning was not sustainable in the long term.
“Instead of using the market to make the ‘plan’ more flexible, they numb the market with the plan,” the expert points out.
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2024-07-18 07:36:22
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