By Neysi Hernández
HAVANA (AA) – Cuba will set price limits for 23 agricultural products to help avoid losses to farmers, the finance ministry said Tuesday.
The price caps will apply to Cuban staples including vegetables, grain, fruits, root vegetables, beans, cassava and other products.
These new values will be applied to “all types of agricultural markets, other than supply and demand, and in the case of the province of Havana, in addition to the self-employed authorized to engage in this activity,” according to the ministry.
Retired worker Ramon Lima, 70, believes the price controls will help. “It is a very good measure, especially for those who live alone with a pension or a salary,” he said.
The average worker in Cuba earns about $25 per month. The new controls at state-controlled markets would allow a pound of seasonal tomatoes to be sold at 8 cents per pound. Out of season, the price would jump to 17 cents.
The measure comes after President Raul Castro said the county’s leadership would not sit “crossed arms to the irritation of citizens by unscrupulous management of prices by intermediaries who only think about winning more and more.”
His remarks followed a report last month to the Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba which analyzed the continuous increase in the prices of agricultural products.
The latest move comes after the government announced last month a reduction of about 20 percent in the prices of a group of commodities, especially food, sold in the network of retail stores in Cuban convertible pesos and Cuban pesos.
The Cuban peso and the convertible peso, that is pegged to the dollar, are used in Cuba.
