He cuban government dismissed Alejandro Gil, until now Minister of Economy, in the midst of the application of the largest economic adjustment in decades, state television reported this Friday.
The dismissal of Gil, in the position since 2018, occurs two days after the Executive postponed until further notice – and without a defined date – the gasoline rise by 400%, one of the main measures of the package announced last December and which contemplates cuts in subsidies, increases in rates transportation and services such as electricitywater and in liquefied gas cylinders.
It also happens a day after the Government postponed “until new notice” the increase of up to 400% in the price of the ticket for interprovincial buses, 600% in the case of the railway and 468% for internal flights on the island.
The Government’s great shock plan – criticized by independent experts – seeks to turn the direction of the country’s economy, after closing 2023 with a GDP drop between 1% and 2%, a fiscal deficit projected for this year of 18.5% and without tourism reaching the figures reached before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The now former Minister of Economy was in charge of the portfolio after the entry into force of the great monetary reform of 2021 – known on the island as the ordering task – which put an end to the double currency in Cuba. In recent weeks, the Government itself has publicly acknowledged that this “has not met its objectives”.
Since then, the exchange rate between the Cuban peso (CUP) and the dollar – 24 CUP per greenback for legal entities and 120 CUP per dollar for individuals in the state market – skyrocketed on the black market until reaching 290 CUP per dollar this Friday.
Gil’s replacement will be the until now minister president of the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC), Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, according to the Council of State in a note read on state television news. On the other hand, Juana Lilia Delgado Portal will preside over the BCC.
The Government also made changes in other ministries. In Science, Technology and Environment, he removed Elba Rosa Pérez Montoya, who had held the position since 2012, to replace her with Eduardo Martínez Díaz, who served as president of the state-run BioCubaFarma Business Group.
In addition, Manuel Santiago Sobrino will cease to be Minister of Food Industry and appointed Alberto López Díaz, governor of the central province of Villa Clara, in his place.
Source: Gestion
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