Flour, crisis and prices: bread is added this March to the basics that are in short supply in Cuba

Five elderly people improvise a gathering while waiting in line in front of a state bakery in Havana. Everyone has been waiting for more than five hours for the product, highly valued in these days of crisis, to finally arrive.

“That’s how it always is: we see each other in line every Thursday. This bakery is broken (it can’t make its own bread), so we have to wait for them to bring it the leftovers from the others.”Juan Enrique, a 61-year-old custodian (guardian), tells EFE.

The group kills time exchanging ideas. Everyone agrees that, at least for now, supply “It is within normality”, as Juan Enrique says. Although that, says Amelia, a 78-year-old retiree, “does not mean that normality is good”.

The topic is on the lips of the five: bread, a staple of the Cuban diet, will be scarce during March, the Government has warned. At least what can be obtained with the supply booklet (ration card), a series of products subsidized by the State.

He Ministry of the Food Industry (Minal) stated that this is due to “specific situations” with the “planned shipments” from allied countries, such as Russiabut did not give more details.

For many Cubans like Amelia, news like this is a cyclical problem in a country that imports 80% of the food it consumes, according to United Nations. Especially at a critical point of economic crisis and with a lack of foreign currency to pay suppliers.

The island’s Executive usually attributes the difficulties in importing food mainly to US sanctions against the country, from the blockade (embargo) to its inclusion on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism. Although it has also recognized errors in economic and monetary policy.

Food crisis

Added to the lack of bread are other sensitive issues for ordinary Cubans, like Juan Enrique, whose state salary is about 3,000 pesos (US$25 at the official exchange rate, but barely US$10 in the omnipresent and majority informal market). .

In addition to bread, there is a lack of milk for children under seven years old. This same week, the World Food Program (WFP) confirmed to EFE that the island Government requested help for the first time through an official communication to its executive management due to the country’s difficulties in continuing to distribute subsidized milk for children.

Other products in the card, such as rice, coffee or oil, have been experiencing shortages and delays on a regular basis in recent months.

Gabriela, 65, interrupts the conversation and qualifies: “The important thing is that we have the notebook, which is a minimum that we all have. And it is a priority of the revolution. Imagine if we don’t have that.”defends.

But for Juan Enrique the underlying problem is not that “the things in the notebook are lost (missing), but the other alternative is individuals and that is not enough”.

The custodian refers to the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that are emerging since the private sector was allowed in the socialist country in 2021. Of the 10,600 currently approved, a significant portion is dedicated to food retail, in mostly imported.

Controversy has accompanied them since their birth: some criticize them for being an alternative to the state company, others for having fueled inflation.

One of those stores is located a few steps from these five people. Although there is no queue in front of that establishment. There they sell a bag of six breads for 200 pesos – almost 7% of Juan Enrique’s salary – and just under 500 grams of powdered milk, for 1,000, a third of his salary.

Anti-crisis measures

With the aim of facing the deep crisis in which the island has been mired for three years, the Government has announced a severe adjustment plan that includes strong increases in the prices of fuel and basic services (electricity, water, etc. ).

A devaluation of the peso and the end of universal subsidies for products (the booklet) were also anticipated to make way for a system of aid for vulnerable people, although neither of these two measures has materialized.

Cuba closed 2023 with a contraction of its gross domestic product (GDP) of between 1 and 2% and announced that the public deficit this year will be at 18.5%, for the fifth consecutive year in deep red numbers.

With information from EFE