Small and medium-sized private companies (mypimes) According to official data, in the first half of 2023, Cubans tripled sales of goods and services compared to the same period last year.
Still, the volume of these sales accounted for just 4% of total sales of goods and services for the half-year, with government agencies accounting for the remainder, according to the report. Sale of retail goods and services. January–June 2023 of the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).
Sales of goods and services for the first half of the year totaled 132.575 million Cuban pesos, up 26% from the same period last year.
In this way, sales of goods amounted to 57,599 million pesos, up 14.4%, while sales of services amounted to 45,700 million pesos, up 23.7%.
Almost half of the MSME bills were for gastronomy (49.69%). Turnover in the government sector is broken down into retail (43.45%), services (34.47%), and catering (22.08%).
Referring to the report, economist Pedro Monreal highlighted the low level of exports of goods and services in recent years and their impact on the crisis in the Cuban economy.
“Over the past two years, Cuba’s total exports of goods and services have been below the level of imports needed for the short-term recovery of an economy with weak domestic supply capacity. The gap is unsustainable in the long run.”
1/5 En los últimos 2 años, las exportaciones totales de bienes y servicios de Cuba han sido inferiores al nivel de importaciones que se necesita para la recuperación a corto plazo de una economía con débil capacidad de oferta interna. La brecha es insostenible a largo plazo pic.twitter.com/3ByEZkzEWy
— Pedro Monreal (@pmmonreal) August 24, 2023
The more than 8,000 Cuban MSMEs have been criticized even by the ruling party. Recently, the President of the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP), Esteban Lazo Hernández, criticized the MSMEs that import finished products because, in his opinion, they do not bring prosperity to the country.
“Of the more than 8,500 and so many MSMEs that we have, most are traders, which means they do not create wealth in the country. When they buy finished products, it is logical that the prices they later set must be high,” Lazo finds, explaining the high prices at which most MSMEs sell.
