Sunday, November 28, 2010

Over 81,000 Cubans apply for permits for private work

Over 81,000 Cubans apply for permits for private work
English.news.cn 2010-11-28 10:06:43

HAVANA, Nov.27 (Xinhua) - More than 81,000 Cubans applied for licenses
to open small businesses or rent their homes since the government
decided in October to expand these activities as part of a plan to
eliminate 500,000 government jobs, the official daily Granma said on
Saturday.

A total of 81,498 Cubans had applied for permits to develope "self
employed" (private) work till Nov. 19, less than a month after the
announcement of new measures for the expansion and flexibility of that
activity, Granma said.

Granma stressed that already 29,038 permits have been delivered and more
than 16,000 requests are under study. 20 percent of the accepted "self
employed" licenses shall be used to produce or sell food, an activity
with great demand on the island.

Another six percent of the permits are for transport activities or
passengers transfer (private taxi drivers) and one percent is associated
with new ways of house renting.

Raul Castro's government in October allowed the opening of small
businesses to help absorb the half a million people, 10 percent of the
workforce, who will lose their jobs from the state bloated sectors.

The private work may be exercised in 178 activities, 83 of them are
allowed to recruit employees for the first time in 50 years of
revolution, a way for the creation of small private companies in the island.

The small private business were eliminated in Cuba on March 13, 1968, as
part of the then so-called "Revolutionary Offensive."

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cuban economy fell to its
lowest point and the licences for private work were reopened, but with
the economic recovery the permits were frozen till Raul Castro' s new
reforms.

The economic adjustment plan designed in Cuba is expected to be ratified
by the ruling Communist Party at its Sixth Congress, scheduled for the
second half of next April.

Editor: Wang Guanqun

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-11/28/c_13625420.htm

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