Cuba, in the grip of a serious economic crisis, is running short of toilet paper and may not get sufficient supplies until the end of the year, officials with state-run companies said on Friday.
Officials said they were lowering the prices of 24 basic goods to help Cubans get through the difficulties provoked in part by the global financial crisis and three destructive hurricanes that struck the island last year.
"The corporation has taken all the steps so that at the end of the year there will be an important importation of toilet paper," an official with state conglomerate Cimex said on state-run Radio Rebelde.
Cuba both imports toilet paper and produces its own, but does not currently have enough raw materials to make it, he said.
One of the measures taken to address the cash crunch is a 20 percent cut in imports, which in recent days has become evident in the reduction of goods in state-run stores.
Despite the shortages, prices will be cut between 5 percent and 27 percent for some food, drugs and personal hygiene products, officials said.
Ana Maria Ortega, deputy director for retail conglomerate TRD Caribe, said there will be no shortage of basic goods.
"The conditions are in place to maintain the supply of essential products," she said on the same radio program.
President Raul Castro told the National Assembly last week that the government had cut its spending budget for the second time this year and has been renegotiating its debt and payments with foreign providers.
Cuba said that last year's hurricanes did $10 billion worth of damage that forced the government to spend heavily on imports of food and reconstruction products.
Castro has taken various steps to boost output, including putting more state-owned land in private hands and pushing for salaries to be based on productivity.
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(Agencies)
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古巴國(guó)企官員于上周五稱,該國(guó)深陷嚴(yán)重經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī),廁紙告急,而且這種狀況有可能持續(xù)到年底。
古巴官方表示,將降低24種基本商品的價(jià)格,來(lái)幫助古巴人民度過(guò)經(jīng)濟(jì)困境。全球金融危機(jī)和去年三次破壞性颶風(fēng)的襲擊,是誘發(fā)島國(guó)古巴此次經(jīng)濟(jì)困境的部分原因。
古巴大型國(guó)企Cimex的一位官員在國(guó)有媒體“起義軍電臺(tái)”節(jié)目上說(shuō):“公司已經(jīng)采取各種措施,以確保在年底前能進(jìn)口大量衛(wèi)生紙。
他表示,古巴不僅進(jìn)口衛(wèi)生紙,還自己生產(chǎn)。但由于原料缺乏,目前已無(wú)法生產(chǎn)衛(wèi)生紙。
為應(yīng)對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)壓力,政府采取的措施之一是將商品進(jìn)口量削減20%,這一措施的效果近日已非常明顯,因?yàn)閲?guó)營(yíng)商店中的貨品已經(jīng)減少了。
政府表示,盡管貨源緊缺,但還會(huì)將某些食品、藥品和個(gè)人衛(wèi)生用品的價(jià)格降低5%至27%。
古巴“TRD加勒比”零售集團(tuán)副總裁安娜?瑪麗亞?奧爾特加表示,基本生活物資不會(huì)出現(xiàn)短缺。
她在同一檔電臺(tái)節(jié)目中說(shuō):“從目前的情況來(lái)看,必需物品的供應(yīng)能夠得到保證?!?/font>
古巴主席勞爾?卡斯特羅上周對(duì)全國(guó)人民政權(quán)代表大會(huì)稱,政府今年已經(jīng)兩次削減支出預(yù)算,也已經(jīng)開(kāi)始與外國(guó)供貨方洽談債務(wù)與付款問(wèn)題。
古巴政府表示,去年的颶風(fēng)造成了100億美元損失,迫使政府在食品進(jìn)口和重建項(xiàng)目方面花銷很大。
古巴主席卡斯特羅已經(jīng)采取了多種措施來(lái)提高生產(chǎn)效率,包括將更多的國(guó)有土地轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)樗接?,并鼓?lì)采取績(jī)效工資制。
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(英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 許雅寧編輯)
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