Cuba mulls new cooperative programme

The Cuban government is evaluating the possible establishment of new non-agricultural cooperatives, local media reported on Friday. The plan is to get self-employed workers to contribute to the country's development, Cuba's Minister of Finance and Prices, Lina Pedraza, said at the closing ceremony of an international conference on management and development. Pedraza said Cuba is not undertaking a reform of privatization, but upgrading its economic model, according to the news website Cubadebate. These cooperatives are part of a government programme designed to push the non-state sector toward producing about 50 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of 2015. About 200 cooperatives are under operation in Cuba. Over the past five years, Cuban agricultural authorities have shut down over 400 cooperatives cultivating state-owned lands for lack of profitability.