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The Council of Ministers of Cuba published this Monday in the , signed by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, which establishes the National Institute of State Business Assets (INAEES), a new entity directly subordinate to the Council of Ministers with extensive control powers over the Cuban state business system.
The decree establishes that the INAEES is created to "guide the transformations and development of the Cuban state enterprise system" and is part of the Government's Economic and Social Program for 2026.
According to the text of the decree, in its initial stage, the new entity "will focus its efforts on improving the business system and eliminating the obstacles that affect it," for which it will propose to the Council of Ministers a group of business entities in order to carry out their organizational transformation.
The powers of the INAEES are extensive: it appoints and replaces general directors or presidents of groups, unions, and corporations; defines their salaries; approves the creation of companies and their social purposes; endorses strategic investments; proposes the distribution of profits after taxes; and can endorse or approve economic associations with foreign capital.
The decree includes a clause stating that the functions of the institute "cannot go against business autonomy," although in practice it centralizes control over the main decision-making levers of more than 2,000 state-owned enterprises in Cuba.
The organization Cubalex has described the INAEES as a mechanism of recentralization that consolidates the powers of state ownership under the Council of Ministers, while economist Pedro Monreal referred to it in June as the potential “grave digger” of the business system.
Regarding its structure, the decree establishes that INAEES will be organized through "a streamlined and flexible structure that allows for systematic adjustments," consisting of a president, a vice president, and the necessary staff.
The INAEES was first announced in December 2025 by Vice Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga.
On June 5, 2026, Roberto Ricardo Marrero was appointed its first president in a ceremony held at the Port Maritime Transport Business Group (GEMAR), which he had been leading until that moment.
The creation of the INAEES is part of the package of 176 economic measures presented to the National Assembly on June 18 and 19, 2026, which is considered the largest attempt at structural reform since the Special Period. This includes the transformation of state-owned enterprises into joint-stock companies, the authorization of bankruptcies and liquidations, and greater management autonomy.
The First Special Provision of Decree 144 establishes that the provisions outlined in this decree will "override any conflicting stipulations found in other regulatory provisions of equal or lower rank" that apply to the selected and approved Cuban state enterprise system.
The decree comes into effect 30 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.
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