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The Cuban regime announced on Wednesday a series of profound changes to the management model of state-owned enterprises, among which stands out the ability of each entity to set its own salaries and prices without the need for higher authorization, as well as to create subsidiary companies and small and medium-sized state-owned enterprises autonomously.
The measures are part of a package of 176 economic and social reforms approved by the government on June 18 and 19, 2026, regarded by the authorities themselves as the greatest structural transformation since the Special Period.
The details were presented in the Round Table on the state channel, with the participation of Giovanna Vega Amato, director of the Business System of the Ministry of Economy and Planning; Roberto Ricardo Marrero, president of the newly created National Institute of State Business Assets; and Mercedes López Acea, president of the National Institute of Non-State Economic Actors.
"From now on, companies will set their prices and will also determine the salaries they pay their employees, each company in particular," Marrero stated during the program.
In addition to setting wages and prices, state-owned companies will be able to approve their annual economic plan, determine the allocation of their profits, outline their long-term strategy, and authorize their major investments without relying on central authorities.
Another significant development is the removal of the requirement for prior authorization from the Ministry of Economy and Planning to establish new businesses.
"There will no longer be a requirement for prior authorization from the Ministry of Economy and Planning to create companies, which provides significant flexibility for the diversity and dynamism that the Cuban business fabric needs," noted Vega Amato.
On June 29, 2026, the Official Gazette published Decree 144 which establishes the National Institute of State Business Assets, an organization that will come into effect around July 29. Its officials were quick to clarify that this is not a new layer of bureaucracy: "This institute does not interfere with the autonomy of companies, does not direct them, does not manage them. It is not a super-ministry, as some have expressed," said Marrero.
The declared function of the institute is to represent the State as the owner of the means of production and to control three key indicators: return on state investment, growth in profits, and income from exports and foreign currency.
The reform package also includes the transformation of state-owned enterprises into joint-stock companies, with possible participation from national and foreign private capital, as well as individuals.
Of the approximately 2,800 companies that make up the Cuban business network, only 300 currently operate under that model. The entities will be classified into four categories —strategic, competitive, socially oriented, and high technology— with the competitive and technological ones being the first candidates to become commercial companies.
Marrero emphasized that the bidding for the essential means of production must be public: “The bidding for the essential means of production that will be offered and managed has to be public. We cannot make mistakes here. This is something important.”
For the private sector, the 176 measures eliminate the cap of 100 workers for small and medium-sized enterprises, authorize the creation of private banks under the supervision of the Central Bank, and establish the gradual elimination of the rationing booklet, replacing universal subsidies with targeted assistance for vulnerable individuals.
The announcement comes amid a severe economic crisis characterized by prolonged blackouts, widespread shortages, rampant inflation, and a massive exodus of the population—direct consequences of over six decades of a centralized model that these reforms seek, at least on paper, to begin dismantling.
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