Cuba: Over 50 percent of State budget allocated for health and education

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 21 (ACN) More than 50 percent of Cuba’s 2019 state budget will be allocated for health and education services, was announced today at the 2nd Ordinary Session of the 9th Legislature of the National Assembly of People’s Power.

According to the budget law presented today to Cuban deputies, around 10.6 billion pesos (27.5 percent of the total) will be allocated to Public Health and Social Assistance, more than nine billion pesos (23.7 percent of the total) to education and 6.7 billion pesos (17.2 percent) to Social Security.

Presenting before the plenary the bill for next year, Lina Pedraza, Minister of Finance and Prices, said that once again it supports the principle that the Cuban budget is social, supports the sustainability of basic services to the population, social policies, defense of the country and internal order, as well as comprehensive development programs in the provinces.

This distribution assures continuity of social policies and others recently approved such as the increase of the minimum retirement pension, the increase of social assistance benefits, the increase of salary for staff working in mixed circles and children’s homes without filial protection.

In addition, measures are guaranteed for demographic dynamics, the provision of subsidies for construction, the recovery of damage caused by natural disasters and the implementation of the State Plan to Combat Climate Change, Life Task.

 With the purpose of collecting the income to support these projections, in 2019 new aspects are introduced, among them the application of the land idleness tax in Artemisa, Mayabeque and Matanzas, the personal income tax to athletes who are hired abroad, and to sailors and other personnel who work on foreign ships.

In the same way, the participation of income from the Central Budget to finance current expenses of the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo is increased and, gradually, the financing, from the municipal budgets, of the current expenses of the unbudgeted activity.

Among the novelties there is also a regulation on the contribution of companies that obtain overcompliances higher than 20 percent, as well as reducing the subsidy to exportable productions or those that substitute imports and to the demands requested by the business sector.

According to the Minister, revenues are expected to exceed 60 billion pesos, with a growth of four percent, for which measures will be implemented to increase financial discipline and increase education and control actions to address tax evasion or sub-declaration.

The state sector generates 85 percent of the revenues which evidences the prevalence of socialist property over the media and reaffirms the soundness of the tax system that participates in 74 percent of the income from the application of taxes, rates and contributions.

The Minister pointed out that during the coming year it is necessary to improve planning in the business sector to avoid an excessive increase in profits that do not respond to greater production and services, but to the increase in prices.

Despite the favorable behavior of self-employment and the non-state sector,” said Pedraza, “illegal behaviors persist to evade taxes or declare smaller amounts, so there is provision for greater control and application of more stringent penalties.

The Minister highlighted a 15 percent growth in the contribution to local development, of which 50 percent is maintained for local government decisions to create sources of income and jobs.

Pedraza pointed out that overcompliance with revenues and non-execution of expenditures contribute to an estimated fiscal deficit of around nine billion pesos (nine percent of GDP) by the end of 2018. While this index indicates an improvement over 2017, it remains unfavorable.