Cuba has promised “urgent” reforms to the way it runs its economy during an escalating social crisis and increasing pressure from the US, including the threat of potential military intervention.
The new package of measures to boost the private sector and encourage foreign investment could — if implemented — represent the biggest shake-up in the country’s economic model since the early years of the revolution in the 1960s.
The reforms, which were unanimously passed by Cuba’s rubber-stamp parliament, include opening the door to private real estate development, allowing private banks to operate and the sale of stakes in state-owned companies to private investors, including foreigners.