Cuba has allowed private companies to operate in most sectors

Cuba has announced that it will allow private companies to operate in most sectors, which is seen as a major reform of the state-controlled economy. Cuban Labor Minister Marta Elena Feito said the list of sectors in which private enterprise would be allowed had expanded from 127 to more than 2,000. Only a minority of sectors will be retained by the state, the minister said. The BBC portal informs about it. The economy of the communist country was seriously affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the American sanctions adopted by the administration of President Donald Trump. Last year, the Cuban economy contracted by 11 percent, its worst decline in almost three decades, and Cubans began to face a shortage of basic goods. According to Cuban economists, the government's decision effectively opens up all the island's economic activity to some form of private enterprise, said Will Grant, the BBC's Havana correspondent. It will be a significant stimulus for those families and individuals who hope to turn their very small businesses into medium-sized businesses, Grant said. However, the BBC correspondent added that given the tendency of slow reforms in Cuba, it will probably take some time for the changes to be noticeable in normal economic life.