New Cuban Austerity Plan Limits Milk, Gasoline

Cuban President Fidel Castro on Friday announced a sweeping austerity plan that includes cuts in supplies of milk, cloth and gasoline, and for some workers, the end of free lunches.

Other measures include reducing the number of hours of television programming and changing the times of sports events to save electricity used in night lighting.

The cutbacks for 1987 are aimed at reducing hard-currency expenditures, increasing export earnings and balancing the budget without drastically sacrificing the country’s economic and social development, Castro told the National Assembly.

The assembly approved a budget and economic plan for 1987 that called for an economic growth rate of 2% or less--the lowest target in recent years--and a budget deficit of $141.5 million.

Calling the economy Cuba’s most important problem, Castro said that hard-currency earnings will fall from $1.2 billion in 1985 to only $600 million in 1987.

The steep drop was attributed by Castro partly to low world sugar and oil prices. Cuba sells some of its quota of approximately 13 million tons of oil it receives from the Soviet Union on the world market. In 1984 and 1985, Cuba earned more from reselling petroleum abroad than it did from selling its own sugar exports.

Higher Electricity Rates

The austerity program provides for a 20% cut in gasoline consumption by government agencies, a rise in electric power rates for consumers, and the reduction in the quota of kerosene for Cubans who use it in their stoves.

The sale of appliances that consume large amounts of electricity, like stoves, will be discontinued, and an additional 10 million square meters of Cuban-made cloth will be exported, reducing the quantity available domestically.

The 60-year-old leader said there will be less fresh milk available. During the dry season, fresh milk produced in Cuba is mixed with imported powdered milk bought with hard currency.

The reason, according to Cuban officials, is to cut down on powdered milk imports. However, all children under the age of 7 and adults with doctor’s prescriptions will be guaranteed about a quart of milk a day.

The daily expense allowance for Cuban officials traveling within the country will be cut, and bus fares will double, to the equivalent of 12 cents. Free lunches will be eliminated at workers’ cafeterias, and snack bars at government agencies will close down.

Parties thrown by any government organizations will now have to be self-financing, and there will an increase in the price of some products at stores that sell non-rationed food and other items.

Castro said Cuba cannot depend on the Soviet Union to solve its shortage of foreign reserves because the Soviets have been hit hard by the drop in world oil and natural gas prices.