Food queues are a daily ordeal Cubans have endured for about 60 years of communist rule, but now worsened by the coronavirus pandemic, a steep economic downturn and tightened US sanctions Yamil LAGE AFP
France 24: Cuba slaps new tax on food sales as economic woes hit hard
Havana (AFP) – Cuba on Saturday announced a new 10 percent tax on retail food sales, as the country endures economic woes marked by rampant inflation.
The levy taking effect Monday will target self-employed people and small- and medium-sized companies in the retail food sector, said the decree published in the official government gazette.
These sales were only allowed starting in August of last year as part of reforms in the communist run island. Cuban economist Pedro Monreal wrote on Twitter that the new tax will probably have two effects: higher food prices and more inequality among the Cuban people.
Monreal said it will hurt "lower income households that spend a relatively higher percentage of their resources on food." Monetary reforms applied last year caused prices of goods and services to shoot up in Cuba, mainly those of food. Inflation last year came in at 70 percent.
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WNU Editor: The more things change, the more things stay the same in Cuba .... In Cuba, queueing for hours 'just to be able to eat' (France 24), or get worse .... Cuba runs out of milk, breaking Castro's promise (France 24).
And for those who protest, years in jail .... They dared to protest last July. Now these Cubans are facing years in jail (CNN).
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