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Cuban Government Restricts Fuel Consumption
By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA (IPS) - The Cuban government will restrict fuel supplies over the next few months due to high international oil prices and a major slump in the country's revenues from sugar.
However, local authorities said they would attempt to ease the impact of the measure on the people, especially with respect to power supplies.
Spending on oil imports was considerably higher than expected in the first quarter, leading to net losses of 80 to 85 million dollars, said Cuban minister of Economy and Planning José Luis Rodríguez in statements published by the state-monopolised press earlier this week.
Rodríguez reported on the state of the economy at a meeting presided over by Vice-President Carlos Lage, one of the chief architects of the policies and reforms aimed at reactivating the economy after the trauma caused by the break-up of the Soviet Union and the disappearance of the east European socialist bloc.
The minister added that expenditure for the April to June period - when oil prices were even higher than the first quarter - had not yet been calculated. He pointed out, however, that prices ranged from 28 to 30 dollars a barrel in the second quarter, double the level seen a year ago, which clearly drove up the cost of imports.
On the other hand, Cuba's sugar exports, selling at an average price of just over six cents a pound, brought in 60 to 65 million dollars less than was forecast, said Rodríguez - who added, moreover, that improvements were not expected.
The minister said ''adjustments'' in fuel consumption were the only alternative, although he assured that the government would apply the restrictions in a ''differentiated'' manner to make sure utilities and services most ''directly linked'' to the people were the least affected.
The ruling Communist Party's official daily newspaper 'Granma' reported that the limits on consumption would first be set on gasoline, which is distributed by means of vouchers to state-run companies and private owners of transport vehicles.
Rodríguez said the government would make sure power supplies were not affected, especially given the proximity of summer vacation season (July-August).
However, the announcements caused nervousness regarding the possibility of a return to frequent blackouts, because an energy- saving programme that schedules outages of up to four hours a day remains in effect (even though it is practically no longer applied, especially in the capital).
Around 50 percent of the electricity consumed in Cuba is generated by nationally-produced oil. But the country continues to depend on imports to meet the rest of its needs, estimated at around seven million tonnes a year at a bare minimum.
Up to the 1990s, Cuba purchased 13 million tonnes a year of petroleum from the Soviet Union (USSR) at preferential prices. It is not yet clear what will happen this year with a 1999 agreement committing Russia, which inherited the obligations of the defunct USSR, to supply Havana with 1.5 million tonnes of crude in exchange for 800,000 tonnes of sugar.
Cuba produced 2.14 million tonnes of oil last year, 27 percent higher than the 1998 total of 1.65 million tonnes, and 664,000 tonnes more than in 1997.
Despite the disheartening figures supplied by the minister of economy and planning, Vice-President Lagos said the economy had posted ''encouraging signs'' so far this year, according to 'Granma'.
Lage said growth outstripped projections in almost all branches of production and services, while ''improvements'' were seen in the regulated distribution of basic commodities.
The government has found itself forced to implement restrictions and ''adjust'' funding as the only way to face up to its financial limitations, said Lage, who forecast a long period of high oil prices.
Cuban authorities, who hope to see increasing local oil output, recently put an area of around 112,000 square kms, divided into 59 blocs, of its Exclusive Economic Zone in the Gulf of Mexico, up to tender.
Manuel Marrero, an adviser to the ministry of basic industry, told the specialised weekly 'Opciones' that the information needed to begin drilling would be ready to hand over to prospective partners from abroad in November.
Companies from countries like Brazil, Canada, Spain, France and Britain have been involved in exploration for and production of hydrocarbons in Cuba since the 1990s, investing around 600 million dollars so far.
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