According to Granma newspaper, before the beginning of the discussion of the working agenda, the Cuban President said that in the face of difficulties we cannot let our  spirits to falter, we have to continue fighting, as Revolution leader Fidel Castro  said on December 18, 1956, when we met in Cinco Palmas, and we had seven rifles.

¨He triumphed because he always had that spirit, and 25 months after the Granma landing, he entered Santiago de Cuba with victory in his hands¨.

Difficulties after that January 1st have been greater, he said, but we have to keep on fighting without losing our spirit not for a second. ¨We have to develop (the country), have relations with every country, trade with all, not to depend on a single product, but on many. We have the possibility of doing it, here we have tourism, every hotel we finish is an open factory, we have biotechnology as well, among others¨.

He also spoke of the ideological work, especially with the younger generations, which should be approached with new styles. ¨The younger generations are different from ours, remember youngsters look more like the times than like their parents, and we have to pay more attention to that fact ¨.

Cuban economy grew 4 percent in 2015

Cuban Economy Minister Marino Murillo said that, despite the negative impact of the US blockade on Cuba and financial restrictions, the Gross Domestic Product grew 4 percent in 2015, compared to last year.

Minister Murillo explained that this was the result of having access to cash ahead of time, proper execution of credits and a trend to a decrease in prices of imports, published Granma newspaper today.

He added that material production rose from 59.3 to 61.1 percent of the GPD in one year. ¨All productive sectors grew compared to last year, though agriculture, sugar industry, construction, transportation, and communications failed to meet the plans¨.

Sugar production grew 16.9 percent, but fell 5.3 percent short of planned, mainly due to low performance and use of industrial capacity, caused by difficulties in the work organization.

The Minister also said that despite the growth in construction, they still couldn’t meet the plan because of the deficient technical preparation of investments.

During the meeting of the Council of Ministers, they approved the Economic Plan for 2016, where they plan to boost the internal reserves of the economy; direct resources to those activities that grant export and reduce imports, among others.

The plan guarantees similar expenditures for basic social services (Education, Health) as in the last years; it gives priority to power generation and the efficient use of energy.

This will be introduced at the next ordinary period of sessions of the People´s Power Assembly, convened for December 29.

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