New law to create investment-friendly Cuba

18 MAR 2014 - 9:21AM

New law to create investment-friendly Cuba
The lawmaker tasked with drafting Cuba's new investment law says that
foreign investors will soon be able to do business with no government
interference.
Source AAP

Foreign investors will be able to do business in communist Cuba without
fear of government interference once a new law is approved later in
March, a top lawmaker says.

The lawmaker tasked with overseeing the drafting of the new investment
law said in the official Granma newspaper on Monday that the new
legislation would usher in a business-friendly climate in this bastion
of communism.

The law will "work to strengthen guarantees to investors," said Jose
Luis Toledo, head of the legal affairs committee in Cuba's National
Assembly.

Cuba's National Assembly has been holding meetings to draft the measure,
which aims to attract much-needed capital into the nation's faltering
economy.

A more investment-friendly climate will include more favourable tax
rates for foreign enterprises, said Toledo, who said that the changes
could mean investors in some circumstances pay no tax at all.

Havana first announced in January that it planned to open its economy to
outside investment, saying overseas investment in the future will occupy
a major role in Cuba's once tightly shut, state-run economy going forward.

The changes are part of a gradual but far-reaching overhaul of Cuba's
Soviet-style economy under President Raul Castro.

Cuban authorities have said that they want to target high-tech
businesses, particularly in agro-business, biotechnology and information
technology in their quest for outside investment to help propel the
island's antiquated economy into the 21st century.

The bill under discussion would replace current law on foreign
investment which has been in force since September 1995.

That law mandated that foreign capital should play only a complementary
role in Cuba's economy, including providing funds and technological
know-how to enterprises run by the Cuban state.

Source: New law to create investment-friendly Cuba | SBS News -
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/03/18/new-law-create-investment-friendly-cuba