Cuban 2004 Social Security Budget up 3 Percent

Cuba allocated 2 billion 159 million pesos (US $ at the official exchange rate) to social security in 2004 to cover assistance to more than one million retired and pensioners.

The figure represents a three percent increase over the 2003 budget, indicated Georgina Barreiro, Minister of Finance and Prices.

In a report submitted to the Cuban Legislature, Barreiro noted that 580 million pesos will permit the functioning of more than 300 centers and 358,769 people will benefit from the different programs of social assistance, including attention to disabled people and mothers with severely disabled children.

In Cuba, this assistance is an obligation of the State, different from other countries where obligations with the working class are forgotten.

Cuban social security should not only be measured in numbers but also in deeds, since despite the economic blockade imposed by the United States for more than 40 years no retired or pensioned person has gone without their monthly payment.

Social security systems in Latin America have experienced a gradual deterioration with the implementation of neoliberal measures of structural adjustment and privatization, specialists maintain.

(Taken from: Prensa Latina)

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