Central Bank of Cuba reports parliamentary proposals to widen foreign investment, including access for private companies

The Central Bank of Cuba reported that Cuba's National Assembly is discussing a package of measures to significantly broaden the foreign investment framework. The proposals presented by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero would open foreign investment to private companies, which the report said had not previously been allowed, while also expanding the use of economic association contracts and giving foreign-invested projects greater financial autonomy and operational flexibility. Key elements include extending surface rights to 99 years and usufruct rights to 50 years for longer-term investment projects. The package would also let foreign investors open overseas accounts without prior authorization, subject only to notification, and give them direct access to the foreign exchange market to use their own currencies. Other measures would allow real estate businesses to engage in buying and selling activities, remove the mandatory use of employing entities in favor of direct hiring, cut procedures, deadlines and approval layers for foreign direct investment, and introduce positive administrative silence alongside more decentralized authorization. The proposals also cover foreign investment in specific areas such as Old Havana, a negative-list approach to imports, direct import and export by private companies and cooperatives, commercialization of trademarks and patents, broader partial dollarization in certain operations, and changes to closed self-financing arrangements for projects with foreign capital.