Opening Next Month: Foreign Investment in the Retail Sector

Foreign investment in the retail and wholesale sectors will start up in the next few months of April and May. The details are being finalized.

Joint ventures companies Granferretero, (Spain) Farmavenda Ibérica S. L. (Spain) Camacho International S.L. (Spain), Emifoods L.L.C. and Grupo Sur (Argentina) are processing the legal documentation, operational flow, warehouses, and stores. The business will offer food, clothing, household items, toiletries, and other high-demand products.

Another foreign investment in the retail sector is the announcement by Italy’s Italsav to open a shopping center in Havana towards the end of this year.

In a meeting held on March 17, Alejandro Gil Fernández, Minister of Economy and Planning (MEP), discussed the impact these projects and other incoming businesses will have. Other companies will start their operations by the end of this year. They focus on the wholesale market with the intention of improving the problem of product shortages and ongoing high inflation.

Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment (MINCEX), and Betsy Díaz Velázquez, Minister of Domestic Trade (MINCIN), spoke about the importance these businesses have for the interests of the country.
He said these measures will help reactivate national industry. The minister urged officials and business people not to delay the approval process.

Gil said these initiatives will help reactivate local industry and recommended stepping up the closing of deals with other foreign companies that plan to start operations in the second half of 2023.

Last year, Cuba announced a new measure to allow foreign investment in the wholesale and retail sectors in the form of joint ventures. The policy was one of the additional measures to boost economic growth.