The new financial framework for the Cuban non-state sector

Abstract

A cornerstone of the current Cuban economic model reforms is its opening to the non-state small-scale sector. Using the results of a survey of non-state businesses, we look at the provision of financial services to the small- and medium-sized enterprises in the non-state sector from two perspectives: first, the nature of the new credit regulations and bank policies and how they accomplish the evaluation of credit to a hitherto non-existent sector; and second, how these small business clients view their relationship with their lender state banks. We look at Cuba from the perspective of a socialist economy in transition and compare it to microfinance in China and India.