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Cuba, in the grip of a serious economic crisis, is running short of toilet paper and may not get sufficient supplies until the end of the year, officials with state-run companies said on Friday.
Officials said they were lowering the prices of 24 basic goods to help Cubans get through the difficulties provoked in part by the global financial crisis and three destructive hurricanes that struck the island last year.
"The corporation has taken all the steps so that at the end of the year there will be an important importation of toilet paper," an official with state conglomerate Cimex said on state-run Radio Rebelde.
Cuba both imports toilet paper and produces its own, but does not currently have enough raw materials to make it, he said.
One of the measures taken to address the cash crunch is a 20 percent cut in imports, which in recent days has become evident in the reduction of goods in state-run stores.
Despite the shortages, prices will be cut between 5 percent and 27 percent for some food, drugs and personal hygiene products, officials said.
Ana Maria Ortega, deputy director for retail conglomerate TRD Caribe, said there will be no shortage of basic goods.
"The conditions are in place to maintain the supply of essential products," she said on the same radio program.
President Raul Castro told the National Assembly last week that the government had cut its spending budget for the second time this year and has been renegotiating its debt and payments with foreign providers.
Cuba said that last year's hurricanes did $10 billion worth of damage that forced the government to spend heavily on imports of food and reconstruction products.
Castro has taken various steps to boost output, including putting more state-owned land in private hands and pushing for salaries to be based on productivity.
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(Agencies)
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古巴國企官員于上周五稱，該國深陷嚴重經濟危機，廁紙告急，而且這種狀況有可能持續到年底。
古巴官方表示，將降低24種基本商品的價格，來幫助古巴人民度過經濟困境。全球金融危機和去年三次破壞性颶風的襲擊，是誘發島國古巴此次經濟困境的部分原因。
古巴大型國企Cimex的一位官員在國有媒體“起義軍電臺”節目上說：“公司已經采取各種措施，以確保在年底前能進口大量衛生紙。
他表示，古巴不僅進口衛生紙，還自己生產。但由于原料缺乏，目前已無法生產衛生紙。
為應對經濟壓力，政府采取的措施之一是將商品進口量削減20%，這一措施的效果近日已非常明顯，因為國營商店中的貨品已經減少了。
政府表示，盡管貨源緊缺，但還會將某些食品、藥品和個人衛生用品的價格降低5%至27%。
古巴“TRD加勒比”零售集團副總裁安娜?瑪麗亞?奧爾特加表示，基本生活物資不會出現短缺。
她在同一檔電臺節目中說：“從目前的情況來看，必需物品的供應能夠得到保證。”
古巴主席勞爾?卡斯特羅上周對全國人民政權代表大會稱，政府今年已經兩次削減支出預算，也已經開始與外國供貨方洽談債務與付款問題。
古巴政府表示，去年的颶風造成了100億美元損失，迫使政府在食品進口和重建項目方面花銷很大。
古巴主席卡斯特羅已經采取了多種措施來提高生產效率，包括將更多的國有土地轉變為私有，并鼓勵采取績效工資制。
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