Insurance Activity Gains Momentum in Cuban Private Sector

Havana, Jan 20. -The activity of insurance brokers as a self-employment trade is gaining strength in the wake of upgrading of the economic model in Cuba, said authorities quoted by press reports.Some 2,400 people, including 843 who are retired, are making incursions into this field, giving a boost to a modality started here in the 1980s.According to director of operations of the National Insurance Company, Fermin Garcia, this state-run business mainly relies on a network of intermediaries to sell its products.

We have a plan of training of mediators through workshops, meetings and consultations with the brokers, he said in remarks to Granma newspaper.

Some 170 self-employed workers joined the insurance trade in the last few months of 2011.

Recent flexibilizations in the island´s private sector have increased the number of self-employed workers to more than 350,000 people, doubling the number registered in October 2010.

The sale of food, transportation of passengers and house renting are modalities enjoying an ever increasing involvement of self-employed people as a result of the economic updating included in the guidelines of the 6th Congress of the Communist Party held in April last year. (Prensa Latina)