Cuba to ration more products due to supply crisis

Chicken, eggs, sausages and some hygiene products are among the items being rationed to achieve "a fair and rational distribution" and "prevent hoarding" of basic products, said the country's Minister of Domestic Commerce Betsy Diaz.

People wait in line to buy chicken at a government-run grocery store in Havana, Cuba, May 11, 2019. [Photo: AP/Ramon Espinosa]

"In face of certain shortages it is necessary to regulate and control the sale of certain goods," Diaz said.

The minister said that the supply crisis is caused by the hardening of the U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba, as the Caribbean country imports about 80 percent of its food.

The Cuban government's decision to ration these products does not mean that they will be included in the so-called Ration Book established in 1962 in Cuba, Diaz said.

Since the 1960s, Cuba has implemented a rationing system for various food items such as rice, grains, proteins, vegetables, and milk for children and infants, among others, in order to deal with food shortages and hoarding.

The Ration Book allows the entire Cuban population to buy small quantities of basic food each month with less than one U.S. dollar.

Around a decade ago, the Cuban government proposed an "orderly disposal" of the Ration Book after considering that over the years it had become an "irrational and unsustainable" burden for the country.