Cienfuegos, Cuba.-  All the bank branches of this province, located in the central-south region of the Cuban archipelago, have the qualified staff to explain all the necessary information to all those applicants for the new bank loans that began to be offered in eight municipalities, including the Popular Councils, according the 289 decree.

Armando Valdés Herrera, director of the Popular Bank, says that the bank chain which is made up of fifteen branches where the financing that they offer is mainly for workers, the first stage was to guarantee the personnel and funding to carry out the aforementioned activity.”

“The specialists are in a phase of completion of the legal documentation and the bank institutions of the province have received more than four thousand people and 90% of them have applied for bank loans to purchase materials of construction while the other applicants have been self-employed workers. There will be other bank loans that could be granted before finishing this current month of January.” Armando Valdés Herrera explained.

According to the Nancy Alomá Tarrío, Provincial director of the Popular Bank, they have received more than 600 hundred people interested in the aforementioned bank loans of which nearly 50% of them have been applied in order to purchase materials of construction and for the payment of the construction reparations.

Although those bank loans have not been officially granted yet.

Like in Cienfuegos, the bank branches nationwide are receiving to those interested in applying for the bank loans offered to self-employed workers, growers and individuals who wanted to repair their houses.

There is a branch of the Banco de Crédito y Comercio (Bank of Loan and Commerce) and Banco Popular de Ahorro (Popular Saving Bank) in each administrative center of the municipalities in Cienfuegos that are properly-equipped to give the abovementioned service to their population.

Regarding the procedure, the self-employed worker has two options: One of them consist in applying for a bank loan for their private business or house due to the purchase of materials of construction while the other way would be for the payment of their works of construction.

This bank service is a new one nationwide. Therefore, the bank loans are subjected to terms of guarantee according to the 289 decree and depends on the quantity of the sum requested.

Local residents have only access to the bank loans aimed at purchasing the materials of construction or for the payment of the labor carrying out the aforementioned work given that the purchase of immovable assets and other necessities are not in force at the moment.

Self-employed workers, who have incomes over 50 thousand Cuban pesos yearly, will have access to common bank loans as well as tenants and those ones working in the gastronomic sector. By Mireya Ojeda Cabrera