HAVANA, July 21 (Xinhua) -- The government spent 51 percent of its national budget on education, health and social welfare last year, Cuban Finance Minister Lina Pedraza said on Saturday.
"Cuba devoted great resources to health, social assistance and education in 2017," Pedraza told some 600 lawmakers at a meeting of the National Assembly, Cuba's parliament.
According to Pedraza, more than 10.7 billion pesos (10.7 billion U.S. dollars as per the Cuban central bank exchange rate) was invested in public healthcare and social assistance programs and 8.1 billion pesos ( 8.1 billion dollars) in education.
Cuba's fiscal accounts showed revenues surpassed expenses by 3 percent.
Tax revenues, mainly from state-owned companies, accounted for 74 percent of the budget, though the contribution of the private sector rose to 11 percent of tax earnings.
However, certain factors impeded the full execution of the budget, including financial constraints, a three-year drought, lack of oil, U.S. sanctions and the impact of Hurricane Irma, Pedraza said.
