Decree 144/2026, published on June 29 in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba, establishes the National Institute of State-Owned Assets as a national entity subordinate to the Council of Ministers. Although, curiously, the decree was approved on January 6, 2026, it is seen as a significant step toward implementing, within the state-owned enterprise sector, several of the economic liberalization measures announced by the Cuban government on June 18.
1. Context of the Decree
As previously noted, the package of measures announced on June 18, 2026, aims at a broad transformation of the Cuban economic model: greater business autonomy, expansion of non-state management models, opening up to private and foreign capital, greater flexibility in prices and wages, transformation of the foreign exchange market, banking and tax reforms, and changes in strategic sectors such as energy, tourism, trade, agriculture, transportation, and digital infrastructure.
For business owners and investors, the most relevant measures include: the potential for foreign investment in Cuban private companies; the purchase of stakes in state-owned companies by foreign individuals and legal entities; the sale of state assets; the conversion of state-owned companies into commercial companies; the elimination or relaxation of the mandatory use of state-owned employment agencies for certain projects; the opening of accounts abroad; direct access to the foreign exchange market; direct imports and exports by private and cooperative entities; and the authorization of wholesale and retail trade by foreign companies.
Decree 144/2026 is published precisely in this context: if the Cuban government intends to transform state-owned companies, monetize assets, create commercial companies, attract foreign capital, or promote partnerships with non-state actors, it first needs an institutional structure capable of identifying, classifying, reorganizing, evaluating, and managing these business assets.
2. What does the new Institute bring to the table?
The Institute is established as a budgeted institution subordinate to the Council of Ministers and, according to the regulation, will have a lean and flexible structure. Its mandate is to lead the transformation and development of the Cuban state-owned enterprise system, beginning with a select group of business entities to be proposed to the Council of Ministers.
In this regard, the new entity is presented as the administrative vehicle that will enable the announced opening of the state sector. However, the regulation grants it a broad scope of powers that blend state and business functions: approving development strategies, creating companies, approving organizational changes, appoint and replace directors of business groups, provide endorsement for strategic investments, propose the allocation of profits, classify enterprises, propose the creation of economic partnerships between state-owned companies and non-state-owned entities, provide endorsement and approve partnerships with foreign capital, propose enterprises, branches, and subsidiaries abroad, analyze loss subsidies, establish governing boards, and conduct internal audits.
This would, in theory, facilitate the implementation of the announced measures in four ways: selection of companies eligible for transformation, preparation of assets for investment or partnership, creation of business structures more compatible with private or foreign investment, and centralization of criteria for operations involving state-owned companies. However, it also involves introducing a new layer into the already overcrowded state-owned enterprise management system. By granting the Institute powers that previously belonged to the higher-level business management organizations (OSDEs), the new framework would further distance strategic decision-making (strategy, performance, investments, profits, structures, appointments, partnerships, etc.) from the productive base and, consequently, would contribute to slowing down business dynamics.
In principle, the new entity is integrated into the legal framework applicable to the state-owned enterprise system established by Decree-Law 34/2021, which already recognizes the principle of corporate autonomy. Decree 144/2026 itself stipulates that the Institute’s functions may not conflict with that autonomy. Therefore, for the effectiveness and certainty of the announced reforms, it will be essential for the Institute to act as a facilitator of projects under principles of transparency and efficiency, in accordance with the explicit mandate of the law, and not as an additional layer of administrative authorization that replicates opaque procedures and excessive bureaucracy.
For now, the entity’s name — “State Business Assets”— suggests a focus on assets and returns rather than a purely administrative one, which appears to bring the management of state-owned companies closer to portfolio supervision models within the Cuban socialist framework. However, this is merely a semantic inference: the role that the new entity will assume can only be determined over time.
3. What should we expect?
Decree 144 has significant institutional scope but remains incomplete from an operational standpoint. Its creation signals a phase of institutional preparation, identifying the institutional counterpart or strategic filter for operations involving state-owned companies, state assets, and economic partnerships, which will enable the selection of enterprises, the organization of assets, the evaluation of results, the promotion of partnerships, the endorsement of strategic investments, and the channeling of operations involving private capital, whether Cuban or foreign.
However, several issues remain to be defined, including which enterprises will initially fall under the Institute’s purview —the decree itself excludes enterprise systems attached to the Ministries of Homeland Security and the Armed Forces, which will be regulated according to their own internal rules— and what the procedures will be for the valuation, bidding, or sale of state assets. Likewise, far-reaching legislative changes will be required in the areas of foreign investment, commercial companies, foreign exchange, financial markets, taxation, labor contracts, imports/exports, and insolvency; in addition to subjective analyses of the role the Institute will actually play in carrying out its functions.
The recommendation remains to continue analyzing, identifying opportunities, and designing structures, but without assuming that the announced measures are already fully operational.