By Dalia Acosta
HAVANA, Oct 8 1997 (IPS)

The fifth congress of Cuba’s governing Communist Party, which opened Wednesday, will be unable to predict how much longer the economic crisis gripping the country since 1989 will last, according to a resolution presented to the 1,500 participants.

The congress will outline loose timetables for many of the objectives of the government’s development strate the goals laid out by the government.

The document says it is “realistic” to expictions in the sphere of external finances and the difficulties in the search for a solution to the foreign debt to continue or increase in the near future.

“Our own efforts are the key element in theof life.

The fourth congress, which took placetution.

In the past six years, this Caribbean islandered “undesireable but inevitable.”

The transformations have inclts of the reform were reflected in 0.4 percent growth of the economy, a figure that rose to 2.5 percent in 1995 and 7.8 percent last year.

But the ed to a slowdown in the inflow of foreign capital and a rise in the price of cres are not always based on reality.”

According to the publication, the present sito support positive performance in production or services.”

The Economic Reso1825 MVD045

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