HAVANA: The Cuban government announced here Monday that in January 2012 it will begin a gradual transfer of workers from state services institutions to self-employment sectors, as part of the economic reforms promoted by President Raul Castro.

"From Jan 1, the state workers from provincial Home, Personal and Technical service enterprises will be gradually transferred to the self-employment sectors and the former working areas will be rented to them," Xinhua news agency quoted official daily Granma's report.

The report said that the measure would be adopted in six of the 15 Cuban provinces including Havana and will be spread to the rest of the country. It did not specify the number of people to be involved.

According to official figures, about 358,000 Cubans are working in private sectors.

In 2009, the Cuban authorities started to experiment with turning barber shops and beauty salons into private businesses. On Dec 1, all of them became "private" and the practice is being implemented in other services such like photography and carpentry.

A huge package of economic reforms were approved last April at the Sixth Congress of the Cuban Communist Party, including the bid to cut half a million jobs from bloated state sectors. 

- Bernama