HAVANA, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The number of non-agricultural cooperatives has been growing due to the current economic reforms, the national statistics office, ONEI, announced on Saturday.
According to ONEI, the number of non-agricultural cooperatives has reached 440 at the end of September.
Among them, 156 are hotels and restaurants, while 135 are linked to trade and personal repair, 60 to construction and 49 to manufacturing.
Most of the non-agricultural cooperatives are set in Havana, with 265, while the west of the country dominates the rest.
A few days ago, addressing Parliament, President Raul Castro said that non-agricultural cooperatives were a valid source of job creation, now accounting for over half a million workers.
According to official figures, at the end of the first half of 2017, 567,982 people worked for their own account in Cuba, representing 12 percent of the country's workforce.
