New Cuban President Raul Castro has decided that computers and DVD players can now be sold without restriction in Cuba.

From Reuters:

Only foreigners and companies can buy computers in Cuba at present, while DVD players were seized at the airport until last year, when customs rules were eased.

Now Cubans will be able to buy them freely, paying for them in hard currency CUCs, or convertible pesos, worth 24 times more than the Cuban pesos state wages are paid in.

“Based on the improved availability of electricity, the government at the highest level has approved the sale of some equipment which was prohibited,” the memo said.

It also listed television sets, which were already on sale, electric pressure cookers and rice cookers, electric bicycles, car alarms and microwave ovens.

Previously, these goods were only available for purchase on the black market.

Cubans were delighted with the prospect of being able to buy items such as microwave ovens and air conditioners that were previously only available as stolen goods on the black market.

Shop attendants in central Havana had not heard about the measure but said there was great demand for the items.

“That’s great. I hope this is the necessary start along a new path,” said second-hand clothes vendor Maritza Hernandez, eager to see further reforms to Cuba’s command economy.

The sale of many electric appliances was banned in the 1990s when the collapse of the Soviet Union deprived Cuba of billions of dollars in subsidies and oil supplies, resulting in an energy crunch and daily blackouts of as long as 18 hours.