Havana, April 23 (RHC)-- The Cuban government has announced that it is cutting the prices of some goods in government stores in order to increase the purchasing power of the Cuban peso and help families.

The new prices seek to make a set of food items, most of them staples in the Cuban diet, more affordable to citizens. Those items include chicken products, hamburger meat and cooking oil, subjected to a 20 percent price cut beginning Friday, April 22.

Cuba imports a large amount of food, some 60 percent annually, for which it uses roughly one third of its yearly revenues.

The decision comes only days after the holding of the 7th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party, which ended on Tuesday.

The Cuban government on Friday also announced a relaxation on rules regarding Cubans travelling by sea.