CUBA eased up on restrictions on private vendors and imports on Wednesday.

The reforms would allow for the import and resale of some goods and medicines from other countries, loosen restrictions on oil extraction for foreign companies and implement other changes at a time when the country is plagued by medical and energy shortages.

The measures, which were approved by the parliament last month and went into effect on Wednesday, come as Cuba has been pushed to the brink by an illegal oil blockade imposed by the United States since January.

The move by the Trump administration, meant to put pressure on the government, worsened already crippling blackouts, cut workers off from public transport, crippled infrastructure and deepened shortages in medicine and food.

Last month, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the reforms were necessary because the country “simply cannot continue on its current course.”

In total, the government said it was removing 46 of the 125 prohibitions it had on private industry, and relaxed 35 other regulations.

Medicines can now also be sold by private pharmacies.

Many welcomed the loosening of the restrictions.

Francisco Carbajal, a retiree who suffers from seizures, said it gives him hope things would improve.

He said: “What I really want is that there are medications available, because I have diabetic neuropathy and carbamazepine hasn’t arrived at my pharmacy in a long time.

“Without it, I’m helpless, because I get epileptic seizures.”

The government also gave the green light for private care facilities for elderly Cubans.

The new measures would also make it easier to import electric vehicles, which are rapidly becoming a crucial alternative to get around the island where the public transport system has largely collapsed due to petrol shortages.

Lazara Mercedes Lopez Acea, president of the National Institute of Non-State Economic Actors, said the latest reforms “truly allow and facilitate the participation of non-state economic actors in the country’s economy.”