The Cuban state maintains a monopoly on the retail sale of cars.

The government said about 30 percent of autos sold with government approval last year were quickly resold, indicating that the system was causing “speculation and enrichment.”

The new measures, which will be implemented “gradually,” will set a minimum price for auto sales, which the government can tax to help pay for better public transport.

The liberalizing of car sales was one of more than 300 reforms put forth by President Raul Castro, who took over for his ailing brother Fidel in 2008, and approved in 2011 at a congress of the Communist Party, Cuba's only legal political party.

The proposed changes put a greater emphasis on private initiative, which had been largely stifled under Cuba's Soviet-style system, and less government control over the sale and purchase of personal property such as homes and cars.

"It took me months to get a famous letter of authorization to buy a car after going on two international missions, and I had to see a number of people," said Antonio, a doctor who asked that his last name not be used.

"Now it will be much easier to buy a car, and this eliminates the corruption that regulations and controls always spawn."

There are now tens of thousands of small private businesses in Cuba, and thousands of farm, construction, transportation and other types of cooperatives, all of which should benefit from the new regulations. Many Cubans who receive money from relatives living abroad should also be helped.

"Of course this will help us," said farmer Jose Cuesta, a member of a cooperative in central Camaguey province.

"We have members who want to buy a Jeep or pickup truck, and now they do not have to wait for authorization from anyone," he said in a telephone interview.

Bert Hoffmann, a Cuba expert at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies in Hamburg, Germany, said the measure was a positive step, but state prices would be high due to a lack of competition.