Cuba's economic reforms are progressing "at a good pace," President Raul Castro was quoted as saying by official daily Granma on Thursday.

"If we analyze the progress made so far, we can see that we are progressing at a good pace," Castro told a cabinet meeting in Havana Tuesday night.

He said the government could not solve all problems overnight given the "magnitude and complexity of the problems," adding that "we must resist pressure from those who insist we should be moving faster."

Castro urged officials to "systematically" improve the quality and efficiency in economic planning, and hailed the ruling Communist Party's programs as having "helped us to work in a more orderly and disciplined way."

The ministers at the meeting discussed economic and budget plans for 2014 and more flexibility in financial dealings.

Since officially assuming power in 2008, Castro has gradually introduced a series of reforms to modernize the country's economic model to spur productivity and trim the public sector, by far the country's biggest employer.