HAVANA - STORM-LASHED Cuba urged the United States on Saturday to ease its trade embargo to allow US companies to open private lines of credit for food imports to the communist-ruled island reeling from Hurricane Gustav, as another major storm loomed.

'If the US government has the real will to cooperate with the Cuban people after the hurricane tragedy, it is requested that they ... suspend restrictions that block US companies from offering private commercial credit' to Cuba 'to buy food from the United States,' Cuba's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The United States was also urged to 'permit the sale to Cuba of emergency supplies,' according to the statement, which did not mention the US offer of US$100,000 (S$144,000) in aid made earlier this week to the Cuban Interests Section in Washington.

Gustav, a powerful Category Four hurricane, slammed into western Cuba on August 30, causing major flooding and the destruction or damage of thousands of homes and buildings.

In a column in Cuban state media on Wednesday, Cuba's ailing former president Fidel Castro said Gustav hit his country like a nuclear blast, estimating it would take US$3 billion to US$4 billion to cope with the emergency.

Castro's younger brother Raul became president in a historic handover of power in February, but the administration of US President George W Bush has maintained its tough line against Havana.

The US decision to contact Havana about aid was in keeping with past US moves to send disaster relief to Cuba and does not mark a shift in US government policy toward isolating the Communist island nation, officials had said in Washington.

An access to private credit would enable Cuba to max out credit lines to cope with the storm devastation, which could be amplified in coming days if Hurricane Ike, a dangerous Category 4 storm, slams much of the island of more than 11 million as forecast Sunday or Monday.

Following earlier hurricane damage in 2000, the US government has allowed cash-and-carry trade, with restrictions, which allows Cuba to purchase food and medicine from the United States, as long as they are purchased in cash, despite the full US economic embargo in place since 1962.

US exports, mostly of agricultural products, to Cuba went from US$6 million in 2000 to US$350 million in 2006, according to the General Accountability Office of the US Congress. -- AFP