MIAMI, United States. — The Cuban economist Pedro Monreal criticized this Tuesday the policies implemented by the Cuban regime to stop inflation on the island, which —he assured— are not working.
Monreal offered in Twitter valuations on the behavior of inflation based on official data offered by the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI). In this sense, he indicated that the measures taken by the regime have not been able to control the rise in prices.
“Official data from February 2023 indicate that the anti-inflationary policy is not being effective in Cuba. Headline year-on-year inflation continues to accelerate (compared to the similar month of the previous year). The increase in food prices is even more serious,” said the expert.
Questioned about the existence of an inflationary policy in Cuba, Monreal opined that it exists, but that it is ineffective.
1/9 What was previously expressed about the fact that the anti-inflationary policy is not being effective in Cuba has motivated comments and doubts regarding the very existence of such a policy. My opinion is that it exists and that it is ineffective https://t.co/vAeYpruIDG
— Pedro Monreal (@pmmonreal) March 22, 2023
The economist stressed that despite having announced in December 2022 a macroeconomic stabilization program in Cuba, with an anti-inflationary orientation, the discursive continues to predominate with a lack of details, except with regard to the aspect of fiscal policy.
“The availability of more information on fiscal measures indicates that the government has designed and implements specific actions with an anti-inflationary bias, although this is not equivalent to accepting that these actions have still been effective,” he said.
According to Monreal, the crusade against inflation in Cuba continues to collide, among other issues, against the dynamics of the island’s exchange market.
“The inability of the partial actions of the Cuban government to be able to establish a vigorous exchange market reveals one of the ‘nodes’ that would have to be cut with economic policy decisions that still do not seem to be in sight.”
The expert indicated that any anti-inflationary strategy in Cuba should include increasing food production.
“The increase in national food production, although it could not be strictly considered as part of a macroeconomic stabilization program, is the central component of any anti-inflationary program in Cuba,” the economist concluded.
