One of the key sectors for any economy, exports and foreign investments, had a deplorable year in the Cuba of 2024, according to the results presented during a government meeting summarized Wednesday by the newspaper Granma.
The head of the sector, Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, admitted that, in terms of exports, there is a decreasing trend and the planned is not met.
At the end of 2024, he explained, 34.9 % in the goods, and in the services it was fulfilled in 69 % in relation to the approved plan, decreasing in 2 %, compared to the previous period.
As a Consuelo fact, the manager meant that exports of the 15 productive poles increased by 5.5 %, as well as in five new products and 18 export markets.
Traditional heads downhill
“Traditional items have a market and no more is exported because it does not occur. Only tobacco grows in values and not in quantity, ”he told the poor results that he justified with the lack of financial resources for the timely acquisition of raw materials.
Among those assets of the Cuban exportable portfolio are tobacco, rums, coffee, sugar, nickel, honey, shellfish, cocoa, charcoal and fruits and vegetables.
On imports, Pérez-Liva Fraga stressed that the plan is fulfilled by 72 % due to the expenditure of foreign exchange for imports of goods that could be obtained in Cuba and changes in the purchase structure of the non-state management form, among other factors that the story of Granma Do not quote or explain.
Foreign investment
According to the manager, despite the crisis prevailing in Cuba, business interests are continued to make foreign investment, but, in contrast, the volume of business required to boost the economy is not yet achieved.
At the end of the year 2024, a total of 359 businesses from investors from 40 countries are operational, but the report did not reveal the financial amount of these investments.
He just enunciated that it is breached with sales indicators, exports and imports, and that businesses are, fundamentally, in the sectors of tourism, mining, agribusiness, food production and hygiene and hygiene, among others.
Cuba needs a foreign investment regime that provides two thousand 500 million dollars annually, but US sanctions, excessive bureaucracy, lack of liquidity, shortage, and regulatory uncertainty negatively affect the decision of investors.
In addition, the legal framework forces to hire personnel through state entities, which becomes an additional obstacle by investors, since they limit their control over the process.
Minister Pérez-Oliva Fraga highlighted the development and strengthening of the Single Foreign Trade Wentro SERVICES AND FACILITATION SUPPORT.
The Vuce began its development in 2014, and it is estimated that it was operational as of December 2019, while the VUinex was officially launched in January 2020 with a decree that established its operation less than a year after its conception.
Find different methods
The prime minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, said in the plenary that the agency must face the problems and find solutions with different methods.
The Head of Government emphasized that the deficiencies not related to the external blockade must be resolved, and urged to consolidate the work of companies that provide import services to the non -state management forms, which were segregated of such prerogative.
The Premier indicated that it should be analyzed how to provide greater added value to the main export areas of the country, and implement the measures approved in foreign investment and incentives for this, summarized Granma.
2025 projections
According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), it is projected that Cuba experiences a decrease of 0.1% in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the year 2025.
This projection contrasts with the expectations of the Cuban government, which anticipates a growth of 1% based on the recovery of tourism, export income, and the resuscitation of productive activities.
ECLAC points out that, despite an expected growth of 2.2 % in 2024 for Latin America and the Caribbean, the region in general faces a “low capacity to grow”, with growth rates that depend more on private consumption than investment.
“In terms of economic growth, the situation of Cuba is considerably worse than that of the average of Latin America and the Caribbean because if the region grew 0.9 % between 2013 and 2023, Cuba barely grew by 0.25 % in that same period ”, Commented on the social network X Cuban economist Pedro Monreal.
According to this academic, “Cuba fits clearly in a situation of” low capacity to transform, to manage modernization and development “, the main result of the sum of government incompetence and the obsolete institutional framework defined in the” conceptualization. “
https://x.com/pmmonreal/status/1892190299906084878
