The education and health sectors received a minimal budget allocation last year.
MIAMI, United States. – Between January and November 2025, the state business system and the budgeted sector in Cuba concentrated investment, overwhelmingly, in the “supply of electricity, gas and water”, which absorbed 37% of the total invested, according to the bulletin of the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).
In contrast, activities with enormous social and labor weight, such as “Education” (0.4%) and “Public health and social assistance” (1.3%), received marginal shares, despite together employing more than a third of the average workers and concentrating a similar part of the salary fund, according to the same publication.
The document—titled Selected indicators of the business and budgeted system (excludes MSMEs and cooperatives)— clarifies that “it excludes information from agricultural cooperatives, non-agricultural cooperatives and private MSMEs” and presents “preliminary” results of the behavior of the state and budgeted sector.
In the same period, while companies increased their investment to 100,301,428.8 thousand pesos (141.3% compared to 2024), the budgeted units reduced theirs to 11,155,179.2 thousand pesos (95.0%). In other words, the investment drive occurred almost entirely within the state business system, not in the budgeted sector that supports public services.
In 2025, in addition to the 37% allocated to electricity, gas and water, the largest shares were “Business services, real estate and rental activities” (17.3%), “Manufactured industry except the sugar industry” (14%) and “Transportation, storage and communications” (10.2%). On the other hand, “Hotels and restaurants” fell to 5.2% (from 11.3% in 2024), “Agriculture” fell to 2.1% (from 3.2%) and “Sugar industry” remained at 0.3%.
The most problematic thing, due to its social implication, is the contrast between investment and employment/salaries in key branches. Education concentrated 18.2% of the average number of workers and 14.7% of the salary fund of the business and budgeted system, but it barely received 0.4% of the investment. The “Public health and social assistance” item contributed 16.7% of average employment and 16% of the salary fund, but captured 1.3% of the investment. That is, two sectors that support the bulk of state employment measured by the ONEI appear, at the same time, among the least supported by investment.
There is also a marked gap between where it is sold and where it is invested. “Commerce; repair of personal effects” represented 40.8% of sales of goods and services, the greatest weight of the entire table, but received only 3.7% of the investment. Even if part of these sales reflect accounting circulation rather than actual product availability, the data describes a structure where trade is enormous in the income register, but marginal in the allocation of capital. Something similar happens with community and personal activities: 0.5% of sales and 0.4% of investment in 2025.
The shift towards the energy sector stands out even when compared with the weight of that branch in the rest of the indicators. “Electricity, gas and water supply” represented 5.4% of sales, 3.1% of average employment and 5.9% of the salary fund, but received 37.0% of the investment. In this sense, the State prioritized capital spending to sustain or rebuild energy infrastructure, even though the direct weight of that activity in sales and employment is relatively low in the consolidated accounting presented.
In summary, the Cuban regime, within its own business and budgeted system, increased investment in 2025 and oriented it predominantly towards energy, with a relative (and in some cases drastic) decline in branches such as hotels/tourism and, above all, with a minimal allocation to education and health despite their enormous labor and salary weight.
