Economist Pedro Monreal describes the plan as a “bureaucratic Christmas tree,” where each ministry “hooked” loose pieces, creating an overwhelming program without credibility.
MADRID, Spain.- With just a few hours left before the arrival of Hurricane Melissa in Cuba, the Cuban government released a new economic program 92 pages to “correct distortions and reinvigorate the national economy,” a document that, as noted economist Pedro Monreal points out, presents serious technical and credibility deficiencies.
In a sequence of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Monreal described the program as “unnecessarily dispersed, with poor definition of goals and indicators, imprecise description of actions, and poorly credible goals.” The document includes 10 general objectives, 106 specific objectives, 327 actions and 257 goals and indicators. For the economist, this reflects that “the Cuban government overestimates its competence for public management when it presents a program” of such complexity, when it has not even managed to successfully execute simpler plans in longer terms.
Monreal compared the structure of the plan to a “Christmas tree” in which each ministry would have “hooked” sectoral components, which overloads and fragments a document that should have been a clear and coherent matrix. As he explained, this way of structuring the plan ignores fundamental dynamics and interactions that are necessary for economic integrality.
Another of the critical points highlighted is the lack of clarity between goals and indicators. “The official program presented mixes goals and indicators, weakening the technical robustness that should be expected from a government program,” he noted. In his opinion, essential macroeconomic goals are not established – such as the GDP growth rate, balance of payments or international reserves – and indicators on poverty or inequality, despite the fact that there are methodologies available for this.
The economist also questioned the viability of production goals—particularly in agricultural sectors—which he considers unrealistic if official data for 2023 are taken as a basis.
The package includes increases in electricity, water, transportation and fuel rates, reduction of subsidies and greater fiscal pressure, in a context of inflation, energy crisis and dollarization of the economy.
For his part, the journalist and researcher José Raúl Gallego stressed on Facebook that “many people have not found out” because the government “has snuck in another package of anti-popular measures, in the midst of the confusion caused by the approach of Hurricane Melissa.”
He described the announcement as a deliberate attempt to make it go unnoticed, recalling that “the measures, the same ones they have been implementing for years, know that they are so unpopular, that they did not even put a summary in Granma either Cubadebate“Instead, “They simply posted the 92-page PDF so that it would go unnoticed”.
In Gallego’s publication, several Cubans reacted with indignation at the timing and content of the measures. Joaquín De Jesús Católico pointed out that “the cruelty of this communist regime has no limits” and that “in this moment of desperation that we Cubans have, it is criminal to use the current situation to throw these measures as a stone at a suffering and hurt people who wait for very difficult days and months to survive in the face of so many difficulties.”
Other users also expressed their discontent. Alvarez Roque Yordan wrote: “Of course, and no one is going to see that because they are worried about Melissa.” The writer Yanetsy Pino opined that “this package is more neoliberal than what they call ‘neoliberal’. Trying to create a feudal-type economy: at the level of tithes and slavery.” While Ivan Gracia warned: “They are going to kill the people, this is called genocide.”
These reactions reflect the climate of frustration and distrust of the population in the face of a new package of adjustments that arrives at one of the most delicate moments of the year for the country.
