Xinhua, Havana :
After a 1.2 percent economic growth this year, Cuba seeks to increase its efficiency and exports to reach greater development in 2019, amid financial tensions due to cash constraints and reinforced U.S. sanctions. Although well below the expected 2 percent growth in the country’s GDP, the figure is “commendable,” according to Cuban government officials, after two years of very low growth and recession.
“It’s an encouraging figure as the economy continues to recover within an adverse scenario,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said recently at the closing ceremony of the country’s parliament session.
Economic losses amounting to 13 billion U.S. dollars, due to hurricane Irma last year and the rains associated with tropical storm Alberto in mid-2018, harshly impacted the country’s monetary plan.
Other negative elements included a shortage in hard currencies to pay foreign debts, Cuba’s Minister of Economy and Planning Alejandro Gil told lawmakers.
Gil said the Caribbean nation is working on updating its economic model in a “complex scenario” marked by a setback in relations with the United States and “financial persecution” by Washington as it continues its six-decade old embargo.
After a 1.2 percent economic growth this year, Cuba seeks to increase its efficiency and exports to reach greater development in 2019, amid financial tensions due to cash constraints and reinforced U.S. sanctions. Although well below the expected 2 percent growth in the country’s GDP, the figure is “commendable,” according to Cuban government officials, after two years of very low growth and recession.
“It’s an encouraging figure as the economy continues to recover within an adverse scenario,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said recently at the closing ceremony of the country’s parliament session.
Economic losses amounting to 13 billion U.S. dollars, due to hurricane Irma last year and the rains associated with tropical storm Alberto in mid-2018, harshly impacted the country’s monetary plan.
Other negative elements included a shortage in hard currencies to pay foreign debts, Cuba’s Minister of Economy and Planning Alejandro Gil told lawmakers.
Gil said the Caribbean nation is working on updating its economic model in a “complex scenario” marked by a setback in relations with the United States and “financial persecution” by Washington as it continues its six-decade old embargo.
