Cuba fails to comply with import and export plan, seeks foreign currency

Cash-strapped Cuba failed to meet its export and import plans until June this year amid severe shortages linked to its reliance on food, fuel and other agricultural and manufacturing inputs abroad.

The First Deputy Minister of Economy, Leticia Morales, told a National Assembly commission on Tuesday that export earnings reached 1.3 billion dollars, 35.7% of expectations, while imports registered 4.4 billion dollars. .

The official reported that tourism, nickel, sugar and other negotiable currencies did not reach the expected income.

The foreign press accredited in Havana was not summoned to the meeting of the parliamentary commissions.

The report by the state news agency Prensa Latina does not surprise residents who have not seen the shortage of food, medicine, fuel and other basic goods decrease since 2020 and have defied triple-digit inflation, which has provoked various protests. and a record emigration.

Morales did not clarify if the plans to import more than 9,000 million dollars and export 3,600 million dollars this year had changed.

In the comparison with the year 2019, the country reported exports for 12,600 million dollars and imports for 11,000 million.

Morales also pointed out that Cuba’s Gross Domestic Product closed last year with a growth of 1.8% compared to the 2% previously announced. GDP was 8 points below its pre-pandemic level when the year began.

Cuba forecast growth of 3% this year, while the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal) placed it at half that figure.

Havana publishes little updated information on its current account. The Government last reported that its external debt was 19.6 billion in 2019.

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