Cuba would not grow in 2024, Economy and Planning Minister Joaquín Alonso said on Thursday, as the faltering state economy tries to recover from a series of natural disasters this year.
The hurricanes Oscar and Rafael hit the island in October and November, respectively, leaving millions of people without power and opening the way to new vulnerabilities in an outdated electrical grid.
The storms, along with a powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.8 Earlier this week near the country’s second largest city, Santiago de Cuba, they destroyed at least 34,000 homes, causing multiple damages to agriculture and communications.
“The economy should not grow this year,” Alonso told reporters in Havana. “Unquestionably there has to be an impact.”
“The economic development of a country depends greatly on energy and we have had electrical problems throughout the year and not just this month,” said Alonso.
Several weeks of managing natural disasters have sapped the resources of the country, which was already suffering from serious shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine.
Cuba’s economy contracted 1.9% in 2023, the Ministry of Economy and Planning reported in July.
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