Cuba at the gates of a new economic crisis

Abstract

In 2018, the Cuban economy grew by only 1.2%[1] in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), lower than the planned 2%. In such a way, a situation close to stagnation is observed, since in the period 2012-2018, the average annual growth was only 2.1%, far below the country's development needs and the figures planned by the government. The manufacturing industry had a negative performance in the 2012-17 period, with an average annual variation of -0.2%, affected by technological obsolescence and decapitalization. The agricultural sector had an average annual growth, in the same period of only 2.4%. Meanwhile, gross capital formation oscillated between 12.9% and 15.6% of GDP, which represents an excessively low figure for any developing economy and is illustrative of a situation of stagnation, close to recession.