{"id":307266,"date":"2024-08-10T12:17:17","date_gmt":"2024-08-10T16:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=307266"},"modified":"2024-08-10T12:17:17","modified_gmt":"2024-08-10T16:17:17","slug":"without-calves-there-are-no-cows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/without-calves-there-are-no-cows\/","title":{"rendered":"Without calves there are no cows"},"content":{"rendered":"

A small farmer from the southern cone of Latin America with the surname Mujica reminded us that, to have cows, you have to have calves, and for that you have to have grass, and to have grass you have to have land. With this he made clear something that seems obvious, and that is the need to understand these processes in all their magnitude and breadth, instead of seeing them segmented and separated from each other.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not an article to address the problems of the Cuban agricultural sector, something that has been dealt with in many others and by many other colleagues more knowledgeable than me on the subject. My purpose is to invite you to reason about our economy and the way in which attempts have been made to manage it in recent times, and of course agriculture is implicitly included.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our economy, like any other, is like the cow in question: it needs its calves, which in this case would be its enterprises; its pasture, which would be the sources of investment; and the appropriate land, which would be nothing other than the institutions and organizations that would guarantee that the pasture grows strong and abundant.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Cuban economy has been drying up little by little and, like a poorly fed cow, it does not give enough milk, the enterprises \u2015 all except those 268 that concentrate 80% of sales and the 20 that receive 80% of foreign funds \u2015 barely manage to survive, the resources to invest are scarce and are not used well when they are available, and it even happens that when they appear \u2015 whether domestic or foreign \u2015 we do not use them appropriately; and the institutional arrangements are often not adequate to achieve the necessary dynamics. It has been said many times, it is true, but there is no choice but to repeat it, because in the same way the decisions that have brought us up to here are repeated many times.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the macroeconomic situation according to what was published in July were to be summarized in a few indicators, the picture would be: GDP with negative dynamics; insufficient supply; fiscal deficit of more than two digits; secularly low national investment rate; inflation of more than two digits; insufficient purchasing power of wages; negative trade balance and current account; very high foreign debt and debt service; insufficient flow of foreign investment. Even if the blockade did not exist, getting out of this situation would require measures in accordance with the seriousness of the conditions and with great consistency.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What is surprising is:<\/span><\/p>\n