{"id":315484,"date":"2024-12-26T17:44:05","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T22:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=315484"},"modified":"2024-12-26T17:44:05","modified_gmt":"2024-12-26T22:44:05","slug":"economic-policy-in-2024-regulatory-update-correction-of-distortions-and-shooting-themselves-in-the-foot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/economy\/economic-policy-in-2024-regulatory-update-correction-of-distortions-and-shooting-themselves-in-the-foot\/","title":{"rendered":"Economic policy in 2024: regulatory \u201cupdate,\u201d correction of \u201cdistortions\u201d and shooting themselves in the foot"},"content":{"rendered":"

The <\/span>Cuban economy<\/span><\/a> is not recovering. Mired in a long crisis \u2014 accentuated by the effects of the pandemic, U.S. sanctions, and internal difficulties and errors \u2014 it will not have a positive performance in 2024 either. This is even though the government\u2019s forecasts initially pointed to a growth of around 2% and the implementation of a group of measures to try to get out of the rut.<\/span><\/p>\n

The acknowledgment<\/span><\/a> of the impossibility \u2014 more than evident in the country\u2019s day-to-day life \u2014 of meeting their initial forecast has come from the authorities. However, they have not provided a figure for the new recessionary performance after the 1.9% drop in 2023. At the same time, in an exercise that is already sadly habitual, they have once again confirmed the string of non-compliance with government plans, while they have attacked the <\/span>embargo\/blockade<\/span><\/a> and have assured that Cuba is in a \u201c<\/span>war economy<\/b><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Neither food production, nor <\/span>exports<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and imports, nor foreign investment and tourism <\/span>could meet the projections<\/span><\/a>, while several natural phenomena took a heavy toll on the country. In this way, the already chronic hole in the state coffers has become even larger, even with the reduction of the fiscal deficit and the <\/span>current account surplus<\/span><\/a> celebrated as a success by the government, although questioned by economists as part of an \u201causterity\u201d package.<\/span><\/p>\n

President Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel himself <\/span>considered a few days ago<\/span><\/a> that the year that is ending has been \u201cvery hard\u201d and admitted that financially the country lives \u201cpractically day to day,\u201d with \u201cvery limited foreign currency.\u201d Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero recently confirmed before the National Assembly that his Executive\u2019s plan to face the crisis <\/span>has not managed to advance \u201cas necessary\u201d<\/b><\/a>\u00a0and has barely achieved \u201cdiscrete results\u201d in a year also marked by <\/span>the fall from grace<\/span><\/a> of former Economy Minister Alejandro Gil.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even so, and as they have done throughout the year, the island\u2019s authorities continue to bet on their \u201cmacroeconomic stabilization\u201d program and on the adoption of measures that, they say, seek to \u201ccorrect distortions and reestablish the economy.\u201d In this vein, a group of decisions has been made in 2024, several of which have been considered from outside the government as shooting themselves in the foot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The destruction of trust: an evil of the Cuban economy<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n