Cuban Gov. Says Economy Will Grow 2% in 2016
HAVANA TIMES — The Cuban gross domestic product (GDP) will grow by two percent in 2016, a figure that is half the increase the government claimed for this year, said the Minister of Economy and Planning Marino Murillo, at the beginning of the plenary session of the People’s Power National Assembly.
“Growing at all amid the current global crisis is positive and two percent of the GDP in 2016 is also favorable,” said Murillo, in the presence of Cuban President Raul Castro.
Murillo called the four percent growth of the Cuban economy during 2015 a “good result”, especially in tourism, the sugar industry and the service sector, Cuban state television reported.
The Minister of Economy stressed the need to increase domestic production of manufactured goods to reduce imports; one of the main objectives set by the Cuban government to improve the economy.
“Everything that can be produced in Cuba, we must do it, it’s better to import raw materials for their use here, then to go out and buy the finished product on the international market,” Murillo said.
The investments planned for the New Year will be over seven billion dollars and with a priority on sectors such as tourism, energy, oil and agricultural production, he added.
Having worked on tourism, you well know that an increase in the raw number of tourists alone doesn’t tell the whole story. A hundred well-heeled Chinese nationals visiting Las Vegas to gamble at the blue chip blackjack table are far more valuable as tourists than 1000 school teachers from Hoboken playing nickel slots. Tourism in Cuba for 2015 is estimated to have increased by 30%. That’s great news but not enough to more than double economic growth.
Moses, not to belabor the fact that I worked within the tourist industry in Hawaii but Cuba is bringing in tons of money via tourism! This is just an opinion but having looked at Antonio Castro’s video’s and verbiage, he is not an idiot and probably gets a whole lot of folk who asks him is he really for what’s going on in Cuba and things better change fast. I saw that with the ESPN interview and the guy could be from SOCAL with his comments. Tourism will not continue to grow without the infrastructure rebuilt and that needs to be pronto! I despise socialism!
This is all due the many countries that have pardoned Castro’s international debts. Nothing more.
I’m still waiting for the raw numbers to back up the 4% growth for 2015. Growth at that level would mean that Cuba had a better year than all of Latin America and most of Europe. The most robust economy of the largest industrialized economies was the US at just over 2%. But all the Castros have to do is throw a number out there and Castros folks will believe it.