Since 2021, the Cuban economy has been conducted under the challenges of the transformations of the Ordering Task, the negative effects of the covid-19 pandemic and the irrational, inhumane and genocidal economic war of the U.S. government, Economy and Planning Minister Joaquín Alonso Vázquez told deputies on Wednesday.
When offering the report on the economy in 2024 and the first semester of 2025, the minister pointed out that these variables, together with the situation of world economic crisis, burden and make it difficult to fulfill plans, projections and strategies.
“To this must be added errors, deviations and negative trends that equally affect the conduct of the economy, both at the macro and microeconomic levels,” he said.
Speaking on the first day of the fifth regular session of the tenth legislature, Alonso Vázquez pointed out that the US economic, commercial and financial blockade has intensified in recent years, even more so with the recent approval of the presidential memorandum that reinforces the economic sanctions violating the rights of the Cuban people.
“This undeclared war is the main obstacle to our economic and social development, with damages exceeding 6 billion dollars annually, affecting access to external resources, exports of goods and services, foreign direct investment, access to external credits and remittances, limiting the reactivation of the productive base and the satisfaction of the basic needs of the population,” he said.
All these factors -continued the Minister of Economy and Planning- generate and sustain in time “internal imbalances which are manifested in inflationary pressures, a fragmented exchange market and critical restrictions in the availability of foreign currency, fuels and electric energy, burdening industrial and productive activity and essential services”.
The report warns that the convergence of external and internal factors shaped the behavior of the economy last year.
In 2024, the gross domestic product (GDP) recorded a decrease at constant prices of 1.1%, slightly lower than that recorded in 2023, but maintaining the trend of economic contraction. At the same time, GDP by economic activity class reflects an asymmetric behavior, with positive records in some sectors and activity classes.
With the decrease in agriculture and manufacturing industry, primary and secondary activities showed a drop of 17.9% and 3%.
Within the tertiary activity (-0.1%), non-social services showed a growth of 0.9% (mainly due to tourism and communications), contributing to reduce the negative effect on social services, which decreased by 2% (mainly education).
The Minister explained to the deputies that, with respect to 2019, the country has not been able to recover its productive and service levels, evidencing a gap of around 11% at the end of 2024, with a drop of 53% in primary activities (agriculture, livestock and mining), 23% in secondary activities (sugar industry and manufacturing) and 6% in tertiary activities (social and non-social services).
In this complex scenario -said the minister- “we are continuously working on the study, design, implementation and implementation of a set of transformations that are part of the government's program to correct distortions and re-launch the economy in 2025”.
Priorities and data of the first semester of 2025
Turning to the situation in the current year, Alonso Vázquez stated that the prioritized objectives of the 2025 economy plan, reflected in the government program, have been directed to continue advancing in macroeconomic stabilization, increasing the country's external income, boosting national production, with emphasis on food, and ensuring resources for defense and internal order.
In addition, to gradually recover the national electric power system (SEN), modifying the energy matrix; to address the priorities of social policies, with special attention to individuals, families, households and communities in vulnerable situations, and to incorporate with priority and opportunity the contributions of science, technology and innovation in the recovery of the economy.
“The limited financial resources available to the country during this period have been concentrated on making priority payments (food, fuels, maintenance, recovery and creation of new SEN capacities, medicines, defense and national security), being extremely complex to manage in a context of crisis management”, explained the Minister of Economy and Planning before the plenary of the Assembly.
Exports and foreign revenues
Alonso Vázquez informed that at the end of the first semester, foreign currency revenues from exports were 91%, 7% lower than the figure reached in the same period of 2024. On the other hand, foreign currency revenues from the financial system are expected to reach 90% of the plan, although important exportable items such as tobacco, lobster and fishery products, including elver, have been recovered during the period.
These growths - the minister pointed out - “were not enough to compensate for the decrease in nickel and other mining products, honey, coal, farmed and sea shrimp and biopharmaceuticals, fundamentally affected by the physical quantities produced due to the deficit of inputs, energy and fuels, as well as the decrease of some prices in the international market and logistic problems”.
The situation caused the goods exports plan to be fulfilled in the period at 62%, a lower result than that achieved in the same period of 2024 (78%).
The report submitted to the deputies states that, as part of the measures of the government's program to increase foreign income and boost the activity of the export sector and import substitution, 29 self-financing schemes in foreign currency have been approved, which stimulate productive capacities, eliminate intermediaries in the value chains and guarantee their sustainability.
“The recovery of defaults in mining products depends on having a greater availability of fuel and energy, which continue to be very restrictive,” said the minister in the presentation of the report.
For coal, honey and shrimp, self-financing schemes in foreign currency were recently approved and are in the process of implementation, with results expected in the second half of the year, in which a gradual recovery is expected in biopharmaceutical products, although still without reaching the planned levels.
According to Alonso Vázquez, work is being done on a strategy that envisages strengthening exports to the main markets and positioning leading products, in addition to identifying new suppliers of raw materials and inputs needed for production and alternatives for the collection of aged debts.
In the export of services, telecommunications exceeded the half-year plan by 3.5%, although it still decreased by 19% with respect to the same period of 2024.
“As a result of the application of the approved measures, between May 30 and June 19, income from international recharges amounted to more than 19 million dollars, with an average income exceeding 570,000 dollars a day, higher than in previous periods, with favorable recovery prospects for the second half of the year,” the minister informed.
In medical services there is a slight over-fulfillment of the planned export plan, “although it is necessary to point out that the business modality in Cuba has been presenting difficulties with medical supplies and expendable material, which affects international sales, programs requested with low prices and the decrease in medical attention to tourists, in correspondence with the levels of conventional tourism”.
In order to improve these results -the minister continued-, in the second half of the year, actions have been designed to complete the collaborators who provide services abroad; to conclude bilateral agreements and promotional campaigns for international academic services; to guarantee international medical care services in the country and to implement foreign currency charges in clinics, international pharmacies and selected opticians' shops, among other actions.
At the end of the first semester of 2025, tourism services are considerably affected by the low levels of visitor arrivals to the country (1,000,6000 visitors, 71% of the plan and 77% with respect to the same period of 2024).
Among the causes, the minister mentioned the cancellation of airline operations, the discrediting campaigns against Cuba as a destination and the difficulties associated with supplies, which affect the quality and stability of services.
The report refers that in foreign tourist-days and exports of tourist services, the plan is fulfilled at 81.7% and 82.3%, with decreases of 25% and 18% with respect to 2024. In domestic tourist-days the plan is fulfilled at 92%, decreasing by 5.2% compared to the same period last year.
Alonso Vázquez pointed out that among the measures adopted in response to this situation are the selection, concentration and classification of hotels by tour operators and travel agencies, which seek to ensure the guarantee of services and customer satisfaction.
In addition, in order to increase visitor arrivals, new operations are being managed with seven airlines and an improvement in supplies and infrastructure (hotels, airports and roads) is planned, together with new business models in the management of the sector.
In the first half of 2025, exports of non-state managed forms have reached US$21 million, 30% more than in the same period of 2024. The report specifies that more than 85% of exports correspond to merchandise, with charcoal as the most exported product. The rest consists of exports of services, with computer application development and support services as the most representative.
Imports of goods and services
Data for the first half of 2025 indicate that imports of goods and services are 67% fulfilled and exceed by 7% the execution of the first half of 2024.
“Food, fuels, medicines and medical supplies were prioritized,” said the Minister of Economy and Planning, specifying that when comparing commercial imports by product groups with respect to 2024 “a decrease in the volume of food, which continues to be the item with the greatest weight, is evidenced and an increase in machinery and equipment is recorded.”
During the first half of the year, imports of non-state managed products exceeded 1 billion dollars, 34% more than in the same period of 2024.
This is mainly due to MSMEs (70%), followed by TCPs (26%) and, to a lesser extent, artisans, agricultural and non-agricultural cooperatives (4%).
rainpizza in cuba
Minister of Economy: Inflation, shortages of foreign currency, fuel and electric power slow down economic growth
http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2025/07/16/ministro-de-economia-inflacion-escasez-de-divisas-combustible-y-energia-electrica-frenan-el-crecimiento-economico/Since 2021, the Cuban economy has been conducted under the challenges of the transformations of the Ordering Task, the negative effects of the covid-19 pandemic and the irrational, inhumane and genocidal economic war of the U.S. government, Economy and Planning Minister Joaquín Alonso Vázquez told deputies on Wednesday.
When offering the report on the economy in 2024 and the first semester of 2025, the minister pointed out that these variables, together with the situation of world economic crisis, burden and make it difficult to fulfill plans, projections and strategies.
“To this must be added errors, deviations and negative trends that equally affect the conduct of the economy, both at the macro and microeconomic levels,” he said.
Speaking on the first day of the fifth regular session of the tenth legislature, Alonso Vázquez pointed out that the US economic, commercial and financial blockade has intensified in recent years, even more so with the recent approval of the presidential memorandum that reinforces the economic sanctions violating the rights of the Cuban people.
“This undeclared war is the main obstacle to our economic and social development, with damages exceeding 6 billion dollars annually, affecting access to external resources, exports of goods and services, foreign direct investment, access to external credits and remittances, limiting the reactivation of the productive base and the satisfaction of the basic needs of the population,” he said.
All these factors -continued the Minister of Economy and Planning- generate and sustain in time “internal imbalances which are manifested in inflationary pressures, a fragmented exchange market and critical restrictions in the availability of foreign currency, fuels and electric energy, burdening industrial and productive activity and essential services”.
The report warns that the convergence of external and internal factors shaped the behavior of the economy last year.
In 2024, the gross domestic product (GDP) recorded a decrease at constant prices of 1.1%, slightly lower than that recorded in 2023, but maintaining the trend of economic contraction. At the same time, GDP by economic activity class reflects an asymmetric behavior, with positive records in some sectors and activity classes.
With the decrease in agriculture and manufacturing industry, primary and secondary activities showed a drop of 17.9% and 3%.
Within the tertiary activity (-0.1%), non-social services showed a growth of 0.9% (mainly due to tourism and communications), contributing to reduce the negative effect on social services, which decreased by 2% (mainly education).
In this complex scenario -said the minister- “we are continuously working on the study, design, implementation and implementation of a set of transformations that are part of the government's program to correct distortions and re-launch the economy in 2025”.
Priorities and data of the first semester of 2025
Turning to the situation in the current year, Alonso Vázquez stated that the prioritized objectives of the 2025 economy plan, reflected in the government program, have been directed to continue advancing in macroeconomic stabilization, increasing the country's external income, boosting national production, with emphasis on food, and ensuring resources for defense and internal order.
In addition, to gradually recover the national electric power system (SEN), modifying the energy matrix; to address the priorities of social policies, with special attention to individuals, families, households and communities in vulnerable situations, and to incorporate with priority and opportunity the contributions of science, technology and innovation in the recovery of the economy.
“The limited financial resources available to the country during this period have been concentrated on making priority payments (food, fuels, maintenance, recovery and creation of new SEN capacities, medicines, defense and national security), being extremely complex to manage in a context of crisis management”, explained the Minister of Economy and Planning before the plenary of the Assembly.
Exports and foreign revenues
Alonso Vázquez informed that at the end of the first semester, foreign currency revenues from exports were 91%, 7% lower than the figure reached in the same period of 2024. On the other hand, foreign currency revenues from the financial system are expected to reach 90% of the plan, although important exportable items such as tobacco, lobster and fishery products, including elver, have been recovered during the period.
These growths - the minister pointed out - “were not enough to compensate for the decrease in nickel and other mining products, honey, coal, farmed and sea shrimp and biopharmaceuticals, fundamentally affected by the physical quantities produced due to the deficit of inputs, energy and fuels, as well as the decrease of some prices in the international market and logistic problems”.
The situation caused the goods exports plan to be fulfilled in the period at 62%, a lower result than that achieved in the same period of 2024 (78%).
The report submitted to the deputies states that, as part of the measures of the government's program to increase foreign income and boost the activity of the export sector and import substitution, 29 self-financing schemes in foreign currency have been approved, which stimulate productive capacities, eliminate intermediaries in the value chains and guarantee their sustainability.
“The recovery of defaults in mining products depends on having a greater availability of fuel and energy, which continue to be very restrictive,” said the minister in the presentation of the report.
For coal, honey and shrimp, self-financing schemes in foreign currency were recently approved and are in the process of implementation, with results expected in the second half of the year, in which a gradual recovery is expected in biopharmaceutical products, although still without reaching the planned levels.
According to Alonso Vázquez, work is being done on a strategy that envisages strengthening exports to the main markets and positioning leading products, in addition to identifying new suppliers of raw materials and inputs needed for production and alternatives for the collection of aged debts.
In the export of services, telecommunications exceeded the half-year plan by 3.5%, although it still decreased by 19% with respect to the same period of 2024.
“As a result of the application of the approved measures, between May 30 and June 19, income from international recharges amounted to more than 19 million dollars, with an average income exceeding 570,000 dollars a day, higher than in previous periods, with favorable recovery prospects for the second half of the year,” the minister informed.
In medical services there is a slight over-fulfillment of the planned export plan, “although it is necessary to point out that the business modality in Cuba has been presenting difficulties with medical supplies and expendable material, which affects international sales, programs requested with low prices and the decrease in medical attention to tourists, in correspondence with the levels of conventional tourism”.
In order to improve these results -the minister continued-, in the second half of the year, actions have been designed to complete the collaborators who provide services abroad; to conclude bilateral agreements and promotional campaigns for international academic services; to guarantee international medical care services in the country and to implement foreign currency charges in clinics, international pharmacies and selected opticians' shops, among other actions.
At the end of the first semester of 2025, tourism services are considerably affected by the low levels of visitor arrivals to the country (1,000,6000 visitors, 71% of the plan and 77% with respect to the same period of 2024).
Among the causes, the minister mentioned the cancellation of airline operations, the discrediting campaigns against Cuba as a destination and the difficulties associated with supplies, which affect the quality and stability of services.
The report refers that in foreign tourist-days and exports of tourist services, the plan is fulfilled at 81.7% and 82.3%, with decreases of 25% and 18% with respect to 2024. In domestic tourist-days the plan is fulfilled at 92%, decreasing by 5.2% compared to the same period last year.
Alonso Vázquez pointed out that among the measures adopted in response to this situation are the selection, concentration and classification of hotels by tour operators and travel agencies, which seek to ensure the guarantee of services and customer satisfaction.
In addition, in order to increase visitor arrivals, new operations are being managed with seven airlines and an improvement in supplies and infrastructure (hotels, airports and roads) is planned, together with new business models in the management of the sector.
In the first half of 2025, exports of non-state managed forms have reached US$21 million, 30% more than in the same period of 2024. The report specifies that more than 85% of exports correspond to merchandise, with charcoal as the most exported product. The rest consists of exports of services, with computer application development and support services as the most representative.
Imports of goods and services
Data for the first half of 2025 indicate that imports of goods and services are 67% fulfilled and exceed by 7% the execution of the first half of 2024.
“Food, fuels, medicines and medical supplies were prioritized,” said the Minister of Economy and Planning, specifying that when comparing commercial imports by product groups with respect to 2024 “a decrease in the volume of food, which continues to be the item with the greatest weight, is evidenced and an increase in machinery and equipment is recorded.”
During the first half of the year, imports of non-state managed products exceeded 1 billion dollars, 34% more than in the same period of 2024.
This is mainly due to MSMEs (70%), followed by TCPs (26%) and, to a lesser extent, artisans, agricultural and non-agricultural cooperatives (4%).