View source for Economy of Cuba

{{Short description|None}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox economy
| country = Cuba
| image = File:DJI 0197 crp wiki.jpg
| image_size = 310px
| caption = [[Havana]], the capital and financial center of Cuba
| currency = Cuban peso (CUP) = 100 cents
| year = Calendar year
| organs = 
| group = [[Developing country|Developing/emerging]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups|title=World Bank Country and Lending Groups |publisher=World Bank |access-date=29 September 2019}}</ref><br>
Upper-middle income economy<ref>{{cite web |url=https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups|title=World Bank Country and Lending Groups |publisher=World Bank |access-date=29 September 2019}}</ref>
| population = {{decrease}} 9,860,000 (2024)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=CU |title=Population, total - Cuba |publisher=World Bank |access-date=27 January 2024}}</ref>
| gdp = {{plainlist|
* {{increase}} $100.023&nbsp;billion (nominal, 2018)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=CU |title=GDP (current US$) - Cuba |publisher=World Bank |access-date=18 January 2020}}</ref>
* {{increase}} $137&nbsp;billion (2017 est.)<ref name="CIAWFCU">{{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=Cuba|access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref>}}
| gdp rank = {{plainlist|
* [[List of countries by GDP (nominal)|62nd (nominal, 2018)]]
* [[List of countries by GDP (PPP)|77th (PPP, 2016)]]}}
| per capita = {{plainlist|
* {{increase}} $11,255 (nominal, 2021)<ref>name="worldbank">{{cite web |title=GDP per capita (current US$) |url= https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?most_recent_value_desc=true |work=[[World Development Indicators]] |publisher=[[The World Bank]] |access-date=14 January 2023 }}</ref>
* {{increase}} $12,300 (2016 est.)<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>{{refn|group=note|Purchasing power per capita is in 2016 US dollars}}}}
| per capita rank = {{plainlist|
* [[List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita|77th (nominal, 2022)]]
* [[List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita|103rd (PPP, 2016)]]}}
| gini = 0.380 (2000 est.)<ref>{{Cite news |date=2008-04-10 |title=Cuba grapples with growing inequality |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-reform-inequality-idUSN1033501920080410 |access-date=2023-08-16}}</ref>
| hdi = {{plainlist|
* {{decrease}} 0.764 {{color|green|high}} (2021)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hdr.undp.org/en/indicators/137506 |title=Human Development Index (HDI)|website=hdr.undp.org|publisher=[[Human Development Report|HDRO (Human Development Report Office)]] [[United Nations Development Programme]] |access-date=13 October 2022}}</ref> ([[List of countries by Human Development Index|83rd]])
* N/A [[List of countries by inequality-adjusted HDI|IHDI]] (2021)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/table-3-inequality-adjusted-human-development-index-ihdi |title=Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) |website=hdr.undp.org |publisher=[[Human Development Report|HDRO (Human Development Report Office)]] [[United Nations Development Programme]] |access-date=13 October 2022 |archive-date=12 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201212055527/http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/table-3-inequality-adjusted-human-development-index-ihdi }}</ref>}}
| labor = {{plainlist|
* {{decrease}} 5,088,527 (2019)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.TOTL.IN?locations=CU |title=Labor force, total - Cuba |publisher=World Bank |access-date=28 November 2019 |archive-date=12 August 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250812023922/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.TOTL.IN?locations=CU |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* State sector 72.3%, non-state sector 27.7% in 2017<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>
* {{decrease}} 70.5% employment rate (2013)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.TOTL.SP.NE.ZS?locations=CU |title=Employment to population ratio, 15+, total (%) (national estimate) - Cuba |publisher=World Bank |access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref>}}
| unemployment = {{plainlist|
* {{increaseNegative}} 2.6% (2017 est.)<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>
* Data are official rates; unofficial estimates are about double<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>}}
| sectors = {{plainlist|
*[[Primary sector of the economy|Agriculture]]: 0.8%
*[[Secondary sector of the economy|Industry]]: 23.8%
*[[Tertiary sector of the economy|Services]]: 74.6%
*(2022 est.)<ref>[https://www.statista.com/statistics/388566/cuba-gdp-distribution-across-economic-sectors/ Cuba: Distribution of gross domestic product (GDP) across economic sectors from 2012 to 2022]</ref>
}}
| industries = Petroleum, nickel, cobalt, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, construction, steel, cement, agricultural machinery, sugar
| exports = {{increase}} $2.63&nbsp;billion (2017 est.)<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>
| export-goods = Petroleum, nickel, medical products, sugar, tobacco, fish, citrus, coffee
| export-partners = {{plainlist|
* {{flag|China}} 34%
* {{flag|Spain}} 12.2%
* {{flag|Germany}} 6.46% (2023)<ref name="OECExport">{{cite web |title=Export Partners of Cuba |url=https://oec.world/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/cub/show/all/2023 |publisher=The Observatory of Economic Complexity |access-date=24 February 2025}}</ref>}}
| imports = {{increase}} $2.06&nbsp;billion (2017 est.)<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>
| import-goods = Petroleum, food, machinery and equipment, chemicals
| import-partners = {{plainlist|
* {{flag|Spain}} 23.6%
* {{flag|China}} 12.7%
* {{flag|Netherlands}} 9.82%
* {{flag|United States}} 9.24% (2023)<ref name="OECImport">{{cite web |title=Import Partners of Cuba |url=https://oec.world/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/import/cub/show/all/2023 |publisher=The Observatory of Economic Complexity |access-date=24 February 2025}}</ref>}}
| FDI = {{plainlist|
* {{steady}} NA<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>
* Abroad: $4.138 billion (2006 est.)<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>}}
| current account = {{decrease}} $985.4&nbsp;million (2017 est.)<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>
| gross external debt = {{increaseNegative}} $30.06&nbsp;billion (31 December 2017 est.)<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>
| debt = {{increaseNegative}} 47.7% of GDP (2017 est.)<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>
| revenue = 54.52&nbsp;billion (2017 est.)<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>
| expenses = 64.64&nbsp;billion (2017 est.)<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>
| balance = −10.8% (of GDP) (2017 est.)<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>
| aid = $88&nbsp;million (2005 est.)
| reserves = {{decrease}} $11.35&nbsp;billion (31 December 2017 est.)<ref name="CIAWFCU"/>
| spelling = US
}}
[[Cuba]] has a [[Developing country|developing]] [[planned economy]] dominated by [[State-owned enterprise|state-run enterprises]]. The [[Communist Party of Cuba]] maintains high levels of public sector control and exerts significant influence over the Cuban economy. The island has a low cost of living, inexpensive [[Transport in Cuba|public transport]], as well as subsidized education, healthcare, and food.<ref>{{cite web |author=Upside Down World |date=16 October 2005 |title=Talking with Cubans about the State of the Nation (3/5/04) |url=http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/42/43/ |access-date=11 June 2015 |website=Upsidedownworld.org}}</ref><ref>Ritter, Archibald R.M. (9 May 2004). ''The Cuban Economy''. The University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 62. {{ISBN|978-0-8229-7079-8}}. "Cuban workers are able to survive despite their low wages because they receive free health care and education from the government, and they pay no more than 10 percent of their income for housing."</ref> Cuba's economic growth has historically been weak due to high [[Migrant worker|labour emigration]], import dependency, an [[2024–2025 Cuba blackouts|ongoing energy crisis]], foreign trade sanctions, and limited [[tourism in Cuba]]. The [[dual economy of Cuba]] has led to a series of financial crises.<ref name=":14">{{Cite web |last=Frank |first=Marc |date=January 24, 2025 |title=As Cuba-US relations sour, the island needs dollars more than ever |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-us-relations-sour-island-needs-dollars-more-than-ever-2025-01-24/ |website=Reuters}}</ref> Cuba is one of the [[List of Latin American and Caribbean countries by GDP (PPP)|poorest countries in Latin America and the Caribbean]] with high inflation, collective poverty, and food shortages.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Frank |first=Marc |last2=Acosta |first2=Nelson |date=1 September 2013 |title=Western creditors and Cuba pledge to salvage debt deal |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/western-creditors-cuba-pledge-salvage-debt-deal-2023-09-01/ |access-date=11 July 2025 |work=Reuters |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Colomé |first=Carla Gloria |date=29 July 2024 |title=Almost 90% of the Cuban population lives in ‘extreme poverty’ according to new study |url=https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-07-29/almost-90-of-the-cuban-population-lives-in-extreme-poverty-according-to-new-study.html |access-date=11 July 2025 |website=EL PAÍS English |language=en-us}}</ref> It is heavily indebted due to its large public sector and high [[deficit spending]], with a global [[Government debt|sovereign debt]] burden.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news |date=2 July 2025 |title=Cuba’s leaders fiddle the figures |url=https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2025/07/03/cubas-leaders-fiddle-the-figures |access-date=2 July 2025 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gámez Torres |first=Nora |date=September 20, 2023 |title=Poor nations are being dragged into ‘abyss’ by foreign debt, Cuba leader says at U.N. |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article279560859.html |access-date=July 10, 2025 |website=The Miami Herald}}</ref>     

In the 19th century, Cuba was one of the most prosperous pre-industrial Latin American countries with the export of tobacco, sugar, and coffee.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ward |first1=Marianne |last2=Devereux |first2=John |date=2012 |title=The Road Not Taken: Pre-Revolutionary Cuban Living Standards in Comparative Perspective |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41353825 |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=72 |issue=1 |pages=104–133 |doi=10.1017/S0022050711002452 |jstor=41353825 |issn=0022-0507}}</ref> At the [[Cuban Revolution]] of 1953–1959, during the military dictatorship of [[Fulgencio Batista]], Cuba was  on a growth trajectory within Latin America.<ref>{{Cite CiteSeerX|title=Cuban Economic Performance in Retrospect|author=Frank W. Thompson|citeseerx=10.1.1.824.487 }}</ref> During the [[Cold War]], the Cuban economy was heavily subsidized – 10% to 40% of Cuban GDP in various years – by the [[Eastern Bloc]], due to their geopolitical alignment with the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="Mesa-Logo">{{Cite news|author=Mesa-Logo, Carmelo|date=10 March 2019|title=Cómo romper con la dependencia económica de Cuba|language=es-LA|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/es/2019/03/10/espanol/opinion/cuba-economia.html|access-date=12 January 2023|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=GDP (current US$) - Cuba &#124; Data|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=CU|access-date=11 October 2019|publisher=World Bank}}</ref> Cuba endured severe economic downturn when the Soviet Union collapsed, with GDP declining 33% between 1990 and 1993.<ref>[Brundenius, Claes (2009) Revolutionary Cuba at 50: Growth with Equity revisited. ''Latin American Perspectives'' Vol. 36 No. 2, March 2009, pp. 31-48.]</ref> A protracted economic malaise known as the [[Special Period]] overcame Cuba from 1991 to 2001. The Cuban economy rebounded in 2003 with marginal liberalization and foreign support from [[Venezuela]], [[China]], and [[Russia]].<ref name="Mesa-Logo" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=2025-05-08 |title=Russia promises to invest $1 billion in ally Cuba by 2030 |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-promises-invest-1-billion-ally-cuba-by-2030-2025-05-08/ |access-date=2025-07-09 |work=Reuters |language=en}}</ref> The [[United States]] has maintained an [[United States embargo against Cuba|economic embargo against Cuba]] since 1960 due to geopolitical tensions.<ref>{{cite journal|last=LeoGrande|first=William M.|date=Winter 2015|title=A Policy Long Past Its Expiration Date: US Economic Sanctions Against Cuba|journal=Social Research|volume=82|issue=4|pages=939–966|issn=0037-783X|jstor=44282148}}</ref> Cuba has free-trade agreements with many world nations.

==History==
[[File:GDP per capita development of Cuba.svg|thumb|right|Historical GDP per capita development from 1829 to 2018]]

=== Colonial and Republican period (1870–1959) ===
Although Cuba belonged to the high-income countries of Latin America since the 1870s, [[income inequality]] was high, accompanied by capital outflows to foreign investors.<ref>{{cite book|author=Baten, Jörg |title=A History of the [[World Economy]]. From 1500 to the Present.|date=2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=137|isbn=978-1-107-50718-0}}</ref> The country's economy had grown rapidly in the early part of the century, fueled by the sale of sugar to the United States.<ref>[Mehrotra, Santosh. (1997) Human Development in Cuba: Growing Risk of Reversal in Development with a Human Face: Experience in Social Achievement and Economic Growth Ed. Santosh Mehrotra and Richard Jolly, Clarendon Press, Oxford]</ref>

Before the [[Cuban Revolution]], in 1958, Cuba had a per-capita GDP of $2,363, which placed it in the middle of Latin American countries at the time.<ref name="maddisonproj">{{cite web|url=https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2020|title=Maddison Project Database 2020|date=27 October 2020 |publisher=Maddison Project|access-date=16 November 2021}}</ref> According to the UN, between 1950 and 1955, Cuba had a life expectancy of 59.4 years, which placed it in 56th place in the global ranking.<ref name="unlifeexp">{{cite web|url=https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Files/1_Indicators%20(Standard)/EXCEL_FILES/3_Mortality/WPP2019_MORT_F07_1_LIFE_EXPECTANCY_0_BOTH_SEXES.xlsx|title=Life Expectancy at Birth (e0) - Both Sexes|publisher=UN|access-date=16 November 2021|archive-date=30 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210530103156/https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Files/1_Indicators%20(Standard)/EXCEL_FILES/3_Mortality/WPP2019_MORT_F07_1_LIFE_EXPECTANCY_0_BOTH_SEXES.xlsx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Its proximity to the [[United States]] made it a familiar holiday destination for wealthy Americans. Their visits for gambling, horse racing, and golfing<ref name="smithsonianmag.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/before-the-revolution-159682020/?no-ist|title=Before the Revolution|author=Natasha Geiling|work=Smithsonian|access-date=11 June 2015}}</ref> made tourism an important economic sector. Tourism magazine ''Cabaret Quarterly'' described [[Havana]] as "a mistress of pleasure, the lush and opulent goddess of delights".<ref name="smithsonianmag.com" /> Cuban dictator [[Fulgencio Batista]] had plans to line the [[Malecón, Havana|Malecon]], Havana's famous walkway by the water, with hotels and casinos to attract even more tourists. The country was highly dependent on its sugar production.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=38}}

In the late 1950s, Cuba's oil sector was controlled by three large international oil companies: [[Standard Oil of New Jersey]] (Esso), [[Texaco]], and [[Shell plc|Royal Dutch Shell]].<ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Cederlöf |first=Gustav |title=The Low-Carbon Contradiction: Energy Transition, Geopolitics, and the Infrastructural State in Cuba |date=2023 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-39313-4 |series=Critical Environments: Nature, Science, and Politics Series |location=Oakland, California}}</ref>{{Rp|page=39}}

===Early economic planning (1959–1967)===
{{Main|Agrarian reforms in Cuba|Four Year Plan (Cuba)|Great Debate (Cuba)}}
On 3 March 1959, Fidel Castro seized control of the Cuban Telephone Company, which was a subsidiary of the [[ITT Corporation|International Telephone and Telecommunications Corporation.]] This was the first of many nationalizations made by the new government; the assets seized totaled US$9&nbsp;billion.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1223316,00.html|title=Cuba After Castro: Can Exiles Reclaim Their Stake?|date=5 August 2006|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=11 June 2015}}</ref>

After the 1959 Revolution, citizens were not required to pay a personal [[income tax]] (their salaries being regarded as net of any taxes).<ref name=":0">{{cite news| url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00EEDA1039F935A15752C1A963958260 |work=The New York Times |date=November 1995 |title= Well-to-Do in Cuba to Pay an Income Tax |access-date=29 January 2007 }}</ref> The government also began to subsidize [[Healthcare in Cuba|healthcare]] and education for all citizens; this action created strong national support for the new revolutionary government.

The [[Soviet Union|USSR]] and Cuba reestablished their diplomatic relations in May 1960. When oil refineries like Shell, Texaco, and Esso refused to refine Soviet oil, Castro nationalized that industry as well, taking over the refineries on the island.<ref name="Cuba and the U.S. Empire">{{Cite book|jstor=j.ctt1b3h9jn.8|title=Cuba and the U.S. Empire|chapter=The year 1960|date=1 January 2016|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-1-58367-606-6|editor-last=Franklin|editor-first=Jane|series=A Chronological History|pages=24–33|last1=Franklin|first1=Jane}}</ref> Days later in response, the United States cut the Cuban sugar quota completely; Eisenhower was quoted saying "This action amounts to economic sanctions against Cuba. Now we must look ahead to other economic, diplomatic, and strategic moves."<ref name="Cuba and the U.S. Empire"/> Cuba and the Soviet Union signed their first trade deal that year, in which Cuba traded sugar to the Soviet Union in exchange for fuel.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=2}} On 7 February 1962, Kennedy expanded the United States embargo to cover almost all U.S. imports.<ref name=":122">{{Cite journal |last=LeoGrande |first=William M. |date=2015 |title=A Policy Long Past Its Expiration Date: US Economic Sanctions Against Cuba |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44282148 |journal=Social Research |volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=939–966 |issn=0037-783X |jstor=44282148}}</ref>

Using machinery and equipment provided by the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, from 1959 to 1963, the Cuban government attempted to implement [[import substitution industrialization]].<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=35}} This approach was deemed to have failed by 1964 and Cuba resumed an export strategy focused on sugar.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|pages=38-39}} The economy remained inefficient and over-specialized in a few commodities purchased by the [[Eastern Bloc]] countries.<ref>''The Economic Impact of U.S. Sanctions With Respect to Cuba''. United States International Trade Commission, Publication 3398. Washington D.C., February 2001. Citing ECLAC, ''La Economia Cubana'', p. 217; IMF, ''Direction of Trade Statistics Yearbook'', various editions; and EIU, ''Cuba, Annual Supplement, 1980'', p.22.</ref>

By the late 1960s, Cuba became dependent on Soviet economic, political, and military aid. It was also around this time that Castro began privately believing that Cuba could bypass the various stages of socialism and progress directly to [[Communist society|pure communism]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Quirk |first=Robert E. |title=Fidel Castro |pages=559–560 |year=1993 |publisher=New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-03485-1}}</ref> General Secretary [[Leonid Brezhnev]] consolidated Cuba's dependence on the USSR when, in 1973, Castro caved to Brezhnev's pressure to become a full member of [[Comecon|Council for Mutual Economic Assistance]] (Comecon).<ref>{{cite book |last=Pavlov |first=Yuri I. |title=Soviet-Cuban Alliance, 1959-1991 |page=94 |year=1996 |publisher=North-South Center Press, University of Miami |isbn=978-1-57454-004-8}}</ref> Comecon deemed Cuba one of its underdeveloped member countries and therefore Cuba could obtain oil in direct exchange for sugar at a rate that was highly favorable to Cuba.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=41}} Hard currency Cuba obtained from re-exporting oil facilitated Cuba's importation of goods from non-Comecon countries and facilitated its investments in social services.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=57}}

===1968–1990===
{{Main|Revolutionary Offensive|Rectification process}}

In 1970 as part of the [[Revolutionary Offensive]] economic campaign, Fidel Castro attempted to motivate the Cuban people to harvest 10 million tons of sugar, in Spanish known as ''[[Zafra (agriculture)|La Zafra]]'', to increase their exports and grow their economy.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|pages=37–38}} Despite the help of most of the Cuban population, the country fell short and produced only 7.56&nbsp;million tons.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=amgQBMT0UjkC&q=7.56+million+tons+of+sugar&pg=PA98|title=The International Sugar Trade|last1=Hannah|first1=A. C.|last2=Spence|first2=Donald|date=17 July 1997|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-471-19054-7}}</ref> In July 1970, after the harvest was over, Castro took responsibility for the failure, but later that same year, shifted the blame toward the Sugar Industry Minister saying "Those technocrats, geniuses, super-scientists assured me that they knew what to do to produce the ten million tons. But it was proven, first, that they did not know how to do it and, second, that they exploited the rest of the economy by receiving large amounts of resources&nbsp;... while there are factories that could have improved with a better distribution of those resources that were allocated to the Ten-Million-Ton plan".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/how-castro-failed/|title=How Castro Failed|work=[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]]|access-date=29 March 2017|archive-date=2 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402145803/https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/how-castro-failed/}}</ref>

During the Revolutionary period, Cuba was one of the few developing countries to provide [[foreign aid]] to other countries. Foreign aid began with the construction of six hospitals in Peru in the early 1970s.<ref name="Monitor2">{{cite web|url=http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1989/04/eckstein.html|title=Cuba Today|website=Multinationalmonitor.org|access-date=11 June 2015}}</ref> Between 1970 and 1985, Cuba sustained high rates of growth: "Cuba had done remarkably well in terms of satisfying basic needs (especially education and health)" and "was actually following the World Bank recipe from the 1970s: redistribution with growth".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Brundenius |first=Claes |date=March 2009 |title=Revolutionary Cuba at 50: Growth with Equity Revisited |journal=Latin American Perspectives |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=31–48 |doi=10.1177/0094582X09331968 |issn=0094-582X |jstor=27648178 |s2cid=153350256}}</ref> Foreign aid expanded later in the 1970s to the point where some 8000 Cubans worked in overseas assignments. Cubans built housing, roads, airports, schools, and other facilities in [[Angola]], [[Ethiopia]], [[Laos]], [[Guinea]], [[Tanzania]], and other countries. By the end of 1985, 35,000 Cuban workers had helped build projects in some 20 Asian, African, and Latin American countries.<ref name="Monitor2"/>

For [[Nicaragua]] in 1982, Cuba pledged to provide over $130&nbsp;million worth of agricultural and machinery equipment and some 4000 technicians, doctors, and teachers.<ref name="Monitor2"/> Over the course of the 1980s, Cuba provided approximately 90,000 tons of oil to Nicaragua per year to support the [[Nicaraguan Revolution|Sandinista revolution]].<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=58}} From 1986 through 1990, Fidel Castro began the Rectification Process in an effort to decrease market elements in the economy.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=28}}

In 1986, Cuba defaulted on its $10.9&nbsp;billion debt to the [[Paris Club]]. In 1987, Cuba stopped making payments on that debt. In 2002, Cuba defaulted on $750&nbsp;million in Japanese loans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.investors.com/123008-455491-communist-cuba-50-years-of-failure.htm|title=Investor's Business Daily|website=Investor's Business Daily|access-date=6 March 2016}}</ref>

===Special Period (1991–1994)===
{{Main|Special Period}}
[[File:Cuba-oil-production.png|thumb|303x303px|Cuban oil production and consumption remained depressed [[Special Period|from 1991 to 2000]] during an extended period of economic distress. ]]
The Cuban gross domestic product declined at least 35% between 1989 and 1993 due to the loss of 80% of its trading partners and Soviet [[subsidy|subsidies]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/cuba/economy.htm|title=Cuba's Economy|author=John Pike|website=Globalsecurity.org|access-date=11 June 2015}}</ref>{{Clarify|date=August 2009}} This loss of subsidies coincided with a collapse in world sugar prices. Sugar had done well from 1985 to 1990, crashed precipitously in 1990 and 1991 and did not recover for five years. Cuba had been insulated from world sugar prices by Soviet price guarantees. However, the Cuban economy began to improve again following a rapid improvement in trade and diplomatic relations between Cuba and Venezuela following the election of [[Hugo Chávez]] in Venezuela in 1998, who became Cuba's most important trading partner and diplomatic ally.

This era was referred to as the "Special Period in Peacetime",<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=84}} later shortened to "[[Special Period]]". A ''[[Canadian Medical Association Journal]]'' paper claimed, "The famine in Cuba during the Special Period was caused by political and economic factors similar to the ones that caused a [[famine in North Korea]] in the mid-1990s because both countries were run by authoritarian regimes that denied ordinary people the food to which they were entitled to when the public food distribution collapsed and priority was given to the elite classes and the military."<ref name="cmaj">{{cite journal |date=29 July 2008 |title=Health Consequences of Cuba's Special Period |journal=Canadian Medical Association Journal |volume=179 |issue=3 |page=257 |doi=10.1503/cmaj.1080068 |pmc=2474886 |pmid=18663207}}</ref> Other reports painted an equally dismal picture, describing Cubans having to resort to eating anything they could find, from Havana Zoo animals to domestic cats.<ref name="parrotdiplomacy">{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11792274|title=Parrot diplomacy|newspaper=The Economist|date=24 July 2008}}</ref> But although the collapse of centrally planned economies in the Soviet Union and other countries of the Eastern bloc subjected Cuba to severe economic difficulties, which led to a drop in calories per day from 3052 in 1989 to 2600 in 2006, mortality rates were not strongly affected thanks to the priority given on maintaining a [[social safety net]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/cubas_organic_r.php|title=Cuba's Organic Revolution|work=TreeHugger|access-date=11 June 2015}}</ref>

===Reforms and recovery (1994–2011)===
[[File:GDP-Caribbean.png|thumb|350px|right|Evolution of [[List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita|GDP-per-capita]] of Cuba and some other Caribbean countries, 1945–2010 ]]The government undertook several [[Cuban economic reforms|reforms]] to stem excess [[Market liquidity|liquidity]], increase labor incentives, and alleviate serious shortages of food, [[consumer good]]s, and services. To alleviate the economic crisis, the government introduced a few [[market economy|market]]-oriented reforms, including opening to tourism, allowing [[Foreign direct investment|foreign investment]], legalizing the U.S. dollar, and authorizing self-employment for some 150 occupations. (This policy was later partially reversed so that while the U.S. dollar is no longer accepted in businesses, it remains legal for Cubans to hold the currency.) These measures resulted in modest economic growth. The [[free market|liberalized]] agricultural markets were introduced in October 1994, at which state and private farmers sell above-quota production at [[free market]] prices, broadened legal consumption alternatives, and reduced [[black market]] prices.

Government efforts to lower subsidies to unprofitable enterprises and to shrink the money supply caused the semi-official [[exchange rate]] for the [[Cuban peso]] to move from a peak of 120 to the dollar in the summer of 1994 to 21 to the dollar by year-end 1999. The drop in GDP halted in 1994 when Cuba reported 0.7% growth, followed by increases of 2.5% in 1995 and 7.8% in 1996. Growth slowed again in 1997 and 1998 to 2.5% and 1.2% respectively. One of the key reasons was the failure to notice that sugar production had become uneconomic. Reflecting on the Special Period, [[First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba]] [[Fidel Castro]] later admitted that many mistakes had been made, "The country had many economists, and it is not my intention to criticize them, but I would like to ask why we hadn't discovered earlier that maintaining our levels of sugar production would be impossible. The Soviet Union collapsed, oil cost $40 a barrel, and sugar prices were at basement levels, so why did we not rationalize the industry?"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/285047|title=Arab News|date=22 May 2006|access-date=18 December 2022}}</ref> [[Living conditions]] in 1999 remained well below the 1989 level.

Due to the continued growth of tourism, growth began in 1999 with a 6.2% increase in GDP.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NGjxCQAAQBAJ&q=Due+to+the+continued+growth+of+tourism,+growth+began+in+1999+with+a+6.2%25+increase+in+GDP&pg=PA83|title=Cuba Investment, Trade Laws and Regulations Handbook Volume 1 Strategic Information and Basic Laws |date=26 January 2015|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-4330-7569-8}}{{self-published source|date=February 2020}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}} Growth then picked up, with a growth in GDP of 11.8% in 2005 according to government figures.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Pérez-López | first1 = Jorge F | year = 2006 | title = The Cuban Economy in 2005–2006: The End of the Special Period?. | journal = Cuba in Transition | volume = 16 | pages = 1–13}}</ref> In 2007 the Cuban economy grew by 7.5%, higher than the Latin American average. Accordingly, the cumulative growth in GDP since 2004 stood at 42.5%.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/enero/mar1/Cuban-Economy.html |title=granma.cu - Cuban Economy Grows 7.5 Per Cent |access-date=4 February 2008 |archive-date=1 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201134400/http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/enero/mar1/Cuban-Economy.html }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40680 |title=Challenges 2007–2008: Cuban Economy in Need of Nourishment |access-date=11 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204131831/http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40680 |archive-date=4 December 2010}}</ref>{{clarify|reason=until when?|date=May 2013}}

However, starting in 1996, the government imposed [[Taxation in Cuba|income taxes on self-employed Cubans]].<ref name=":0"/> Cuba ranked third in the region in 1958 in GDP-per-capita, surpassed only by [[Venezuela]] and [[Uruguay]]. It had descended to 9th, 11th, or 12th place in the region by 2007. Cuban social indicators suffered less.<ref name="mesa">{{cite book |title=Economic and Social Balance of 50 Years of Cuban Revolution |first=Carmelo |last=Mesa-Lago |pages=371, 380 |url=https://www.ascecuba.org/c/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/v19-mesolago.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume19/pdfs/mesolago.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live}}{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}} in {{harvnb|CIT}}</ref>

Every year the United Nations holds a vote asking countries to choose if the United States is justified in its economic embargo against Cuba and whether it should be lifted. 2016 was the first year that the United States abstained from the vote, rather than voting no, "since 1992 the US and Israel have constantly voted against the resolution – occasionally supported by the Marshall Islands, Palau, Uzbekistan, Albania and Romania".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/26/us-to-abstain-from-un-vote-condemning-cuba-embargo-for-the-first/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/26/us-to-abstain-from-un-vote-condemning-cuba-embargo-for-the-first/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=US to abstain from UN vote condemning Cuba embargo for the first time in 25 years|work=The Telegraph|access-date=29 March 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In its 2020 report to the United Nations, Cuba stated that the total cost to Cuba from the United States embargo is $144 billion since its inception.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Stuart |title=Sanctions as War: Anti-Imperialist Perspectives on American Geo-Economic Strategy |date=2023 |publisher=Haymarket Books |isbn=978-1-64259-812-4 |location= |page=143 |oclc=1345216431}}</ref>

=== Post-Fidel Castro reforms (2011–2021)===
{{quote box|Either we change course or we sink.|—First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba<br>[[Raúl Castro]], December 2010<ref>{{cite news| last = Voss| first = Michael| url= https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1311962.stm | title = A last hurrah for Cuba's communist rulers | work = BBC News| access-date= 14 July 2012 | date= 16 April 2011}}</ref>
}}
In 2011, "[t]he new economic reforms were introduced, effectively creating a new economic system", which the [[Brookings Institution]] dubbed the "New Cuban Economy".<ref>{{cite web|url= http://semanarioaqui.com/index.php/lucha-de-nuestros-pueblos-2/357-cuba-adopta-nuevos-lineamientos-economicos-para-aumentar-la-produccion|title= Cuba adopta nuevos lineamientos económicos para aumentar la producción|website= Semanarioaqui.com|access-date= 11 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2012/12/cuba%20economy%20feinberg/cuba%20economy%20feinberg%209.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730061603/http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2012/12/cuba%20economy%20feinberg/cuba%20economy%20feinberg%209.pdf|title=New Cuban Economy|archive-date=30 July 2013}}</ref> Since then, over 400,000 Cubans have signed up to become entrepreneurs. {{As of | 2012}} the government listed 181 official jobs no longer under their control—such as taxi driver, construction worker and shopkeeper. Workers must purchase licenses to work for some roles, such as a mule driver, palm-tree trimmer, or well digger. Cuba maintains nationalized companies for the distribution of all essential amenities (water, power, etc.) and other essential services to ensure a healthy population (education, health care).

Around 2000, half the country's sugar mills closed. Before reforms, imports were double exports, doctors earned £15 per month, and families supplemented incomes with extra jobs. After reforms, more than 150,000 farmers could lease land from the government for surplus crop production. Before the reforms, the only real estate transactions involved homeowners swapping properties; reforms legalized the buying and selling of real estate and created a real estate boom in the country. In 2012 a Havana fast-food burger/pizza restaurant, La Pachanga, started in the owner's home; {{as of | 2012 | lc = on}} it served 1,000 meals on a Saturday at £3 each. Tourists can now ride factory steam locomotives through closed sugar mills.<ref name=BBCSimonReeve2012>{{cite web|title= BBC Simon Reeve 2012 documentary|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVRlhgPF2U4|access-date= 23 September 2013|via= YouTube}}</ref>

In 2008, Raúl Castro's administration hinted that the purchase of computers, DVD players, and microwaves would become legal;{{update inline|date= March 2016}} however, monthly wages remain less than 20 U.S. dollars.<ref name="Weissert">{{cite web | url = https://www.waxahachietx.com/article/20080330/Business/303309801 | title = Cell phones, microwaves: New access to gizmos could deflect calls for deeper change in Cuba | last = Weissert | first = Will | date = 30 March 2008 | website = Waxahachie Daily Light | agency = Associated Press | access-date = 6 May 2019 | archive-date = 6 May 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190506195239/https://www.waxahachietx.com/article/20080330/Business/303309801 }}</ref> Mobile phones, which had been restricted to Cubans working for foreign companies and government officials, were legalized in 2008.<ref name="Weissert" /> In 2010 Fidel Castro, in agreement with Raúl Castro's reformist sentiment, admitted that the Cuban model based on the old Soviet centralized planning model was no longer sustainable. The brothers encouraged the development of a cooperative variant of socialism – where the state plays a less active role in the economy – and the formation of worker-owned co-operatives and self-employment enterprises.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/sep/10/fidel-castro-cuba-communist |location= London |work= The Guardian |title= Cuba: from communist to co-operative? |author1= Stephen Wilkinson |date= 10 September 2010}}</ref>

To remedy Cuba's economic structural distortions and inefficiencies, the Sixth Congress approved an expansion of the internal market and access to global markets on 18 April 2011. A comprehensive list of changes is:<ref name="Domínguez2012">{{cite book|first= Jorge I. |last= Domínguez|title= Cuban Economic and Social Development: Policy Reforms and Challenges in the 21st Century|url= {{google books |plainurl= y |id= liaWuAAACAAJ}}|year= 2012|publisher= Harvard University Press|isbn= 978-0-674-06243-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last= Perez Villanueva|first= Omar Evernly|author2= Pavel Vidal Alejandro|title=Cuban Perspectives on Cuban Socialism|journal= The Journal of the Research on Socialism and Democracy |year= 2010|volume= 24|issue= 1}}</ref>
[[File:Street of Old Habana, Cuba, Jul.2011 (5981653907).jpg|thumb|[[Old Havana|Old Habana]], Cuba, 2011 ]]
[[File:Scenes of Cuba (K5 01926) (5973629085).jpg|thumb|Public infrastructure in Cuba, 2011|257x257px]]
* expenditure adjustments (education, healthcare, sports, culture)  
* change in the structure of employment; reducing inflated payrolls and increasing work in the non-state sector  
* legalizing 201 different personal business licenses 
* fallow state land in [[usufruct]] leased to residents
* incentives for non-state employment, as a re-launch of self-employment
* proposals for the formation of non-agricultural cooperatives 
* legalization of the sale and private ownership of homes and cars  
* greater autonomy for state firms  
* search for food self-sufficiency, the gradual elimination of universal rationing and change to targeting the poorest population 
* possibility to rent state-run enterprises (including state restaurants) to self-employed persons
* separation of state and business functions  
* tax-policy update  
* easier travel for Cubans 
* strategies for external debt restructuring

On 20 December 2011, a new credit policy allowed Cuban banks to finance entrepreneurs and individuals wishing to make major purchases to make home improvements in addition to farmers. "Cuban banks have long provided loans to farm cooperatives, they have offered credit to new recipients of farmland in usufruct since 2008, and in 2011 they began making loans to individuals for business and other purposes".<ref>{{cite journal|last= Philip|first= Peters|title= A Viewers Guide to Cuba's Economic Reforms|journal= Lexington Institute|date= 23 May 2012|page= 21|url= http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/cuba}}</ref>

The system of rationed food distribution in Cuba was known as the [[Rationing in Cuba|''Libreta de Abastecimiento'']] ("supplies booklet"). {{As of | 2012}} ration books at bodegas still procured rice, oil, sugar, and matches above the government average wage of £15 monthly.<ref name="BBC2012SimonReeve">{{cite web|title= BBC 2012 Simon Reeve documentary| via=YouTube |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVRlhgPF2U4|access-date= 23 September 2013}}</ref> Raúl Castro signed Law 313 in September 2013 to set up a [[special economic zone]], the first in the country, in the port city of [[Mariel, Cuba|Mariel]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/10/cuba-open-tax-free-special-economic-zone-2013102019632154300.html|title= Cuba to open tax free Special Economic Zone|author= Chris Arsenault|publisher= Al Jazeera|access-date= 11 June 2015}}</ref> The zone is exempt from normal Cuban economic legislation.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=159}} On 22 October 2013, the government eventually announced its intention to end the dual-currency system.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24627620|title= Cuba to scrap two-currency system in latest reform|work= BBC News|date= 22 October 2013|access-date= 24 October 2013}}</ref> The [[Cuban convertible peso|convertible peso]] (CUC) was no longer issued from 1 January 2021 and ceased circulation on 30 December 2021.

The achievements of the radical social policy of socialist Cuba, which enabled social advancement for the formerly underprivileged classes, were curbed by the economic crisis and the low wages of recent decades. The socialist leadership is reluctant to tackle this problem because it touches a core aspect of its revolutionary legitimacy. As a result, Cuba's National Bureau of Statistics (ONE) publishes little data on the growing socio-economic divide. A nationwide scientific survey shows that social inequalities have become increasingly visible in everyday life and that the Afro-Cuban population is structurally disadvantaged. The report notes that while 58% of white Cubans have incomes of less than $3,000 a year, that proportion reaches 95% among Afro-Cubans.<ref>{{cite journal|last= Hansing|first= Katrin|author2= Hoffmann Bert|title= Cuba's New Social Structure: Assessing the Re-Stratification of Cuban Society 60 Years after Revolution|journal= GIGA Working Paper Series|year= 2019|volume= 315|url= https://www.giga-hamburg.de/en/system/files/publications/wp315_hansing-hoffmann.pdf|access-date= 29 April 2019|archive-date= 28 May 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190528171323/https://www.giga-hamburg.de/en/system/files/publications/wp315_hansing-hoffmann.pdf}}</ref> Afro-Cubans, moreover, receive a very limited portion of family remittances from the Cuban-American community in South Florida, which is mostly white. Remittances from family members from abroad serve often as starting capital for the emerging private sector. The most lucrative branches of business, such as restaurants and lodgings, are run by white people in particular.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/es/2019/04/26/cuba-racismo-afrocubanos/?emc=eta1-es|title= Cuba hoy: la pugna entre el racismo y la inclusión|work=The New York Times |date= 26 April 2019|access-date= 29 April 2019}}</ref>

In February 2019, Cuban voters approved a new constitution granting the right to private property and greater access to free markets while also maintaining Cuba's status as a socialist state.<ref name="freerereconomy">{{cite web |last=Baer |first=James A. |date=11 April 2019 |title=Cuban Constitution of 2019 |url=http://www.coha.org/cuban-constitution-of-2019/ |access-date=27 December 2019 |publisher=Council on Hemispheric Affairs}}</ref><ref name="somefreerereconomy">{{cite news |author=Marc Frank |date=21 February 2019 |title=Explainer: What is old and new in Cuba's proposed constitution |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-constitution-explainer/explainer-what-is-old-and-new-in-cubas-proposed-constitution-idUSKCN1QA273 |access-date=27 December 2019 |work=Reuters}}</ref> In June 2019, the 16th ExpoCaribe trade fair took place in Santiago.<ref>http://www.periodico26.cu/index.php/en/feature/we-recomend/item/16392-expo-caribe-attracts-exhibitors-from-22-countries{{Dead link|date= January 2020 |bot= InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted= yes}}</ref> Since 2014, the Cuban economy has seen a dramatic uptick in foreign investment.<ref name=foreigninvestors /> In November 2019, Cuba's state newspaper, ''[[Granma (newspaper)|Granma]]'', published an article acknowledging that despite the deterioration in relations between the U.S. and Cuban governments, the Cuban government continued to make efforts to attract foreign investment in 2018.<ref name="foreigninvest">{{cite news |author=Yisel Martínez García |date=12 November 2019 |title=Foreign investment in Cuba: Obstacles cleared, incentives in place |url=http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2019-11-12/foreign-investment-in-cuba-obstacles-cleared-incentives-in-place |work=Granma}}</ref> In December 2018, the official Cuban News Agency reported that 525 foreign direct investment projects were reported in Cuba, a dramatic increase from the 246 projects reported in 2014.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.cubanews.acn.cu/cuba/8845-foreign-direct-investment-projects-in-cuba-increase-to-525 |title= Foreign Direct Investment projects in Cuba increase to 525 - ACN |date= 18 December 2018 |access-date= 28 December 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191228014609/http://www.cubanews.acn.cu/cuba/8845-foreign-direct-investment-projects-in-cuba-increase-to-525 |archive-date= 28 December 2019 }}</ref>

=== Modern Cuban economy (2021–present) ===
[[File:Havana (Cuba, February 2023) - 4.jpg|thumb|A Cuban café in Havana, 2023]]
The modern Cuban economy continues to face challenges related to an [[2024–2025 Cuba blackouts|ongoing energy crisis]], foreign trade sanctions, and limited [[tourism in Cuba]]. Its economy was negatively affected by the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba]] from 2020 to 2022, with sudden drops remittances and tourism. In February 2021, the Cuban government authorized private initiatives in more than 1,800 occupations.<ref>{{cite news
 |last1            = Canto
 |first1           = Lorena
 |title            = Cuba opens broad swath of its economy to private enterprise
 |url              = https://www.laprensalatina.com/cuba-opens-broad-swath-of-its-economy-to-private-enterprise/
 |department       = Business & Economy
 |work             = La Prensa Latina
 |publisher        = Mendelson and Associates, LLC
 |location         = Memphis, Tennessee
 |publication-date = 6 February 2021
 |access-date      = 7 February 2021
 |quote            = More than a decade after authorizing private initiative in 127 categories, the Cabinet approved the scrapping of that list in favor of liberalizing all but 124 of the upwards of 2,000 occupations recognized in the National Classification of Economic Activity, official Communist Party daily Granma reported Saturday.
 |archive-date     = 7 February 2021
 |archive-url      = https://web.archive.org/web/20210207001840/https://www.laprensalatina.com/cuba-opens-broad-swath-of-its-economy-to-private-enterprise/
 |url-status       = dead
}}</ref> In 2020, the country's economy declined by 11%, the country's worst decline in nearly 30 years.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Forde |first=Kaelyn |title=Cuba protests: The economic woes driving discontent |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/7/16/cuba-protests-the-economic-woes-helping-drive-discontent |access-date=2025-09-22 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref> Cubans have faced shortages of basic goods as a result.<ref name=":2" /> The Cuban economy received large-scale foreign investment from [[China]] and [[Russia]], while the [[United States]] sharply tightened their [[United States embargo against Cuba|embargo against Cuba]] in 2025. Cuba has been in an [[Recession|economic recession]] since 2020, with GDP contracting 1.1% and inflation at 24% in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zegarra |first=Gonzalo |date=2025-08-22 |title=20-hour blackouts, garbage-lined streets: this is life under Cuba’s ‘war economy’ |url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/22/americas/cuba-crisis-energy-economy-intl-latam |access-date=2025-09-22 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>

==Sectors==
===Energy===
As of 2011, 96% of electricity was produced from fossil fuels. Solar panels were introduced in some rural areas to reduce blackouts, brownouts, and the use of kerosene. Citizens were encouraged to swap inefficient lamps with newer models to reduce consumption. A power tariff reduced inefficient use.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/04/la-revolucion-energetica-cubas-energy-revolution |title=La Revolucion Energetica: Cuba's Energy Revolution |magazine=Renewable Energy World |date=9 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110702035435/http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/04/la-revolucion-energetica-cubas-energy-revolution |archive-date=2 July 2011}}</ref> In 2007, Cuba produced an estimated 16.89&nbsp;billion kWh of electricity and consumed 13.93&nbsp;billion kWh with no exports or imports.<ref name="The World Factbook">{{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=Cuba|access-date= 11 June 2015}}</ref> About 25% of Cuba's electricity is generated on ships with floating power plants. As of 2023, eight [[Powership|powerships]] from Turkey provide 770 MW from burning oil.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Power Ships Now Provide About One Quarter of Cuba's Electricity |url=https://maritime-executive.com/article/power-ships-now-provide-about-one-quarter-of-cuba-s-electricity |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=The Maritime Executive |language=en}}</ref>[[File:Electricity-cuba.png|thumb|Electricity consumption in Cuba from 1985 to 2011]]The [[Energy Revolution]] is a program begun by Cuba in 2005.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=4}} This program focused on developing the country's socioeconomic status and transitioning Cuba into an energy-efficient economy with diverse energy resources.<ref name="auto">{{cite journal|last1=Arrastía-Avila|first1=Mario Alberto|last2=Glidden|first2=Lisa|title=Cuba's Energy Revolution and 2030 Policy Goals: More Penetration of Renewable Energy in Electricity Generation|journal=The International Journal of Cuban Studies|year=2017|volume=9|issue=1|pages=73–90|doi=10.13169/intejcubastud.9.1.0073|doi-access=free}}</ref> Cuba's energy sector lacks the resources to produce optimal amounts of power. One of the issues the Energy Revolution program faces comes from Cuba's power production suffering from the absence of investment and the ongoing trade sanctions imposed by the United States.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal|last1=Newman|first1=Nicholas|title=Decentralized energy aids Cuba's power struggles|journal=Power Engineering International|year=2009|volume=17|issue=11|pages=16–19}}</ref> Likewise, the energy sector has received a multimillion-dollar investment distributed among a network of power resources. However, customers are experiencing rolling blackouts of power from energy companies to preserve electricity during Cuba's economic crisis.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> 

Furthermore, an outdated electricity grid that's been damaged by hurricanes caused the energy crisis in 2004 and continued to be a major issue during the Energy Revolution.<ref name="auto" /> Cuba responded to this situation by providing a variety of different types of energy resources. 6000 small diesel generators, 416 fuel oil generators, 893 diesel generators, 9.4&nbsp;million incandescent bulbs for energy-saving lamps, 1.33&nbsp;million fans, 5.5&nbsp;million electric pressure cookers, 3.4&nbsp;million electric rice cookers, 0.2&nbsp;million electric water pumps, 2.04&nbsp;million domestic refrigerators and 0.1&nbsp;million televisions were distributed among territories.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite journal|last1=Surez|first1=Jos|last2=Beatn|first2=Pedro|last3=Escalona|first3=Ronoldy|last4=Montero|first4=Ofelia|title=Energy, environment and development in Cuba|journal=Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews|year=2012|volume=16|issue=5|pages=2724–2731|doi=10.1016/j.rser.2012.02.023|bibcode=2012RSERv..16.2724S }}</ref> The electrical grid was restored to only 90% until 2009.

The country frequently suffers rolling blackouts due to fuel shortages, and many plants are shut down due to a lack of fuel. In October 2024, the entire country suffered a multiday electricity blackout when the Antonio Guiteras power plant failed and efforts to restart the grid were not successful.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Oppmann |first=Patrick |date=2024-10-20 |title=Cuban power grid collapses for fourth time as hurricane arrives |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/20/americas/cuba-blackout-third-day-failed-restore-intl/index.html |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lemos |first=Patrick Oppmann, Mia Alberti, Verónica Calderón, Gerardo |date=2024-10-18 |title=Island-wide blackout sweeps Cuba after power plant failure |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/18/americas/cuba-blackout-power-plant-failure-intl-latam/index.html |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>

==== Renewables ====
Renewable energy has become a major priority as the government has promoted wind and solar power.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Cherni|first1=Judith|last2=Hill|first2=Yohan|title=Energy and policy providing for sustainable rural livelihoods in remote locations – The case of Cuba|journal=Geoforum|year=2009|volume=40|issue=4|pages=645–654|doi=10.1016/j.geoforum.2009.04.001}}</ref> Under a March 2017 law, the Cuban government has begun to roll out solar panels to every home in Cuba.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=95}} The crucial challenge the Energy Revolution program will face is developing sustainable energy in Cuba but, take into account a country that's continuing to develop, an economic sanction and the detrimental effects of hurricanes that hit this country.<ref name="ReferenceB" />

The passage of Decree-Law 345 in 2019 permits Cubans to purchase [[Photovoltaics|photovoltaic]] solar panels for private use and to sell surplus energy to state company Unión Eléctrica.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=159}}

In 2022, about 1.5% of electricity came from solar power.<ref name="ember">{{cite web |date=6 Dec 2023 |title=Yearly electricity data |url=https://ember-climate.org/data-catalogue/yearly-electricity-data/ |access-date=19 August 2024 |website=ember-climate.org}}</ref>

==== Oil and gas ====
[[File:Oljepumpe cuba.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Pumpjack]]s in Cuba, 2005]]
From 1960 to 1990, the Soviet Union provided Cuba with all of its oil needs on credit (which was not paid back) and at subsidized prices.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=24}}

As of August 2012, off-shore petroleum exploration of [[Oil reserves in Cuba|promising formations in the Gulf of Mexico]] had been unproductive, with two failures reported. Additional exploration is planned.<ref name="GAP8612">{{cite news |date=6 August 2012 |title=2nd Cuban offshore oil well also a bust |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/10376094 |access-date=6 August 2012 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=Havana |agency=AP Foreign}}</ref>

In both 2007 and 2008 estimates, the country produced 62,100 bbl/d of oil and consumed 176,000 bbl/d with 104,800 bbl/d of imports, as well as 197,300,000 bbl proved reserves of oil.<ref name="The World Factbook" /> Venezuela is Cuba's primary source of oil.

In 2017, Cuba produced and consumed an estimated 1189&nbsp;million m<sup>3</sup> of natural gas and has 70.79&nbsp;billion m<sup>3</sup> of proved reserves the nation did not export or import any natural gas.<ref name="The World Factbook" />

===Agriculture===
{{Main|Agriculture in Cuba}}
[[Image:Tobacco field cuba1.jpg|thumb|right|270px|A tobacco plantation in [[Pinar del Río]], 2007]]Cuba produces sugarcane, tobacco, citrus, coffee, rice, potatoes, beans, and livestock.<ref name="The World Factbook" /> As of 2015, Cuba imported about 70–80% of its food<ref name="WFP">{{cite news|url=https://www.wfp.org/countries/cuba | title=WFP Cuba page|website=Wfp.org}}</ref> and 80–84% of the food it rations to the public.<ref name="cnnfood">{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/04/16/cuba.farming/index.html|title=Cuban leader looks to boost food production|publisher=CNN| date=17 April 2008}}</ref> [[Raúl Castro]] ridiculed the bureaucracy that shackled the agriculture sector.<ref name="cnnfood"/>

===Industry===
Industrial production accounted for almost 37% of Cuban GDP or US$6.9&nbsp;billion and employed 24% of the population, or 2,671,000 people, in 1996.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cuba: Economy|url=https://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/cuba/economy|access-date=13 May 2021|website=globaledge.msu.edu}}</ref> A rally in sugar prices in 2009 stimulated investment and development of sugar processing.

In 2003 Cuba's biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry was gaining in importance.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.economist.com/business/2003/11/27/truly-revolutionary | newspaper=The Economist | title=Truly revolutionary | date=29 November 2003}}</ref> Among the products sold internationally are [[vaccine]]s against various viral and bacterial pathogens. For example, the drug [[Heberprot-P]] was developed as a cure for [[diabetic foot ulcer]] and had success in many developing countries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rhc.cu/ing/news/health/8587-ecuadorians-benefit-from-cuban-drug-heberprot-p.html |title=Ecuadorians benefit from Cuban drug Heberprot-p |publisher=Radio Havana Cuba |date=12 August 2012 |access-date=8 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531080835/http://www.rhc.cu/ing/news/health/8587-ecuadorians-benefit-from-cuban-drug-heberprot-p.html |archive-date=31 May 2013}}</ref> Cuba has also done pioneering work on the development of drugs for cancer treatment.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cubas-cancer-revolution/id73802620?i=1000384601643&mt=2|title="Cuba's Cancer Revolution" from The Documentary Podcast by BBC on Apple Podcasts|website=Apple Podcasts|access-date=23 August 2018}}</ref>

Scientists such as V. Verez-Bencomo were awarded international prizes for their biotechnology and sugar cane contributions.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ubnZDAAAQBAJ&q=V.+Verez-Bencomo+prize+sugar+cane+biotechnology&pg=PA190|title=Cuba Business and Investment Opportunities Yearbook Volume 1 Strategic, Practical Information and Opportunities |date=18 April 2016|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-4387-7655-2}}{{self-published source|date=February 2020}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}}<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Dr Vicente Vérez Bencomo, director, center for the study of synthetic antigens, university of Havana.|last=Gorry|first=C|pmid=21487355|volume=9|pages=14–15|journal=MEDICC Rev|year=2007|issue=1|doi=10.37757/MR2007V9.N1.4 |s2cid=37435797 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Biotechnology ===
Cuba's biotechnology sector developed in response to the limitations on technology transfer, international financing, and international trade resulting from the United States embargo.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Yaffe |first=Helen |title=We Are Cuba! How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World |date=2020 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-23003-1 |edition=hardcover |location=USA}}</ref>{{Rp|page=120}} The Cuban biotechnology sector is entirely state-owned.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=120}}

===Services===
====Tourism ====
{{Main|Tourism in Cuba}}
[[File:Varaderobeach.jpg|thumb|231x231px|A white sand beach in [[Varadero|Varadero, Cuba]], 2003]]
In the mid-1990s, tourism surpassed sugar, the mainstay of the Cuban economy, as the primary source of foreign exchange. Havana devotes significant resources to building tourist facilities and renovating historic structures. Cuban officials estimate roughly 1.6&nbsp;million tourists visited Cuba in 1999, yielding about $1.9 billion in gross revenues. In 2000, 1,773,986 foreign visitors arrived in Cuba. Revenue from tourism reached US$1.7&nbsp;billion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/Cuba-TOURISM-TRAVEL-AND-RECREATION.html|title=Tourism, travel, and recreation – Cuba|website=Mationsencyclopedia.com|access-date=11 June 2015}}</ref> By 2012, some 3 million visitors brought nearly £2&nbsp;billion yearly.<ref>{{youTube|id=3LoFX3uhctI |title=BBC 2012 SimonReeve}}</ref>

The growth of tourism has had social and economic repercussions. This led to speculation of the emergence of a two-tier economy<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/conferences/cuba/TLCP/Volume%201/Facio.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100725185350/http://www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/conferences/cuba/TLCP/Volume%201/Facio.pdf|title=Tourism in Cuba during the Special Period|archive-date=25 July 2010}}</ref> and the fostering of a state of [[tourist segregation|tourist apartheid]]. This situation was exacerbated by the influx of dollars during the 1990s, potentially creating a dual economy based on the dollar (the currency of tourists) on the one hand and the peso on the other. Scarce imported goods – and even some local manufactures, such as [[rum]] and coffee – could be had at dollar-only stores but were hard to find or unavailable at peso prices. As a result, Cubans who earned only in the peso economy, outside the tourist sector, were at a disadvantage. Those with dollar incomes based upon the service industry began to live more comfortably. This widened the gap between Cubans' material living standards, conflicting with the Cuban government's long-term socialist policies.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://traveloutward.com/articles/caribbean/6-03_cuba.shtml |title=Lessons From Cuba |date=4 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030628061024/http://www.traveloutward.com/articles/caribbean/6-03_cuba.shtml |archive-date=28 June 2003 |access-date=21 January 2017}} Travel Outward</ref>

====Retail====
Cuba has a small retail sector. A few large shopping centers operated in Havana as of September 2012 but charged US prices. Pre-Revolutionary commercial districts were largely shut down. Most stores are small dollar stores, bodegas, agro-mercados (farmers' markets), and street stands.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Americas/Cuba.html|title=Cuba|website=Nationsencyclopedia.com|access-date=11 June 2015}}</ref>

===Finance===
The financial sector remains heavily regulated, and access to credit for entrepreneurial activity is seriously impeded by the shallowness of the financial market.

=== Land ===
The state retains land in [[usufruct]], a type of legal ownership.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=31}}

== Foreign investment ==
[[File:Cuba-trade.png|thumb|284x284px|Cuban trade levels from 1985 to 2011 showing heavy import dependency. ]]
The [[United States embargo against Cuba|U.S. embargo against Cuba]] serves as an international deterrent to foreign investment.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/cuba/35715.htm|title=Cuba (11/03)|newspaper=U.S. Department of State|access-date=22 February 2017}}</ref> Within Cuba itself, foreign ownership in land is prohibited; foreign entities are only allowed to rent land.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=31}} Cuba began courting foreign investment in the Special Period during the 1990s. Foreign investors must form joint ventures with the Cuban government. Cuban officials said in early 1998 that 332 joint ventures had begun. Many of these are loans or contracts for management, supplies, or services normally not considered equity investments in Western economies. In 2017, the country reported a record $2 billion in foreign investment.<ref name="foreigninvestors">{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-investment/cuba-reports-record-2-billion-in-foreign-investment-deals-idUSKBN1D02NL|title=Cuba reports record $2 billion in foreign investment deals|first=Marc|last=Frank|work=Reuters|date=31 October 2019|access-date=27 December 2019}}</ref> It was reported that foreign investment in Cuba had increased from 2014 to 2019.<ref name="foreigninvestors" /> In September 2019, EU foreign policy chief [[Federica Mogherini]] stated during a three-day visit to Cuba that the European Union is committed to helping Cuba develop its economy.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-eu-idUSKCN1VU2BY|title=EU stresses support for Cuba even as U.S. hikes sanctions|date=10 September 2019|work=Reuters|access-date=10 September 2019}}</ref>

In 2023, Canada receives the largest share of Cuban exports (30.6%) – 70 to 80% of which go through Indiana Finance BV, a company owned by the Dutch [[Van 't Wout]] family, who have close personal ties with Fidel Castro.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=2024-12-18 |title=Cuba - Trade, Economy, Exports {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Cuba/Trade |access-date=2024-12-20 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> This trend can be seen in other colonial Caribbean communities with direct political ties with the global economy. 

=== Support from Venezuela ===
[[File:Proposed electricity route between Venezuela and Cuba.svg|thumb|A proposed electricity route between [[Venezuela]] and Cuba in 2008]]
[[China|Venezuela]] is the largest trading partner to Cuba and is widely considered to be systemically important to the Cuban economy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 January 2013 |title=As Hugo Chavez fights for his life, Cuba fears for its future |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/9797530/As-Hugo-Chavez-fights-for-his-life-Cuba-fears-for-its-future.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/venezuela/9797530/As-Hugo-Chavez-fights-for-his-life-Cuba-fears-for-its-future.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |access-date=6 March 2016 |website=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=":10" /> Since the 1990s, the two nations have [[Cuba–Venezuela relations|shared a close relationship]] and have maintained strong economic collaboration.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Oppmann |first=Patrick |date=2019-02-03 |title=The history that chains Cuba to Venezuela’s crisis |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/02/americas/venezuela-cuba-history-oil |access-date=2025-09-24 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Parraga |first=Marianna |last2=Parraga |first2=Marianna |date=2022-04-05 |title=Cuba struggles to buy fuel as imports from Venezuela dwindle -data |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/cuba-struggles-buy-fuel-imports-venezuela-dwindle-data-2022-04-05/ |access-date=2025-09-24 |work=Reuters |language=en}}</ref> Initial trading was centered on exchanging Venezuelan oil for visiting Cuban doctors in a form of [[medical diplomacy]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Organization, World Health. |title=World Health Statistics 2015. |date=2015 |publisher=World Health Organization |isbn=978-92-4-069443-9 |oclc=911246910}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Tamayo |first=Juan O. |title=How will the Venezuela-Cuba link fare after Chávez's death? |url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article1947916.html |access-date=6 March 2016 |website=Miami Herald}}</ref> Venezuelan investors are the only foreign investor allowed to hold 100% ownership in businesses, with all other foreign investors requiring joint investment with Cuba. According to Carmelo Mesa-Lago, a Cuban-born U.S. economist, in nominal terms, the Venezuelan subsidy is higher than the subsidy which the Soviet Union gave to Cuba.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |author=Jeremy Morgan |title=Venezuela's Chávez Fills $9.4 Billion Yearly Post-Soviet Gap in Cuba's Accounts |url=http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=345051&CategoryId=10717 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307120653/http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=345051&CategoryId=10717 |archive-date=7 March 2016 |access-date=6 March 2016 |work=Latin American Herald Tribune}}</ref> In 2012, Venezuela accounted for 20.8% of Cuba's GDP, while Cuba only accounted for roughly 4% of Venezuela's.<ref>Piccone, Ted and Harold Trinkunas "The Cuba-Venezuela Alliance: The Beginning of the End?" Latin America Initiative on Foreign Policy at Brookings (2014): 1-12.</ref> The Venezuelan economy has been in [[Crisis in Venezuela|complete collapse since 2010]], hampering its ability to support Cuba.<ref>Frank, Marc. "Cuba warns of further belt tightening as Venezuelan crisis deepens". Reuters. N.p., 28 April 2017.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Glatsky |first=Genevive |date=2025-07-21 |title=Venezuela’s Authoritarian Government Has a New Target: Economists |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/world/americas/venezuela-economists-inflation-maduro-trump.html |access-date=2025-09-26 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}</ref>

=== Support from China ===
[[China]] has been the second-largest trade partner to Cuba, with a 16.9% share of the Cuban export market.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Frank |first=Marc |date=2022-11-27 |title=Cuba wins China debt relief, new funds |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-wins-china-debt-relief-new-funds-2022-11-27/ |access-date=2025-09-24 |work=Reuters |language=en}}</ref> The trade relationship between the two nations has been mixed, with the Chinese government routinely entering, and then promptly exiting, trade agreements with Cuba.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Robinson |first=Circles |date=2025-09-12 |title=Cuba Announces Integration into Chinese Payment System |url=https://havanatimes.org/features/cuba-announces-integration-into-chinese-payment-system/ |access-date=2025-09-21 |website=Havana Times |language=en-US}}</ref> From 2017 to 2022, bilateral trade has contracted 33% due to a lack of foreign investment protection for Chinese capital.<ref name=":8" /> Following the collapse of the Cuban sugar industry in 2024, China suspended their yearly 400,000-ton sugar order.<ref name=":8" /> Cuba entered into the Chinese-led [[Cross-Border Interbank Payment System]] (CIPS) in 2025, expanding their access to international payment processing.<ref name=":8" /> 

=== Support from Russia ===
[[Russia]] has maintained a special relationship with Cuba since the [[Soviet Union]], first trading Cuban sugar in exchange for Soviet energy.<ref name=":022" />{{Rp|page=2}} In 2025, the Russian government pledged $1 billion in economic aid to Cuba, spanning to 2030, focusing on infrastructure and oil.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |last=Robinson |first=Circles |date=2025-04-09 |title=Russians Aspire To Increase Investment Projects in Cuba |url=https://havanatimes.org/features/russians-aspire-to-increase-investment-projects-in-cuba/ |access-date=2025-09-21 |website=Havana Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Russia has made strategic investments into the Cuban energy and tourism sectors, with nearly 100,000-tons of Russian oil heading to Cuba in 2025.<ref name=":9" /> During the [[Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)|Russian invasion of Ukraine]], the Cuban government saught access to Russia's [[war economy]] by offering 20,000 Cuban mercenaries for remittance income.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gamez Torres |first=Nora |date=September 22, 2025 |title=Cuba has sent thousands of mercenaries to fight for Russia, Ukrainian leaders say |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article312212357.html |access-date=September 22, 2025 |website=The Miami Herald}}</ref>

== Currencies ==
{{Main|Dual economy of Cuba|Dollarization of Cuba}}

From 1994 until 2021, Cuba had two official currencies: the [[Cuban peso|national peso]] (or CUP) and the [[Cuban convertible peso|convertible peso]] (or CUC). In January 2021, a long-awaited process of currency unification began, with Cuban citizens being given six months to exchange their remaining CUCs at a rate of one to every 24 CUPs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/latamcaribbean/2021/02/10/day-zero-how-and-why-cuba-unified-its-dual-currency-system|title=Day Zero: how and why Cuba unified its dual currency system|last=Yaffe|first=Helen|website=LSE Latin America and Caribbean blog|date=10 February 2021 |access-date=17 February 2021}}</ref>

In 1994 the possession and use of U.S. dollars were legalized, and by 2004 the U.S. dollar was in widespread use in the country. To capture the hard currency flowing into the island through tourism and [[remittances]] – estimated at $500-800&nbsp;million annually – the government set up state-run "dollar stores" throughout Cuba that sold "luxury" food, household, and clothing items, compared with necessities, which could be bought using national pesos. As such, the standard of living diverged between those with access to dollars and those without. Jobs that could earn dollar salaries or tips from foreign businesses and tourists became highly desirable. Meeting doctors, engineers, scientists, and other professionals working in restaurants or as taxicab drivers was common.

In response to tighter U.S. economic sanctions and because the authorities were pleased with Cuba's economic recovery, the Cuban government decided in October 2004 to remove U.S. dollars from circulation. In its place, the convertible peso was created, which, although not internationally traded, had a value pegged to the U.S. dollar 1:1. A 10% surcharge was levied for cash conversions from U.S. dollars to the convertible peso, which did not apply to other currencies, thus acting as an encouragement for tourists to bring currencies such as [[euro]]s, [[pound sterling|pounds sterling]] or [[Canadian dollar]]s into Cuba. An increasing number of tourist zones accept Euros.

== Public sector ==
Cuba used a planned economy with state-ownership over the large majority of the [[means of production]].<ref name=":2025MesaLago">{{Cite book |last=Mesa-Lago |first=Carmelo |title=Comparing Socialist Approaches: Economics and Social Security in Cuba, China, and Vietnam |publisher=[[University of Pittsburgh Press]] |year=2025 |isbn=9780822948476 |series=Pitt Latin American Series |location=Pittsburgh, PA}}</ref>{{Rp|page=18}} The public sector thus contributes to the majority of economic activity, with the Cuban government encouraging the formation of [[worker co-operative]]s and [[self-employment]] since the 1990s.<ref name="freerereconomy" /> It later legalized limited private property and free-market rights along with [[foreign direct investment]] in 2018.<ref name="somefreerereconomy" /><ref name="foreigninvestors" /> Cuba describes these revisions to its economic model as the "updated" model.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=18}}

Public sector employment remains high compared to the private sector but has steadily decreased since the 1980s.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Torres |first=Nora Gámez |date=June 23, 2023 |title=Capitalism makes strong comeback in Cuba after six decades of socialism. Will it last? |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article276456256.html |work=[[Miami Herald]]}}</ref><ref name=":6">[http://www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/publications/research_reports/art3670.html/pdfs/social_policy.pdf Social Policy at the Crossroads] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060524031450/http://www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/publications/research_reports/art3670.html/pdfs/social_policy.pdf|date=24 May 2006}} Oxfam America Report</ref> All public and most private investment activity requires government approval or oversight.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="foreigninvest" /> Economic data published by the Cuban government is not always independently verified, limiting Cuba's inclusion on [[List of Latin American and Caribbean countries by GDP (PPP)|economic rankings in Latin America]].

As of 2018, the public sector accounted for 90.8% of the Cuban economy and 67% of employment.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=4}}

== Private sector ==
Owners of small private restaurants (''[[paladar]]es'') originally could seat no more than 12 people and can only employ family members.<ref name="O'Rourke2007">{{cite book|author=P. J. O'Rourke|title=Eat the Rich: A Treatise on Economics|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=YzTauHNa4FIC}}|date=1 December 2007|publisher=Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated|isbn=978-1-55584-710-4}}</ref> Set monthly fees must be paid regardless of income earned, and frequent inspections yield stiff fines when any of the many self-employment regulations are violated. {{As of|2023}}, public-sector employment was 65%, and private-sector employment was 35%, compared to the 2000 ratio of 76% to 23% and the 1981 ratio of 91% to 8%.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6" /> 

As of 2012, more than 150,000 farmers had signed up to lease land from the government for bonus crops. Before, homeowners were only allowed to swap; once buying and selling were allowed, prices rose.<ref name=BBC2012SimonReeve/> In cities, [[urban agriculture]] farms small parcels. Growing [[organopónicos]] (organic gardens) in the private sector has been attractive to city-dwelling small producers who sell their products where they produce them, avoiding taxes and enjoying a measure of government help from the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI) in the form of seed houses and advisers.

In February 2021, the government said that it would allow the private sector to operate in most sectors of the economy, with only 124 activities remaining in the public sector,<ref name=":2" /> such as national security, health, and educational services.<ref name=":3" /> In August 2021, the Cuban government started allowing citizens to create small and medium-sized private companies, which are allowed to employ up to 100 people. As of 2023, 8,000 companies have been registered in Cuba.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Augustin |first=Ed |title=As Cuba's private sector roars back, choices and inequality rise |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/7/19/as-cubas-private-sector-roars-back-choices-and-inequality-rise |access-date=2023-08-15 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en}}</ref>

== Public finances ==
Cuba's financial condition is limited due to inaccessibility of financial data published by the [[Communist Party of Cuba]]. ''[[The Economist]]'' estimated that Cuba maintained a [[Deficit spending|budget deficit]] of over 10% of GDP in 2024, one of highest deficit spending rates in the world.<ref name=":7" /> The latest independently verified estimate of Cuba's foreign debt was published in 2020, with an approximate $19.7 billion in foreign debt.<ref name=":11">{{Cite news |last=Frank |first=Marc |last2=Acosta |first2=Nelson |date=2023-09-01 |title=Western creditors and Cuba pledge to salvage debt deal |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/western-creditors-cuba-pledge-salvage-debt-deal-2023-09-01/ |access-date=2025-09-24 |work=Reuters |language=en}}</ref> In 2017, Cuba's debt-to-GDP ratio was estimated as 47.7%.<ref name="CIAWFCU" /> 

=== Taxes and revenue ===
The Cuban government maintains a top individual income tax rate of 50% and a top corporate tax rate of 30%. An additional 4% tax is levied on wholly foreign-owned companies. During the [[Great Recession|2009 global recession]], Cuba reported $47 billion in tax revenue with $50 billion in public spending.<ref name="The World Factbook" />

=== International debt repayment ===
Cuba has borrowed extensively since 1959 and been heavily indebted since the 1970s and 1980s with debts incurred under [[Fidel Castro]].<ref name=":7" /> His brother, [[Raúl Castro]], began a concerted effort to restructure and to ask for forgiveness of loans and debts with creditor countries following the 2009 global recession.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Caruso-Cabrera |first1=Michelle |date=9 February 2018 |title=Cuba faces its next financial challenge — more than $1 billion in unpaid commercial debt |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/09/cuba-faces-its-next-financial-challenge-1-billion-in-commercial-debt.html |access-date=9 February 2020 |publisher=CNBC}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite web |last1=Mosendz |first1=Polly |date=11 July 2014 |title=Putin Writes Off $32 Billion of Cuba's Debts to Russia |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/russia-writes-off-32-billion-in-cuban-debt/374284/ |access-date=11 July 2014 |website=The Atlantic}}</ref> Since the 2010s, Cuba has defaulted on a significant amount of its sovereign debt, with large portion of their debt preemptively forgiven by many foreign creditors.<ref name=":11" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Vidal Alejandro |first=Pavel |date=August 18, 2025 |title=Cuba: Ten Consecutive Years of Macroeconomic Deterioration |url=https://horizontecubano.law.columbia.edu/news/cuba-ten-consecutive-years-macroeconomic-deterioration |access-date=August 18, 2025 |website=Columbia Law School Review}}</ref> 

In 2011, China forgave $6&nbsp;billion in debt owed to it by Cuba.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rapoza |first1=Kenneth |title=China Has Forgiven Nearly $10 Billion In Debt. Cuba Accounts For Over Half. |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2019/05/29/china-has-forgiven-nearly-10-billion-in-debt-cuba-accounts-for-over-half/ |access-date=19 May 2019 |website=Forbes}}</ref> 

In 2013, Mexico's Finance Minister [[Luis Videgaray]] announced a loan issued by Mexico's foreign trade development bank [[Bancomext]] to Cuba more than 15 years prior was worth $487&nbsp;million. The governments agreed to "waive" 70% of it, approximately $340.9&nbsp;million. Cuba would repay the remaining $146.1&nbsp;million over ten years.<ref>{{cite news |date=November 2013 |title=Mexico says it will waive most of $487 mln debt owed by Cuba |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/mexico-cuba/mexico-says-it-will-waive-most-of-487-mln-debt-owed-by-cuba-idUSL1N0IM15320131101 |access-date=1 November 2013 |work=Reuters}}</ref>
[[File:Vladimir Putin in Cuba July 11, 2014- 02.jpg|thumb|Russian president [[Vladimir Putin]] forgave 90% of Cuban debt owed to Russia in 2014]]
In 2014, before making a diplomatic visit to Cuba, Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]] forgave over 90% of the debt owed to Russia by Cuba. The forgiveness totaled $32&nbsp;billion. A remaining $3.2&nbsp;billion would be paid over ten years.<ref name=":1" />

In 2015, Cuba entered into negotiations over its $11.1&nbsp;billion debt to 14 European nation-states of the [[Paris Club]]. In December 2015, the parties announced an agreement – Paris Club nations agreed to forgive $8.5&nbsp;billion of the $11.1&nbsp;billion total debt, mostly by waiving interest, service charges, and penalties accrued over the more than two decades of non-payment. The regime viewed the agreement favorably to resolve the long-standing issues and build business confidence, increasing [[direct foreign investment]] and as a preliminary step to gaining access to credit lines in Europe.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Frank |first1=Marc |last2=Leigh |first2=Thomas |date=15 December 2015 |title=Exclusive - Cuba's debt deal: Easy terms, but severe penalties if late again |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-debt-exclusive-idUSKBN0TY23C20151215 |access-date=15 December 2015 |work=Reuters}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Cuba seals 'historic' debt pact with Paris Club |url=https://news.yahoo.com/cuba-seals-historic-debt-pact-paris-club-222619519.html |access-date=14 December 2015 |website=Yahoo News}}</ref>

In 2018, during a diplomatic visit to Cuba, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam [[Nguyễn Phú Trọng]] wrote off Cuba's official debt to Vietnam. The forgiveness totaled $143.7&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Caufield |first1=John |date=16 August 2018 |title=Cuba could learn from Vietnam when it comes to the economy |url=https://thehill.com/opinion/international/383682-cuba-could-learn-from-vietnam-when-it-comes-to-the-economy |website=The Hill}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=3 December 2020 |title=Sáu mươi năm quan hệ Việt Nam - Cuba: Đoàn kết, chiến thắng |url=http://tapchimattran.vn/dai-doan-ket/sau-muoi-nam-quan-he-viet-nam-cuba-doan-ket-chien-thang-37689.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507090348/http://tapchimattran.vn/dai-doan-ket/sau-muoi-nam-quan-he-viet-nam-cuba-doan-ket-chien-thang-37689.html |archive-date=7 May 2022 |access-date=22 March 2022 |website=tapchimattran.vn |language=vi}}</ref>

In 2019, Cuba once again defaulted on its Paris Club debt. Of the estimated payment due in 2019 of $80&nbsp;million, Cuba made only a partial payment that left $30&nbsp;million owed for that year. Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas wrote a letter to [[Odile Renaud-Basso]], president of the Paris Club, noting that Cuba was aware that "circumstances dictated that we were not able to honour our commitments". He maintained that they had "the intention of settling" the payments in arrears by 31 May 2020.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Frank |first1=Marc |date=11 February 2020 |title=Exclusive: Cuba fails to make payment in key debt accord, sources say |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-debt-exclusive/exclusive-cuba-fails-to-make-payment-in-key-debt-accord-sources-say-idUSKBN2052C6 |access-date=11 February 2020 |work=Reuters}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=17 February 2020 |title=Cuba defaults on Paris Club debt: says it will meet its commitments |url=https://www.caribbean-council.org/cuba-defaults-on-paris-club-debt-says-it-will-meet-its-commitments/ |access-date=23 May 2020 |website=The Caribbean Council}}</ref> In May 2020, with payments still not made, Deputy PM Cabrisas sent a letter to the fourteen Paris Club countries in the agreement requesting a "[payment] moratorium for 2019, 2020 and 2021 and a return to paying in 2022".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Abiven |first1=Katell |title=Cuba seeks delay in debt repayment to 2022: diplomats |url=https://au.news.yahoo.com/cuba-seeks-delay-debt-repayment-2022-diplomats-185725712--spt.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604012242/https://au.news.yahoo.com/cuba-seeks-delay-debt-repayment-2022-diplomats-185725712--spt.html |archive-date=4 June 2020 |access-date=20 May 2020 |agency=Agence France-Presse}}</ref> Payments had still not resumed by August 2023, with a new payment calendar still being negotiated.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Live |first1=Havana |date=31 August 2023 |title=Paris Club adjusts payment schedule to collect multi-million dollar debt to Cuba |url=https://havana-live.com/club-de-paris-ajusta-calendario-de-pago-para-cobrar-multimillonaria-deuda-a-cuba/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208054043/https://havana-live.com/club-de-paris-ajusta-calendario-de-pago-para-cobrar-multimillonaria-deuda-a-cuba/ |archive-date=8 December 2023 |access-date=8 December 2023 |website=havana-live.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=4 September 2023 |title=Cuba's Umpteenth Negotiation With the Paris Club for Non-Payments, Meanwhile Luxury Hotels Multiply |url=https://translatingcuba.com/cubas-umpteenth-negotiation-with-the-paris-club-for-non-payments-meanwhile-luxury-hotels-multiply/ |access-date=8 December 2023 |website=Translating Cuba}}</ref>

== Income and wealth ==
[[File:Cuba GDP per Capita.png|thumb|281x281px|Cuban GDP-per-capita from 1945-2010]]
[[File:Havana - Cuba - 0286.jpg|thumb|A Cuban factory worker in 2011]]
Overall [[income distribution]] in Cuba compared favorably with that of other Latin American countries during the 19th century. However, "available data must be viewed cautiously and assumed to portray merely a rough approximation of conditions at the time," according to Susan Eckstein. There were profound [[social inequalities]] between city and countryside and between whites and blacks, with trade and unemployment problems.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Eckstein |first=Susan |date=July 1986 |title=The Impact of the Cuban Revolution: A Comparative Perspective |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=502–534 |doi=10.1017/S0010417500014031 |issn=0010-4175 |jstor=178861 |s2cid=144784660}}</ref> In 2021, Cuba ranked 83rd out of 191 on the [[Human Development Index]] in the high human development category.<ref name="2022 components">{{cite book |url=https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf_1.pdf#page=284 |title=Human Development Report 2021-22: Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World |date=8 September 2022 |publisher=United Nations Development Programme |isbn=978-9-211-26451-7 |pages=272–276 |access-date=8 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220908114232/http://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf_1.pdf#page=284 |archive-date=8 September 2022 |url-status=live |via=hdr.undp.org}}</ref>

=== Wages and pensions ===
Cuba has a public pension system.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=73}} From 1959 to 1963, the government unified all pension schemes into a single state-owned fund which was initially a [[Pay-as-you-go pension plan|pay-as-you-go fund]] but shortly thereafter changed to being funded through the government's general budget.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=77}} In 1989, Cuba had the most developed pension system in Latin America.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=7}}

Until June 2019, typical wages ranged from 400 non-convertible Cuban pesos a month, for a factory worker, to 700 per month for a doctor, or around 17–30 U.S. dollars per month. The [[Human Development Index]] of Cuba ranked much higher than the vast majority of Latin American nations in 2008.<ref name="comandate">{{cite news|date=21 February 2008|newspaper=The Economist|title=Cuba – The comandante's last move|url=http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=10727899}}</ref> After Cuba lost Soviet subsidies in 1991, [[malnutrition]] resulted in an outbreak of diseases.<ref name="cordova">{{cite web|title=The situation of Cuban workers during the 'Special Period in peacetime'|author=Efrén Córdova|url=http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/asce/cuba6/45Cordova.fm.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318041650/http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/asce/cuba6/45Cordova.fm.pdf|archive-date=18 March 2009}}</ref> Despite this, the poverty level reported by the government is one of the lowest in the developing world, ranking 6th out of 108 countries, 4th in Latin America and 48th among all countries.<ref>[[List of countries by Human Development Index#Complete list of countries]]</ref> According to a 2022 report from the Cuban Human Rights Observatory (OCDH), 72% of Cubans live below the poverty line. 21% of Cubans who live below the poverty line frequently go without breakfast, lunch or dinner due to a lack of money.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-24 |title=72 Percent of Cubans Are Living below the Poverty Line - Todo lo relacionado con Cuba |url=https://noticiascubanas.com/2022/10/24/72-percent-of-cubans-are-living-below-the-poverty-line/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628031125/https://noticiascubanas.com/2022/10/24/72-percent-of-cubans-are-living-below-the-poverty-line/ |archive-date=2023-06-28 |access-date=2023-06-28 |language=en-GB}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=October 2025}} Pensions are among the smallest in the Americas at $9.50/month. In 2009, Raúl Castro increased minimum pensions by 2 dollars, which he said was to recompense for those who have "dedicated a great part of their lives to working&nbsp;... and who remain firm in defense of socialism".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7370304.stm|title=Raul Castro raises state pension|publisher=BBC | date=27 April 2008 | access-date=3 January 2010}}</ref> Cuba is known for its system of food distribution, the ''[[Rationing in Cuba|Libreta de Abastecimiento]]'' ("Supplies booklet"). The system establishes the rations each person can buy through that system and the frequency of supplies. Despite rumors of ending, the system still exists.

In June 2019, the government announced an increase in public sector wages, especially for teachers and health personnel. The increase was about 300%.<ref>{{cite news |title=Cuba announces increase in wages as part of economic reform |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/cuba-announces-increase-wages-part-economic-reform-n1024451 |access-date=8 June 2021 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=NBC News}}</ref> In October, the government opened stores where citizens could purchase, via international currencies (USD, euro, etc.) stored on electronic cards, household supplies, and similar goods. These funds are provided by remittances from emigres. The government leaders recognized that the new measure was unpopular but necessary to contain the flight of capital to other countries, such as Panama, where Cuban citizens traveled and imported items to resell on the island.

On 1 January 2021, the government launched the "Tarea Ordenamiento" (Ordering Task), previously announced on national television by First Secretary Miguel Díaz Canel and Gen. Raúl Castro, the then-first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party. This is an effort, years in the making, to end the use of the Cuban convertible peso (CUC) and to solely use the Cuban peso (CUP), ostensibly to increase economic efficiency. In February, the government created new restrictions to the private sector, with prohibitions on 124 activities,<ref name=":2">{{cite news |title=Cuba opens up its economy to private businesses |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-55967709 |access-date=8 June 2021 |publisher=BBC |date=7 February 2021}}</ref> in areas like national security, health, and educational services.<ref name=":3">{{cite news |title=Cuba to reform the economy, allow more private enterprise |url=https://dailyfriend.co.za/2021/02/08/cuba-to-reform-economy-allow-more-private-enterprise/ |access-date=8 June 2021 |work=Daily Friend |date=8 February 2021}}</ref> Wages and pensions were increased again, between 4 and 9 times, for all the sectors. For example, a university instructor's salary went from 1500 to 5500 CUP. Additionally, the dollar price was maintained by the Cuban central bank at 24 CUP, but was unable to sell dollars to the population due to the drought of foreign currency created by the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>{{cite news |title=What will Cuba's new single currency mean for the island? |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/1/1/what-will-cubas-new-single-currency-mean-for-the-island |access-date=8 June 2021 |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=1 January 2021}}</ref>

=== Social assistance ===
Social assistance is provided to groups deemed vulnerable including the disabled, mothers with children who have severe disabilities, and people who live alone with severe disabilities.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=85}} Social assistance includes, for example, monetary benefits, food, and personal services.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=85}} Because it is universal and free, the healthcare system already covers the poor.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=86}} Elderly people (age 65 for men, age 60 for women) in need, lacking a contributory pension, are provided with social assistance pensions.<ref name=":2025MesaLago" />{{Rp|page=85}}
==Public facilities==
* Bodegas{{spaced ndash}} Local shops offering basic products such as rice, sugar, salt, beans, cooking oil, matches, rum at low prices.<ref name=BBC2012SimonReeve/>
* [[Coppelia (ice cream parlor)|El coppelia]]{{spaced ndash}} A government-owned facility offering ice cream, juice and sweets.
* Paladar{{spaced ndash}} A small, privately owned restaurant facility.
* La farmacia{{spaced ndash}} Low-priced medicine, with the lowest costs anywhere in the world.
* [[ETECSA]]{{spaced ndash}} National telephone service provider.
* La feria{{spaced ndash}} A weekly market (Sunday market-type) owned by the government.
* Cervecería Bucanero{{spaced ndash}} A beverage manufacturer providing both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
* [[Ciego Montero]]{{spaced ndash}} The main soft-drink and beverage distributor.
== See also ==
{{Portal|Cuba
}}
{{div col|content=
* [[Central Bank of Cuba]]
* [[Ministry of Finance and Prices (Cuba)]]
* [[Economy of Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)]]
* [[Economy of the Caribbean]]
* [[Education in Cuba]]
* [[List of companies of Cuba]]
* [[Mercados Libres Campesinos]]
* [[Economic history of Latin America]]
}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* {{cite book |title = Cuba in Transition: Volume 19 |ref = {{harvid|CIT}}}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120208125248/http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552531 Cuba's Economic Struggles] from the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160115205405/https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552494 Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121217122436/http://econweb.umd.edu/~davis/eventpapers/CUBA.pdf  ''The Road not taken: Pre-Revolutionary Cuban Living Standards in Comparative Perspective''], Marianne Ward (Loyola College) and John Devereux (Queens College CUNY)
* Archibold, Randal. [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/25/world/americas/as-cuba-shifts-toward-capitalism-inequality-grows-more-visible.html?_r=0 Inequality Becomes More Visible in Cuba as the Economy Shifts] (February 2015), ''[[The New York Times]]''
* Cave, Danien. [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/world/americas/castro-thanks-us-but-affirms-cubas-communist-rule.html?action=click&contentCollection=US%20Open&region=Article&module=Promotron "Raúl Castro Thanks U.S., but Reaffirms Communist Rule in Cuba"]. (December 2014), ''The New York Times''. "Mr. Castro prioritized economics. He acknowledged that Cuban state workers needed better salaries and said Cuba would accelerate economic changes in the coming year, including an end to its dual-currency system. But he said the changes needed to be gradual to create a system of 'prosperous and sustainable communism.{{'"}}
* [https://archive.today/20130105181248/http://www.ceec.uh.cu/ Centro de Estudios de la Economía Cubana]

{{Cuba topics}}
{{Caribbean in topic|Economy of}}
{{Americas topic|Economy of}}
{{World Trade Organization}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Economy Of Cuba}}
[[Category:Economy of Cuba| ]]
[[Category:World Trade Organization member economies|Cuba]]