Cash-starved Cuba failed in its export-import plans until June of this year amid serious shortages linked to its dependence on food, fuel, agricultural, and manufacturing inputs from abroad.
Leticia Morales, Deputy Economy Minister, told a legislative committee that export receipts were $1.3 billion, or 35.7% of estimates, while imports were $4.4 billion.
Morales made no mention of intentions to import more than $9 billion and export $3.6 billion this year.
In comparison, the country reported $12.6 billion in exports and $11 billion in imports in 2019.
“In 2018, growth was 1.8%, compared to the 2% previously announced.” “When the year began, GDP was 8 points lower than it was before the pandemic,” Morales remarked.
Cuba expects 3% growth this year, while the US Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean puts it at half that amount.
Cuba publishes little recent information on its current account. The last time the government reported its foreign debt was in 2019, at $19.6 billion.
