LatinNews Daily - 16 July 2024

*Cuba’s economy & planning ministry (MEP) has confirmed that Cuba’s GDP contracted 1.9% in 2023. According to the MEP minister, Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, while tourism was up 1.8% on 2023, the 1.8m tourists who visited the country last year represent only 85% of the government target and 51.6% of tourist arrivals reached in 2019 – the year prior to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, which significantly affected tourism. According to the MEP, most tourists visiting Cuba come from Canada, Russia, and Germany. Vázquez added that most agricultural sectors were struggling due to a deficit of fertilizers, fuel, and animal feed, among other issues. He also acknowledged that the national electricity system continues to face “risks and challenges” to satisfy demand, and that inflation, while maintaining a tendency of slowing since 2023, was still running at around 30%. The MEP report also cites Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, the secretary general of labour federation Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC), as warning that the “complexity of the economic and financial scenario” leaves a “complex panorama for the second half of the year”.