Overview: The economy is centrally planned and largely state owned and is highly dependent on the agricultural sector. Sugar provides about 75% of export revenues and is mostly exported to the USSR and other CEMA countries under long-term agreements. Citrus production, also aimed at the export market, had by 1987 risen nearly four-fold from its 1980 level. Over the past decade the fishing industry has expanded, reaching a record catch of 245,000 tons in 1986. Fish exports are sold in hard currency markets. Cuba has about one-tenth of the world's known nickel reserves, nickel being its second-largest export earner after sugar. In 1987 industrial sector output declined by 3.7%. Economic growth has been sluggish with overall productivity falling 3.5% in 1987. Cuba continues to have difficulty in servicing its foreign debt and since 1982 has asked Western creditors to reschedule payments on both short- and long-term loans.

GNP: $NA, per capita $NA; real growth rate 2.3% (1988 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): NA%

Unemployment: 7% (1988)

Budget: revenues $11.3 billion; expenditures $11.8 billion, including capi tal expenditures of $NA (1987)

Exports: $5.4 billion (f.o.b., 1987); @m5commodities--sugar, nickel, shellfish, citrus, tobacco, coffee; @m5partners--USSR 72%, other Communist countries 15%

Imports: $7.6 billion (c.i.f., 1987); @m5commodities--capital goods, industrial raw materials, food, petroleum; @m5partners--USSR 72%, other Communist countries 14% (1987)

External debt: $6.2 billion (convertible currency, March 1988 est.)

Industrial production: 3% (1988)

Electricity: 3,991,000 kW capacity; 15,972 million kWh produced, 1,540 kWh per capita (1988)

Industries: sugar milling, petroleum refining, food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, paper and wood products, metals (particularly nickel), cement, fertilizers, consumer goods, agricultural machinery

Agriculture: sugar, tobacco, rice, potatoes, tubers, citrus, coffee

Aid: NA

Currency: Cuban peso (plural--pesos); 1 Cuban peso (Cu$) = 100 centavos

Exchange rates: Cuban pesos (Cu$) per US$1--1.0000; linked to the US$

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Cuba on this page is re-published from the 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Cuba Economy 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Cuba Economy 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.