Cuba Economy - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Economic overview

The government continues to balance the need for loosening its socialist economic system against a desire for firm political control. In April 2011, the government held the first Cuban Communist Party Congress in almost 13 years, during which leaders approved a plan for wide-ranging economic changes. Since then, the government has slowly and incrementally implemented limited economic reforms, including allowing Cubans to buy electronic appliances and cell phones, stay in hotels, and buy and sell used cars. The government has cut state sector jobs as part of the reform process, and it has opened up some retail services to "self-employment," leading to the rise of so-called "cuentapropistas" or entrepreneurs. More than 500,000 Cuban workers are currently registered as self-employed.

The Cuban regime has updated its economic model to include permitting the private ownership and sale of real estate and new vehicles, allowing private farmers to sell agricultural goods directly to hotels, allowing the creation of non-agricultural cooperatives, adopting a new foreign investment law, and launching a "Special Development Zone" around the Mariel port.

Since 2016, Cuba has attributed slowed economic growth in part to problems with petroleum product deliveries from Venezuela. Since late 2000, Venezuela provided petroleum products to Cuba on preferential terms, supplying at times nearly 100,000 barrels per day. Cuba paid for the oil, in part, with the services of Cuban personnel in Venezuela, including some 30,000 medical professionals.

Real GDP (purchasing power parity)

$137 billion (2017 est.)

$134.8 billion (2016 est.)

$134.2 billion (2015 est.)

note: data are in 2016 US dollars

Real GDP growth rate

1.6% (2017 est.)

0.5% (2016 est.)

4.4% (2015 est.)

Real GDP per capita

$12,300 (2016 est.)

$12,200 (2015 est.)

$12,100 (2014 est.)

note: data are in 2016 US dollars

GDP (official exchange rate)

$93.79 billion (2017 est.)

note: data are in Cuban Pesos at 1 CUP = 1 US$; official exchange rate

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

5.5% (2017 est.)

4.5% (2016 est.)

Credit ratings

Moody's rating: Caa2 (2014)

note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained.

GDP - composition, by sector of origin

agriculture: 4% (2017 est.)

industry: 22.7% (2017 est.)

services: 73.4% (2017 est.)

GDP - composition, by end use

household consumption: 57% (2017 est.)

government consumption: 31.6% (2017 est.)

investment in fixed capital: 9.6% (2017 est.)

investment in inventories: 0% (2017 est.)

exports of goods and services: 14.6% (2017 est.)

imports of goods and services: -12.7% (2017 est.)

Agricultural products

sugar cane, cassava, vegetables, plantains, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, milk, pumpkins, mangoes/guavas, rice

Industries

petroleum, nickel, cobalt, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, construction, steel, cement, agricultural machinery, sugar

Industrial production growth rate

-1.2% (2017 est.)

Labor force

4.691 million (2017 est.)

note: state sector 72.3%, non-state sector 27.7%

Labor force - by occupation

agriculture: 18%

industry: 10%

services: 72% (2016 est.)

Unemployment rate

2.6% (2017 est.)

2.4% (2016 est.)

note: data are official rates; unofficial estimates are about double

Population below poverty line

N/A

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: NA

highest 10%: NA

Budget

revenues: 54.52 billion (2017 est.)

expenditures: 64.64 billion (2017 est.)

Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)

-10.8% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Public debt

47.7% of GDP (2017 est.)

42.7% of GDP (2016 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

58.1% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Current account balance

$985.4 million (2017 est.)

$2.008 billion (2016 est.)

Exports

$2.63 billion (2017 est.)

$2.546 billion (2016 est.)

note: Data are in current year dollars and do not include illicit exports or re-exports.

Exports - partners

China 38%, Spain 11%, Netherlands 5%, Germany 5% (2019)

Exports - commodities

cigars, raw sugar, nickel products, rum, zinc (2019)

Imports

$11.06 billion (2017 est.)

$10.28 billion (2016 est.)

Imports - partners

Spain 19%, China 15%, Italy 6%, Canada 5%, Russia 5%, United States 5%, Brazil 5% (2019)

Imports - commodities

poultry meat, wheat, soybean products, corn, concentrated milk (2019)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

$11.35 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

$12.3 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

Debt - external

$30.06 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

$29.89 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

Exchange rates

Cuban pesos (CUP) per US dollar -

1 (2017 est.)

1 (2016 est.)

1 (2015 est.)

1 (2014 est.)

22.7 (2013 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Cuba on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Cuba 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Cuba 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.