Cuba sees economy shrink 1 per cent despite detente with US
HAVANA — Cuba announced Tuesday that its economy shrank this year for the first time in nearly a quarter century as a plunge in aid from Venezuela overwhelmed a surge in tourism set off by detente with the United States.
Economy Minister Ricardo Cabrisas and President Raul Castro told Parliament that the island’s gross domestic product fell nearly 1 per cent after seeing average annual growth rate of nearly 3 per cent in 2011-2015.
Cabrisas blamed the slump on Venezuela’s troubles and a decrease in revenue from Cuba’s few exports, which include sugar, refined gasoline and nickel, whose price has dropped in recent years.
“In spite of the drop in GDP, the free social services that our population enjoys have been preserved, defying predictions that the Cuban economy would collapse and upsetting blackouts would return,” Castro said.