Cuba’s Economy is Booming

By the Cuba Journal staff

It may be from a rapid influx of new visitors or the country’s recent lightening of foreign investment restrictions — but Cuba’s economy is booming.

The country posted a 4.7 percent growth in GDP in the first half of 2015, the government said this week, which would make it one of the fastest-growing economies in the region.

That comes after Cuba posted GDP growth of 1.3 percent, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, following GDP growth of 2.7 percent in 2013.

In a speech to lawmakers this week, Cuba’s Economy Minister Marino Murillo pointed to increased numbers in sectors like sugar and manufacturing, construction and trade and agriculture, among others.

Cuba announced a high-profile law on foreign investment last year, which opened up a total of 246 investment projects totaling $8.7 billion USD available to foreign investors, according to ECLAC.

Cuba’s economy remains one of the world’s most tightly-controlled economies, however.

— CJ