What's coming to Cuba, it's an "economic depression", warn experts

Lack of foreign currency, decrease in imports, decommissioning of oil from Venezuela, and the non-compliance in national productions This is the current scenario of the Cuban economy, economists told Radio Martí.

In the midst of a chaotic situation, the country does not have the capacity to solve the main problem, namely the lack of foreign exchange, explained Cuban economist and economist Enix Berrio. "When we talk about the economy at this time in Cuba, there is no good news, unfortunately, it's discouraging", he said.

Berrio said that it was already a fact that this year, Cuba will not reach "growth of 1% of gross domestic product (GDP), as the Cuban government thought." He explained that the defaults already accumulate in key productions, such as sugar.

On the warning of General Raul Castro about the upcoming crisis, Berrio said that despite the rhetoric of the official speech, "call it a special period or not" and beyond a crisis, "What will happen in Cuba is called the economic depression".

The expert emphasized that for the Cuban economy to grow, it must import basic inputs: "Understand Venezuelan oil, oil, without alternatives to supply it to national production, which represents only 47% of the country's consumption.

The lack of fuel will affect the production of exportable items such as nickel and cement production, vital for the construction sector, as well as the agricultural sector, transportation, electricity and distribution. 39, water to the population.

"If there are no imports, there are no exports ", and this road leads to an economic depression "which has no solution in the short and medium term"insisted Berrio.

"For the Cuban economy to breathe, for Cuban citizens to have the minimum essential, we need a gross domestic product, that is to say produce goods and services, with a growth of 4%. at 6% for 10 consecutive years, "Berrio explained.

"These dramatic images will continue to proliferate (…) the desperation and anxiety of the ordinary citizen in the face of what is happening, "concluded the expert.

For the economics professor of the University of Valencia, Elías Amor Bravo, the recipe for getting out of the crisis is the liberalization of all the productive forces, to which the authorities of the country have so far refused.

"Instead of changing things for the economy to work, so that the country can have a future (…), this political clbad is placed in absolutely anachronistic and absurd positions and begins to talk about the meat of the world. Ostrich, "said Amor Bravo

The professor said that all these "absurd approaches" are a waste of time. "They delay measures that are absolutely necessary (…) liberalizing the economy, agreeing that there must be a widespread private economy throughout the country, that the state must reduce its functions to basic ones (…), and that the Cuban economy needs a new impetus to move forward, "he said.

The economist added that in a few months, the situation will be worse and that these social outbreaks occur rapidly due to the lack of basic producers "be generalized, and that's what I'm afraid of arriving on our beloved island if things do not change"

With information from Martí News