How long will this inflation that ordinary Cubans suffer in Cuba last? This is a question that all Cubans, both inside and outside this archipelago, ask ourselves daily, hoping for the economic situation to improve someday.
But we shouldn’t let time pass and just complain that our salaries and pensions aren’t enough for even a week due to the high prices we pay for a carton of eggs (two 500 CUP, two thousand 800 CUP, and three thousand CUP), a liter of cooking oil (890 to one thousand 50 CUP), a kilogram of rice (580 to 700 CUP), and a 10-pound package of chicken (three thousand 500 CUP to four thousand CUP).
And I’m only mentioning the essentials that every Cuban buys to live, not to mention beans, fruits, vegetables, electricity bills, newspaper subscriptions, internet, gas, public or private transportation, which is why, at a minimum, a Cuban should have a monthly budget of 30,000 CUP.
However, the minimum wage is around 2,500 and the minimum pension is 1,500 CUP, which is not enough at all. Given this situation, the government raised the pension to 4,000 CUP, but we wage earners are still struggling to make ends meet.
Given this situation, I think we are addressing the consequences, but not the causes, of the current economic crisis we are experiencing.
Instead of increasing pensions and wages, we should further increase food production and lower the high prices of public services. This should be done gradually with the help of foreign capital. Foreign investors may be from Miami or Hong Kong, but we must seek them out and offer them advantages as investors.
The world is in turmoil over the global situation: hunger in Gaza is an international shame for everyone, Donald Trump has collapsed with his tariff policies, Ukraine has become a new Nazi Germany to weaken Russia, and China is taking steps to become the world’s next economic power.
Trade wars, sanctions, and armed conflicts continue, influencing global markets, where Cuba must purchase oil, rice, powdered milk, beans, among other foods, and raw materials for the production of many of its factories.
Dr. C. Carola Salas, on the television program Cuadrando la Caja, expressed that the Cuban people are suffering and harshly criticized the Cuban government’s current economic strategy.
According to the expert, problems are not solved by controlling prices or creating obstacles, but by increasing production and facilitating foreign investment.
During his appearance on the television program, Salas explained that Cuba faces an extremely complicated situation: lack of liquidity, high financial risks, and almost no foreign investment.
Salas warned that the country is in risk category C, on the verge of default, which is scaring away potential foreign investors, who are being pressured by the Trump administration, whose government is poorly advised on its policy toward Cuba.
To reverse the crisis, Salas proposes unleashing productive forces, creating real incentives for workers, and modernizing the economy to attract foreign capital.
The Cuban economy is going through a very complex time and must find solutions linked to production. It must achieve export capacity, as an economy without production is inconceivable, as it does not generate income through exports in such a complex world with quantitative and qualitative restrictions.
The important thing is not only that the state-owned enterprise be socialist; what is truly important is that it be efficient and generate wealth for the well-being of its population, which has demonstrated great sacrifices to maintain the socialist society project the government seeks.
But the sacrifice of the people alone is not enough; those people must also be well-trained, as a productive force, for the economy to advance. To do so, they must find ways to integrate into the global economy, despite the restrictions imposed by the US government’s economic, financial, and trade blockade.
Cuba, as an energy importer, has had to purchase almost all of its oil on the international market, where prices fluctuate, and has had to seek alternative avenues, moving toward clean energy sources such as solar and wind.
Cuba must find ways to obtain these resources, even though the process is complicated. We must seek more foreign investment, which will provide us with international financing through various channels, whether multilateral, such as the Silk Road or the BRICS, which are options. However, Cuba must work to efficiently integrate into these schemes, where it is impossible to arrive and claim that I have solved my economic problems, amidst heterogeneous international problems.
Cuba must arrive by providing solutions to the dynamic problems it has had for decades, which have affected the country’s financial credibility. Therefore, we are facing a tremendously difficult situation for the local economy. Therefore, we must further facilitate foreign investment, providing guarantees for its investments.
Facilitate the process of foreign investment, which is why these investors face risks, and therefore those risks must be assumed by designing an incentive policy, not only fiscal but also financial, monetary, and exchange rate incentives. We must attract financing, we must improve the country’s financial credibility, and send positive signals to investors.
This is largely achieved through proper management of the external debt, for which we must have a fund to pay it off. The debt can be renegotiated and differentiated based on strategic interests with creditors. However, it must be paid. In this entire financing dynamic, the million-dollar question is: how do we achieve this?
You have to achieve this in production, because problems are not resolved in the sphere of circulation; they are resolved in production: achieving surplus production for export, and based on this production-export dynamic, you will solve internal economic problems.
Problems are not resolved by imposing obstacles, setting limits, or capping prices. Inflation problems are resolved through production and to the extent that you produce and supply goods.
The market works this way, and these are core issues that the country must resolve immediately. Policymakers know this. Therefore, they must mobilize, unleash productive forces, talk to producers, stimulate them, and put them to work because people are materially interested in seeing the results of their work, and when that is done, economic corrections are achieved.
How do you manage that afterward? With sound fiscal policy. All these instruments are there, so they must be implemented, and implemented well, so that our economy’s financial situation balances.
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