Havana focused inward: economic woes

Despite the bit of hemispheric hubbub surrounding Cuba at the moment, Havana is dealing first with the immediate internal challenges facing the country—namely, financial problems and the slowdown of important sectors of its economy. Ariel Terrero, the country’s top economic commentator, announced on national television yesterday that depressed nickel prices and reduced tourism revenue could slash Cuba’s foreign income by $1 billion for 2009. For perspective, that’s a 25% cut: total exports from the island are valued at about $4 billion annually. Terrero told Cubans that the government was already reducing imports and limiting production in some industries in response to the cash crunch.

The Minister of the Economy has also officially signed a new austerity program to begin in June, intended to cut state expenditures. His plan involves shutting off air conditioners at work, imposing large-scale “vacations” for government workers (with no indication of whether they will be paid during time off or not), and beginning the dreaded blackouts that he warned might return. Fortunately, the blackouts will be on Saturday mornings this time; not during “regular cooking hours,” as they were during the “Special Period” of severe economic measures that followed the Soviet Union’s collapse.

The new measures are likely to increase citizen discontent on the island, especially as these measures set in when temperatures during the summer months rise to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and above, and humidity begins to hover around the typical 88 percent.