Report on investments: inward and outward

Even as many foreign partners have seen their funds in Cuba frozen and had great trouble this year transferring profits and funds abroad, they seem to be sticking around. In July 2008, the government said there were 246 foreign investment projects in the country; now state media reports 258 joint venture and other investment projects operating domestically and 46 abroad. None of these are U.S. ventures, of course. Cuba’s top investing partners abroad are Venezuela, China and Angola; in country, the top investors are Spain, Venezuela, Canada and Italy.

For all of its economic problems, Cuba appears to have succeeded in the difficult task of diversification. The island is involved with a number of countries (after a difficult lesson on this when the Soviet Union collapsed) across a variety of different industries, including construction, tourism, oil exploration, communications, mining and others. Hopefully, such planning will help to cushion future economic blows coming from domestic problems in partner countries or international price fluctuations in certain industries.

Still, all this will not help much if Cuba cannot prove itself more financially responsible in the coming year, after finding itself unable—by billions of dollars—to back foreign investors’ funds in Cuban banks. Foreign firms are “hanging in there, hoping the situation will improve in 2010.” If it does not, diversification of international partners will do no good when they all walk out.