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Cuba publishes its figures: the country is going through a difficult economic period, with the strengthening of US sanctions and the unstable situation in Venezuela, the island's leading oil supplier. In this context, the official figures give a deficit trade balance, the country imports much more than it exports.
With our correspondent in Havana, Domitille Piron
Cuba is embarking on far-reaching economic reforms, and the release of this report on foreign trade is seen as a gesture to foreign investors and partners, who complained that they did not have access to the details of the Cuban economy.
One can now put a number behind the first currency entry in the country: doctors, the export of Cuban health services worldwide has returned $ 6.4 billion in 2018.
Not surprisingly, tourism is the second largest currency entry in the country, with $ 970 million generated by the hotel sector. Then come the telecommunications sectors and then the transport services.
Foreign exchange earnings for Cuba have declined significantly in recent years, and the trade deficit is widening: in 2018, the country imported 4.5 times more than it exported.
The economy of the island seems to stagnate, and the reinforcement of American sanctions does not arrange Cuban affairs. Tourists and investors seem cooled by these measures.
But the Minister of Economy announced in early July a broad economic plan: based on the decline in imports, the reinvestment of foreign exchange in domestic production and increased exports.