The Cuban government reiterates its promise to pay its debt to the Paris Club

The government of Cuba reiterated its promise to pay the Paris Club its financial obligations, less than a year after the regime managed to modify its debt renegotiation agreement due to its inability to pay.

Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuba's Vice Prime Minister, met in the French capital with representatives from the 14 creditor countries that are members of the group, reaffirming Havana's intention to meet its incurred debts.

In his role as negotiator for Cuba's external debt, Cabrisas led the delegation to the meeting where the restructuring of medium- and long-term debt payments is systematically assessed.

The leader also met with Emmanuel Moulin, president of the Paris Club and director general of the Treasury of France, in a meeting where they discussed the bilateral relationship between both countries, according to Prensa Latina.

In October of last year, Cuba reached an agreement with the Club to postpone this year's payment of the debt that was due in November, which it could not meet due to its severe exchange crisis.

In June, both parties modified their agreement on the renegotiation of Cuban debt. Thanks to the new agreed conditions, the Island obtained an extension to settle various debts, maintaining their value, while committing to resume payments in 2022 and to adjust the payment schedule.

In 2021, Cuba and the Paris Club decided to make adjustments to the historic agreement signed in 2015, through which the Club forgave Havana 8.5 billion dollars of a total debt of 11 billion, with the commitment to pay the remaining amount in installments until 2023.

At that time, Vice Prime Minister Cabrisas attributed the unpaid debts to the "unprecedented intensification of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade by the United States and the impact of phenomena associated with climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic."

Several European diplomats revealed that Cuba has fallen behind by about 200 million dollars in payments, including in 2021.

Havana partially failed to meet its obligations in 2019, and in 2020 declared itself unable to fulfill the corresponding payment, citing the crisis caused by the pandemic.

For this reason, he requested a two-year moratorium for a total of about 200 million in overdue payments to the Paris Club, which only accepted one year with the possibility of renegotiation.