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The Cuban regime continues to prioritize investments related to tourism, despite the prolonged stagnation of the sector and the deep shortages affecting the population in key areas such as public health and food production.
This is evidenced by the most recent data published by the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), corresponding to the close of the year 2024 and analyzed in a thread on X (formerly Twitter) by the Cuban economist Pedro Monreal.
According to official figures, investments in business services, real estate activities, and rentals reached 24.907 billion Cuban pesos (CUP), making it the primary destination for capital expenditure in the country.
This is complemented by 11,936.5 million CUP directed towards hotels and restaurants, bringing the total investment in activities closely related to tourism to over 36,800 million pesos.
In contrast, fundamental sectors for social welfare and the productive development of the country received a significantly smaller portion of state resources.
Public health and social assistance barely reached an investment of 1,977.4 million CUP, while agriculture, livestock, and forestry received 2,645.5 million, representing a meager 2.7% of the total national investment.
Monreal, an expert in development and economic policy, described the high relative weight of tourism investment as “unjustified”, especially considering that the hotel occupancy rate barely reaches 23%, which suggests an inefficient use of resources and a lack of correlation between investment and economic return.
“Agricultural investment was 14 times lower than tourism”, Monreal declared in his post, questioning the regime's supposed priority towards food security, which, in his words, “is nothing more than a deceptive slogan”.
Furthermore, the economist emphasized that the total amount of tourism investment even surpasses the combined investment in two key sectors for national productivity: the manufacturing industry (excluding sugar) and agriculture.
Both, he argued, are essential not only for the direct well-being of the population but also for the establishment of the famous "productive linkages" that energize the domestic economy.
The comparative statistics from recent years show a persistent pattern: since at least 2014, activities related to tourism have been increasingly capturing a significant share of national investment.
In 2020, these activities accounted for 47.6% of the total, a figure that, although it has slightly decreased in subsequent years, remained high at 37.4% in 2024. Meanwhile, agriculture has systematically declined, dropping from 8.1% in 2014 to the aforementioned 2.7% in 2024.
Monreal was emphatic in describing this scheme as a “very distorted” investment model, which contradicts the official narratives regarding the need to “correct distortions” and “revitalize the economy.”
According to their analysis, without a reorientation of spending towards truly productive and social sectors, the country's economic recovery will remain an empty promise.
“The contradiction between a declining tourism sector that continues to voraciously consume the scarce investment resources and a food crisis that is adrift… expresses, at the very least, a policy of immobility”, concluded the expert.
Amid the growing food shortage, the collapse of the public healthcare system, and the overall decline in living conditions in Cuba, the investment decisions of the Cuban regime highlight a policy that is disconnected from the real needs of the citizens.
In the absence of structural reforms and a shift in priorities, the country seems doomed to deepen its structural crisis, with the government of "continuity" led by Miguel Díaz-Canel providing no visible short-term solutions.
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