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CUBA: GOVERNMENT CONFRONTS ECONOMIC CRISIS WITH PRICE INCREASES & RESTRUCTURING OF SUGAR INDUSTRY.

Article Excerpt
Responding to the current economic crisis, the Cuban government ordered unprecedented price hikes in dollar stores (Tiendas de Recaudacion de Divisa, TRD), increases in gasoline prices, cuts in energy use, and a radical restructuring of the sugar industry.

The economy was projected to grow 3% this year, but few economists think there will be any growth at all. Among the factors pushing the economy into crisis are the effects of Hurricane Michelle and the subsequent large expenditures of hard currency on food imports from the US (see NotiCen, 2002-11-19), the suspension of oil imports from Venezuela after the April coup attempt against President Hugo Chavez (see NotiSur, 2002-04-19, NotiCen, 2002-06-13), declining world prices for sugar, nickel, and tobacco, and the closing of the Russian electronic listening post at Lourdes, which brought in US$200 million a year in rent money.

Tourism, which has surpassed sugar exports as the prime earner of foreign exchange, declined by 14% in the first quarter following the Sept. 11 attacks in the US. Dollar remittances have also declined substantially.

Juan Triana, who heads the University of Havana's Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy, said the economic situation was the worst since...

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