Cubans will say goodbye to 2022, a very hard year for various reasons, mainly due to the limited availability of foreign currency, although the government is working to mitigate the difficulties with a view to 2023.

By Roberto Morejón

Cubans will soon say goodbye to 2022, a very hard year for various reasons, mainly due to the limited availability of foreign currency, although the government is working to mitigate the difficulties with a view toward 2023.

In public speeches, officials and experts confirmed that the country is not at a standstill, it is implementing promising policies and provisions, although, as Deputy Prime Minister Alejandro Gil pointed out, the results are far from what was desired.

In an unfavorable context due to the U.S. blockade and the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine on energy and food, the largest of the Antilles is planning to end the current year with an increase in the Gross Domestic Product of two percent, an encouraging rate, but below the requirements.

Halfway to the goal of growing four percent, according to the Minister, the indicator reflects a slight recovery, but in reference to the year 2021, when, because of the pandemic, the nation had to reduce the operation of companies and services.

With a lack of resources for industry and inputs destined for agriculture, both sectors suffer this year, in what is interpreted as a sign that the economy is still behaving below pre-2019 levels.

With contractions in the export of services, telecommunications and tourism, although the latter is heading towards recovery, Cuba must also face inflation of 29 percent, a factor that punishes the purchasing power of salaries and pensions.

In view of the scale of the problems and the examination of how to tackle them, the government urged entrepreneurs and other sources of production and services to generate income from exports.

Forecasts for 2023 place the stability of the National Electric Power System as a key point, after a 2022 with annoying service interruptions.

Controlling inflation, growing food and commodity supplies to the domestic market and working on imbalances in the possession of monetary income are also Cuba's main lines of action for the next calendar.

The government trusts in the positive contributions of the agreements reached by Cuba with foreign interlocutors during trips made by President Miguel Díaz Canel.

With a view to macroeconomic stabilization, the President recently highlighted the resilience of his compatriots in the face of accidents and natural disasters.

With that vigor, much more work must be done without giving up the dream, said the President, of the possible prosperity.