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The Trouble With Cuba’s New Economy

By William M. LeoGrande

Why economic opening on the island has been slower – and less effective – than many hoped.

When Raúl Castro steps down as Cuba’s president in February 2018, he will hand off to his successor the unfinished task of reforming the economy. It is Cuba’s most urgent need and, at the same time, an increasingly controversial one.

Castro succeeded his brother Fidel as president in 2008 amid serious structural economic problems on the island. State salaries were inadequate to cover basic needs, productivity in state enterprises was weak, and foreign reserves were chronically low. Agricultural production was so poor that Cuba had to...

Read this article on the Americas Quarterly website. | Subscribe to AQ.

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