By Nelson Acosta
HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba is unlikely to see any growth in 2024, Economy Minister Joaquin Alonso said on Thursday, as its already sputtering state-run economy struggles to recover from a string of natural disasters this year.
Hurricanes Oscar and Rafael struck the Caribbean island in October and November, knocking out power to millions and exposing new vulnerabilities in an already decrepit and obsolete electrical grid.
The storms, together with a powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake earlier this week near the country’s second largest city, Santiago – destroyed at least 34,000 homes, officials said, and knocked out infrastructure across the nation.
“The economy should not grow this year,” Alonso told reporters in Havana. “Indisputably there has to be an impact.”
Daily rolling blackouts, which have plagued most of the island this year, remain the norm throughout Cuba.
Authorities called for extended emergency blackouts in capital Havana on Thursday.
“The economic development of a country depends greatly on energy and we have had electrical problems throughout the year and not just this month,” Alonso added.
Several weeks of managing natural disasters have sapped resources in the Communist-run country already suffering severe shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine. The multi-year crisis had spawned a record-breaking exodus of Cubans off the island.
Cuba’s economy contracted 1.9% in 2023, the economy ministry said in July.