ECONOMY - CUBA

The economy, controlled by the state, is basically agricultural. The principal culture is the cane with sugar, Cuba is the first world sugar exporter. The fall of the prices of sugar (and other raw materials) in the Eighties and Nineties obliged a diversification of the production. The tobacco and the citrus fruits bring back good incomes to the economy. Industry is partly devoted to the treatment of the agricultural produce and it also produces cement, fertilizers, textile, buildings prefabricated, agricultural machinery and products for domestic human consumption. The industry of tourism is in full growth and is a vital source for the entry of the currencies; it is for that that the government enormously invested to create an infrastructure necessary. The big problem of the cuban economy is the commercial blockade imposed by the United States, in 1998 with the law Helms-Burton which penalizes the alien companies which make trade with Cuba, which complicated the trade. The limitations imposed on the trade foreign and the fall of the ex Soviet Union intensified the problems of the cuban economy in the last years. The recent reforms of the control of the state on the economy with the creation of zones dedicated to export relieved the situation to some extent. Argentina, Canada, China and Spain are the principal trade partners of Cuba.