Foreign investment in Cuba, a Crucial Bet for Development

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Faced with a very challenging scenario, Cuba insists decisively on attracting foreign capital for development, Director of Foreign Investment at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment, Carlos Luis Jorge, told Prensa Latina.

Despite specialized sources predicting a fall of more than 40 percent in investment flows at a global level, and a hardened U.S. blockade to malign its image, the island redoubles efforts to attract foreign direct investments (FDI).

Jorge pointed out the portfolio of opportunities that, first presented in 2014, has grown to over 500 projects, practically covering all sectors of the economy.

Between 2017 and 2018, businesses approved for investment exceeded two billion dollars each year and, although in 2019 that figure was not reached, the numbers were around 1,800 million dollars, Jorge recalled.

During 2020, he added, almost 30 businesses were authorized and the investment values involved exceed two billion dollars.

Currently, the executive said, we have two priorities for everything that is done with foreign investment, and the first is that projects should contribute to increasing exports.

Another sector of importance is the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources, with their respective contribution to the Cuban environmental commitments, and about energy sovereignty.

The other is food production, since the State devotes considerable amounts of foreign currency each year to the acquisition of foodstuffs. The main goal is to reduce imports of these products.