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Cuba Foreign Aid and Debt

Cuba's U.S. sourced financial aid flows have undergone great shifts over the past years. In 2005, they netted roughly 6 million, in 2014 they netted roughly 14 million, and in 2018, they netted roughly 12 million.  The low value in 2015 is due in part to a large debt repayment of around 2 million. In each of these years, the vast majority of these funds went towards governance and humanitarian efforts. In 2018, ~11 million of the ~12 million from the U.S. went to these areas (U.S. Foreign Aid by Country). This highlights the fact that Cuba is still very much in a development stage. Cuba has also sourced aid from other countries. In forgiven and cancelled debt alone, the amount of aid that Cuba has received is significant. Between 2011 and 2014, Mexico, Japan, China, and Russia wrote off a combined 40 billion in debt as a loss (Rapoza). Some if this is connected to times near the Cold War, but Cuba is in such a negative situation fiscally that the countries don't see the debt a...
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Cuba International Trade and Development


 Cuba has one of the most notably low GDP growth rates in the world, which has fallen from roughly 4.7% to just 1% (Pike, "Cuba's Economy"). These are due to many factors; some associated with domestic policies, and others associated with international relations and policies. Due to Cuba's totalitarian and communist structure, they have an apparent extreme control over all aspects of the economy. This leads to a lack of involvement of foreign firms, most notably the U.S., in the Cuban economy, which limits the opportunity for foreign investment and competition (Broadbent, et. al., Commissioners). Cuba also lacks "hard foreign currency," and in addition to overall domestic fiscal constraints, this makes importing very difficult. Cuba is unable to purchase imports from powers like the U.S. due to their lack of foreign currency and the uncertainty perceived with their own Cuban currency due to domestic fiscal challenges (Broadbent, et. al., Commissioners). Ad...
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Political System in Cuba

Looking at Cuba's political system, there are many things we can gather by comparing their economic development indexes with their policies. Cuba is a totalitarian communist state and has recently been making changes to their Soviet-era constitution (Pike, "Cuba's Government"). They are dealing with economic challenges, but economic development specifically isn't as weak. Despite very low levels of economic growth (lowered from 4.7% in 6 months to just 1%) and low wages for much of the population, they are generally "much better off" due to "free education, subsidized medical care, housing, and some subsidized food" (Pike, "Cuba's Economy"). This is supported by many ratings related to poverty, health, and education. Cuba is in the top 20% of countries in terms of  fewest  infant mortalities ("The World Factbook: Cuba"). From another perspective, Cuba has seen improvements with gender equality as their government is mode...
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5 Goals for Cuba

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ Decent Jobs and Economic Growth Cuba's GDP growth rate has declined in the past 20 years from around 5% to roughly 2% (SDG Country Profiles). Cuba has a moderate unemployment rate (ranked number 27 in the world), but isn't struggling with extreme unemployment (Central Intelligence Agency). No Hunger In 2000, the rate of hunger was at around 4%, but it is currently "less than 2.5%" (which has remained a consistent metric for the past 15 years) (SDG Country Profiles). In 2000, roughly 7% of young children/infants faced stunted growth due to malnourishment, but this has likely improved with the decreased hunger rates (SDG Country Profiles). Quality Education Cuba once had higher levels of education (in 1970's through 80's), but has since somewhat of a fall (The World Bank). According to SDG, nearly 100% of students take part in primary school education, but there wasn't further ...
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