The Cuban Economy in the Context of COVID-19

Date: 

Friday, May 1, 2020, 12:00pm to 1:30pm

Location: 

Zoom Webinar

The recording of this event can be found here

Speaker: Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics and Latin American Studies, University of Pittsburgh

Moderator: Alejandro de la Fuente, Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics; Professor of African and African American Studies; Chair, Cuba Studies Program

Before the covid-19 pandemic, Cuba was already suffering the worst economic crisis since the 1990s after the collapse of the socialist camp. In addition to basically maintaining the central planning model (with some modest reforms) that was unable to increase GDP growth and production, Cuba has suffered significant cuts in its economic relationship with Venezuela and Trumps' aggressive policies that strengthened the U.S. embargo. Evaluating the impact of these three factors, the presentation shows the domestic macroeconomic indicators and the impact of the two external variables.

Presented in collaboration with The Cuban Heritage Collection (CHC), University of Miami The Cuban Research Institute (CRI), Florida International University The Cuba Program, ILAS, Columbia University. Supported by Ford Foundation.