Cubans are bracing for hard times in 2010 as President Raul Castro slashes imports and cuts government spending to get Cuba out of crisis — and they are growing impatient with the slow pace of economic reform.
Hurricanes, the global recession, U.S. sanctions and the inability of the communist-run island’s command economy to maneuver have put an end to recovery from the 1990s crisis that followed the Soviet Union’s demise.
Local economists agree there will be little if any growth this year for the first time in more than a decade as Cuba battles a cash crunch that has forced it to stop paying bills and freeze bank accounts of some foreign companies in Cuba.
(via Reuters)