Editing Economy of Cuba (section)

===Reforms and recovery (1994-2011)===
{{Main|Dollarization of Cuba}}
The government undertook several [[Cuban economic reforms|reforms]] to stem excess [[Market liquidity|liquidity]], increase labor incentives, and alleviate serious shortages of food, [[consumer good]]s, and services. To alleviate the economic crisis, the government introduced a few [[market economy|market]]-oriented reforms, including opening to tourism, allowing [[Foreign direct investment|foreign investment]], legalizing the U.S. dollar, and authorizing self-employment for some 150 occupations. (This policy was later partially reversed so that while the U.S. dollar is no longer accepted in businesses, it remains legal for Cubans to hold the currency.) These measures resulted in modest economic growth. The [[free market|liberalized]] agricultural markets were introduced in October 1994, at which state and private farmers sell above-quota production at [[free market]] prices, broadened legal consumption alternatives, and reduced [[black market]] prices.

Government efforts to lower subsidies to unprofitable enterprises and to shrink the money supply caused the semi-official [[exchange rate]] for the [[Cuban peso]] to move from a peak of 120 to the dollar in the summer of 1994 to 21 to the dollar by year-end 1999. The drop in GDP halted in 1994 when Cuba reported 0.7% growth, followed by increases of 2.5% in 1995 and 7.8% in 1996. Growth slowed again in 1997 and 1998 to 2.5% and 1.2% respectively. One of the key reasons was the failure to notice that sugar production had become uneconomic. Reflecting on the Special Period, Cuban president [[Fidel Castro]] later admitted that many mistakes had been made, "The country had many economists, and it is not my intention to criticize them, but I would like to ask why we hadn't discovered earlier that maintaining our levels of sugar production would be impossible. The Soviet Union collapsed, oil cost $40 a barrel, and sugar prices were at basement levels, so why did we not rationalize the industry?"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/285047|title=Arab News|date=22 May 2006|access-date=18 December 2022}}</ref> [[Living conditions]] in 1999 remained well below the 1989 level.

[[File:GDP-Caribbean.png|thumb|350px|right|Historical evolution of [[GDP per capita]] of Cuba and some other Caribbean countries, based on Maddison and current Cuban statistics {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113221400/http://www.one.cu/publicaciones/08informacion/panorama2010/Panorama2010.pdf |date=13 November 2011}} ]]

Due to the continued growth of tourism, growth began in 1999 with a 6.2% increase in GDP.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NGjxCQAAQBAJ&q=Due+to+the+continued+growth+of+tourism,+growth+began+in+1999+with+a+6.2%25+increase+in+GDP&pg=PA83|title=Cuba Investment, Trade Laws and Regulations Handbook Volume 1 Strategic Information and Basic Laws |date=26 January 2015|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-4330-7569-8}}{{self-published source|date=February 2020}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}} Growth then picked up, with a growth in GDP of 11.8% in 2005 according to government figures.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Pérez-López | first1 = Jorge F | year = 2006 | title = The Cuban Economy in 2005–2006: The End of the Special Period?. | journal = Cuba in Transition | volume = 16 | pages = 1–13}}</ref> In 2007 the Cuban economy grew by 7.5%, higher than the Latin American average. Accordingly, the cumulative growth in GDP since 2004 stood at 42.5%.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/enero/mar1/Cuban-Economy.html |title=granma.cu - Cuban Economy Grows 7.5 Per Cent |access-date=4 February 2008 |archive-date=1 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201134400/http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/enero/mar1/Cuban-Economy.html }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40680 |title=Challenges 2007–2008: Cuban Economy in Need of Nourishment |access-date=11 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204131831/http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40680 |archive-date=4 December 2010}}</ref>{{clarify|reason=until when?|date=May 2013}}

However, starting in 1996, the government imposed [[Taxation in Cuba|income taxes on self-employed Cubans]].<ref name=":0"/>
Cuba ranked third in the region in 1958 in GDP per capita, surpassed only by [[Venezuela]] and [[Uruguay]]. It had descended to 9th, 11th, or 12th place in the region by 2007. Cuban social indicators suffered less.<ref name="mesa">{{cite book |title=Economic and Social Balance of 50 Years of Cuban Revolution |first=Carmelo |last=Mesa-Lago |pages=371, 380 |url=https://www.ascecuba.org/c/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/v19-mesolago.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume19/pdfs/mesolago.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live}}{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}} in {{harvnb|CIT}}</ref>

Every year the United Nations holds a vote asking countries to choose if the United States is justified in its economic embargo against Cuba and whether it should be lifted. 2016 was the first year that the United States abstained from the vote, rather than voting no, "since 1992 the US and Israel have constantly voted against the resolution – occasionally supported by the Marshall Islands, Palau, Uzbekistan, Albania and Romania".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/26/us-to-abstain-from-un-vote-condemning-cuba-embargo-for-the-first/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/26/us-to-abstain-from-un-vote-condemning-cuba-embargo-for-the-first/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=US to abstain from UN vote condemning Cuba embargo for the first time in 25 years|work=The Telegraph|access-date=29 March 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In its 2020 report to the United Nations, Cuba stated that the total cost to Cuba from the United States embargo is $144 billion since its inception.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Stuart |title=Sanctions as War: Anti-Imperialist Perspectives on American Geo-Economic Strategy |date=2023 |publisher=Haymarket Books |isbn=978-1-64259-812-4 |location= |page=143 |oclc=1345216431}}</ref>