The Prime Minister of the Cuban regime Manuel Marrero Cruz stated to business leaders that Cuba is experiencing a “favorable” moment for foreign investment.
"This edition of the Havana International Fair (FIHAV) has taken place at a particularly favorable time. And I refer to the decisions made this week by the Cuban government here," said Marrero Cruz at the closing of FIHAV.
“Decisions that open up a real horizon of opportunities. Decisions that aim to streamline the evaluation and approval of businesses. Decisions that are intended to expand the spaces for foreign capital and promote more flexible and efficient alliances with national entities,” the official added, during the commercial event aiming to attract investors to inject capital into the struggling economy of the island.
Marrero Cruz stated that "today we can affirm that Cuba offers a renewed environment for those who choose to work here."
He also announced that "these will not be the only measures we will adopt for the remainder of the year. Cuba, with its Government Program, is moving towards a deeper process of refining its economic model, with the active participation of all national and foreign actors."
The Cuban government will allow foreign companies to operate directly in foreign currency
The Cuban regime announced last week that foreign companies will be able to operate directly in foreign currency within the island, as part of a new scheme for partial dollarization of the national economy.
The measure, amid a severe economic crisis marked by the devaluation of the Cuban peso, was presented by the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment (MINCEX), Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, during the opening of the VIII Investment Forum at the International Fair of Havana (FIHAV 2025).
According to the official, the change is part of “a package of reforms” aimed at attracting foreign capital and easing foreign investment operations in Cuba, a sector that currently includes over 370 businesses from 40 countries, as reported by the official portal Cubadebate.
"A new differentiated operational scheme for foreign investment will be established, which will be able to operate, according to its needs, in national currency and in foreign currencies," stated Pérez-Oliva Fraga.
The new model aims to allow foreign companies to obtain and manage revenue in foreign currency independently, either through exports or through segments of the domestic market that generate hard currency.
The measure, which deepens the process of dollarization of the economy, is a response to the structural crisis of the Cuban peso (CUP) and the growing need of the regime to capture fresh foreign currency due to the lack of liquidity.
The head of MINCEX also stated that companies will be able to open bank accounts abroad, an option already provided for in Cuban legislation, but now politically supported as a tool to facilitate international transactions and address the effects of the U.S. embargo.
"These transformations are linked to the partial dollarization process of the economy and seek to direct foreign investment towards generating external revenues," emphasized Pérez-Oliva.
Although the government tries to justify the opening as an “updating of the socialist model,” the truth is that it is a desperate strategy to attract dollars amid a suffocated economy and a lack of investor confidence.
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