The corporate world is increasing investments in Cuba

The number of foreign businesses in Cuba has increased twentyfold in the past decade as a result of the government´s gradual relaxation of foreign-investment restrictions, resulting in a positive impact on the national economy, Cuban experts say.

In 1990, when Cuban authorities authorized foreign investment to try to stem the country´s serious economic crisis, there were barely 20 businesses with any foreign capital.

The figure rose gradually throughout the 1990s and in 2000 there were 392 joint ventures and 403 established by 2002, according to the most recent report of the University of Havana´s Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy.

Total sales by joint ventures in 2002 were close to $1.95 billion, with exports of almost $675 million and direct revenue to the country of more than $300 million.