May 12, 2015
Although U.S. tech companies are waiting to invest in Cuba, the country is most eager to attract agricultural investments to ease the heavy financial burden of high levels of food imports.
Cuba has announced that as part of its campaign to create a transparent and stable regulatory system within which investors can feel secure, the government is negotiating with its foreign creditors and is eliminating its dual currency system.
“Private and foreign companies can operate with their property rights secure,” Cuba’s finance minister, Lina Pedraza stated at a recent World Economic Forum meeting with global business leaders, while Deborah Rivas, Cuba’s general director of its Foreign Investment Bureau stated that the country’s government is working hard to ensure that foreign investors are ensured of “legal certainty”.
Currently in Cuba, even though the state owns all farmland, private investors are able to acquire 99 year leases on agricultural land and are able to fully own anything produced on that land, and all assets built on the land.
The potential for growth is significant. U.S. exports to Cuba are currently worth a few million dollars, while imports are effectively at zero, and the Peterson Institute for International Economics forecasts that foreign direct investment in the country could reach $17 billion – up from approximately $1 billion today.
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