In a 2017 presidential memorandum, the Trump administration claimed that Cuba played "a destabilizing role in the Western Hemisphere". According to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the country provides "a communist foothold in the region and [props] up US adversaries in places like Venezuela and Nicaragua".

Admittedly, the Caribbean nation has a past as colorful as its iconic architecture. But how much do you know about its economy?

As the sudden death of one of its most powerful figures plunges the country into uncertainty, read on to discover the surprising ways Cuba makes and spends its money. All dollar figures in US dollars, unless otherwise stated.

Cuba is the most populated country in the Caribbean, with more than 11 million residents.

According to data from Statista, the nation's GDP was $151.5 billion in 2021, up from an estimated $103,131 in 2019. As of 2020, it's the 68th richest country in the world.

Between 1994 and 2021, Cuba had not one but two currencies. The Cuban peso (CUP) and the Cuban convertible peso (CUC) were both legal tender on the island, with the latter worth 25 times more than the CUP.

The government announced its intention to abolish its two-currency system back in 2013 and by January 2021, the CUC was no longer being issued. It officially ceased circulation that December. 

Cuba adopted the two-currency system in an attempt to protect its economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which had provided financial support to the island.

It was a controversial move. Workers paid in lower-value CUP couldn't afford the same goods and services that were available to those who were paid in CUC, meaning inequality was rife. 

Data from Trading Economics shows that the average monthly income in Cuba was 1,194 CUP in 2020, or around $46.40.

Including rent, consumer prices in Cuba are 38.61% less than in the US, while local purchasing power is a staggering 98.5% lower. 

The socialist government in Cuba is notoriously secretive and official statistics are hard to come by.

There are no published data sets relating to the Cuban poverty rate, although estimates shared by The Borgen Project in 2017 suggest that anything from 5% to 26% of the population lives below the poverty line – on paper, at least.

Because the economy is state-run, Cubans have access to a national healthcare program, free education at all levels, and subsidized housing, food programs, and utilities. This makes it difficult to determine an accurate poverty rate based on average incomes alone. 

In Cuba, healthcare is free and seen as a fundamental human right that is guaranteed by the state rather than a paid-for privilege.

Although Cuba spends minimally on healthcare in comparison to the US, it has a lower infant mortality rate than the United States. Cuba's residents also have a similar life expectancy to that of their American counterparts.

For context, the World Bank has suggested that Cuba spends $431 per citizen per year on healthcare; the comparative figure in the US is $8,553.

Cuba's free education system also seems highly successful.

The country supposedly has one of the highest literacy rates in the world at 99.8% – although like many "official" government stats, it might be worth taking this figure with a pinch of salt. 

Much like its poverty rate, Cuba's unemployment levels are tricky to pinpoint.

However, official statistics quoted by Trading Economics show that the country's unemployment rate rose from 1.2% to 3.87% between 2019 and 2020, with the increase undoubtedly a side-effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The majority of employed Cubans have worked for the government at some point; in fact, as much as 85% of the workforce, or 5.1 million people, were recorded as being state employees in 2010.

This percentage has dropped significantly in the wake of serious cuts; 2010 also saw the Cuban government announce that it would cut one million public sector jobs.

Now, around two million people are employed in the country's burgeoning private sector, with around 200,000 people working at privately owned businesses in 2018. 

Before the pandemic pressed pause on international travel, the tourism industry was one of Cuba's biggest sources of income, bringing in $3.3 billion in 2018 alone.

In 2015, the US eased the restrictions that had previously made Cuba the only country in the world where Americans needed permission to travel, a policy introduced after the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

This lifting has meant that an estimated 1.5 million more tourists can enter the Caribbean island every year, although previous stats suggest that somewhere between 20,000 to 30,000 Americans illegally entered the country annually beforehand.

The Cuban government has hinted this figure was actually higher, sitting closer to 60,000. 

According to WorldAtlas, Cuba's industrial sector accounts for around 37% of the country's total GDP.

Employing 24% of the population, industries were nationalized by the government in 1968 and mainly include oil refining, sugar processing, and pharmaceuticals. Pictured is an oil refinery in Havana Harbor. 

The agricultural sector is also one of Cuba's top employers.

Sugarcane, which is sold to make refined sugar as well as distilled alcohol, is the country's principal crop, followed by root crops, bananas, vegetables, cereals, legumes, tobacco, and various fruits.

Around one-fifth of Cuba's population works in agriculture and 35% of land on the island is set aside purely for the growth of crops. Perhaps surprisingly, the sector only accounts for 4% of the country's GDP. 

Under socialism, Cuba operates a food rationing system that was first introduced in 1962. This guarantees each resident a minimum level of basic food supplies, including rice, bread, sugar, and oil.

Other foods, such as fruits and vegetables, are sold at markets, where Cubans can buy as much as they can afford. 

Despite the social prominence of Cuba's agricultural sector, the country imports up to 40% of its food.

According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), Cuba imported $3.4 billion worth of goods in 2020, most of which was edible. Its top import was poultry meat, followed by wheat, maize, milk and cream, and rice.

The island mainly imports its goods from a wide range of countries, including Spain, China, and Italy.

At the same time, Cuba exports roughly $1.15 billion worth of goods a year.

Its top exports are its world-famous Cuban cigars and tobacco, cane or beet sugar, nickel, alcohol, and zinc. China, Spain, India, Singapore, and Germany are among its largest markets; China alone imported $441 million of Cuban goods in 2020.

Pictured is a 1982 stamp commemorating the economic importance of nickel, which remains a key export to this day. 

And it's not just goods that Cuba ships all over the world. There are so many doctors in Cuba that they’re often sent to other countries that are facing a shortage, and the medics have found themselves tackling cholera in Haiti, Ebola in West Africa, and COVID-19 in Italy and Togo.

The island reportedly has 90,000 doctors to care for its population of 11 million. That's eight for every 1,000 citizens, which is more than double the rate in the US.

According to Harvard Business Review, the export of healthcare services is Cuba's top source of revenue. Although there are no official statistics to confirm this, data quoted by Agence France-Presse suggests the practice generated $6.3 billion in 2018. 

America introduced its first sanctions against Cuba in 1962 and presidents have flip-flopped on the issue of Cuban trade ever since.

Obama eased the restrictions during his presidency but Trump reintroduced a range of measures back in 2017.

Now, Biden has removed rules that state Cuban migrants in the US can't send their families more than $1,000 (£811) every three months. He's also sped up the visa application process, increased the number of flights to Havana, and relaunched family reunification programs. 

Cuba is, of course, famous for its cigars. However, in 1962, John F. Kennedy signed a trade embargo that meant US citizens were no longer able to legally purchase Cuban cigars.

Kennedy himself was clearly divided on the issue: the then-president had purchased a supply of 1,200 Cuban cigars just hours beforehand.

Restrictions were gradually lifted in the 2010s, with Americans able to bring home an unlimited number of Cuban cigars from their travels as of 2016.

Cuba might have a fractured relationship with the US but it's on much better terms with its principal ally, Venezuela.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union gave approximately $2.17 billion in subsidies to Cuba every year, leaving the island bereft when the Union collapsed in 1990. Venezuela stepped into the breach.

According to The New York Times, Venezuelan subsidies had reached a total value of $14 billion by 2012 – around 12% of Cuba's GDP – and the country remains Cuba's main supplier of oil.

Pictured is Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro during a state visit from Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Cane in 2018. 

Cuba's state budget for this year is over 306 billion CUP, the equivalent of around $11.8 billion.

Of this, 112 billion CUP ($4.3bn) will be allocated to healthcare and education, while 43.6 billion CUP ($1.7bn) will go towards security and social assistance.

A further 11 billion CUP ($427m) is earmarked for cultural and sports activities. 

Think of Cuban culture and you probably picture salsa dancers. But did you know that two of the nation’s biggest passions are actually baseball and ballet? 

In fact, the latter is even funded by the government, which pays for ballet training and subsidizes tickets for citizens to attend performances. But it's not all pirouettes and slamdunks...

Cuba's defense budget sits at just under $3 billion, according to Global Firepower.

Over the past decade, the defense budget has typically represented less than 4% of the nation's GDP, which is a huge reduction from the 1980s when the government allocated 9.6% of GDP to its military endeavors. 

Despite ongoing trade embargoes, the US pays Cuba approximately $4,085 a year to lease the 45 square miles that hold the controversial Guantánamo Bay Naval Station.

However, Cuba has reportedly only cashed a check once, and even that was by mistake, according to an essay written by former revolutionary president Fidel Castro.

Biden has criticized the most recent US defense bill for continuing to "bar the use of funds to transfer Guantánamo Bay detainees to the custody or effective control of certain foreign countries".

Pictured are American protestors in 2019 calling for the closure of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, which currently holds around 40 prisoners according to an NBC article published in December last year. 

According to Trading Economics, Cuba's government debt represented 18.4% of its GDP back in 2018.

By the end of this year, that figure is anticipated to drop down to 17.5% after hitting 22% in 2020. When the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, the island asked the Paris Club – an organization made up of officials from 22 major creditor countries, including the US – to move its debt repayment deadline to this year.

Cuba currently owes around $30 billion. Whether it'll be able to settle its debts so quickly while still struggling to recover from the effects of coronavirus remains to be seen. 

And uncertainty lies ahead. The sudden death of General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja on 1 July this year could "[shake] the [Cuban] regime to its core", according to Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat, head of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance in Miami.

Widely described as one of Cuba's most powerful men, Rodríguez López-Calleja was the former son-in-law of retired politician Raúl Castro. He was also the leader of state-owned conglomerate GAESA, which is the island's largest holding company.

He reportedly "controlled the economic arm of the Cuban regime" according to WLRN – and without an obvious successor, concerns are bubbling for the future of Cuba's finances.  

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