Can Cuba turn its economy around?
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 23 March 2026
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Cuba is in the grip of a deep economic crisis. The country’s communist government says it will open up the struggling economy to greater private investment in an effort to tackle it. But will these reforms be enough? And can they happen quickly enough to slow the record number of Cubans leaving the country in search of a better life abroad?
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Presenter: Will Bain Producer: Craig Henderson
Business Daily is the home of in-depth audio journalism devoted to the world of money and work. From small startup stories to big corporate takeovers, global economic shifts to trends in technology, we look at the key figures, ideas and events shaping business.
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(Picture: A man rides a tricycle at a corner of Havana during a blackout on the 16th of March 2026. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Hello and welcome to Business Daily on the BBC World Service. I'm Wilhelm. |
| 0:11.1 | Today, Cuba has been mired in economic crisis for years, |
| 0:14.8 | but many now fear the island's economy is on the brink of complete collapse. |
| 0:20.1 | It will be two or three days without electricity, |
| 0:23.0 | and what little we have to eat spoils, |
| 0:25.2 | and nobody has answers for anything. |
| 0:27.2 | And today we'll hear a warning, |
| 0:29.0 | more pressure could still be to come. |
| 0:31.1 | We estimated about two or three months ago, |
| 0:33.1 | that March was what we called zero option. |
| 0:36.2 | In other words, |
| 0:36.9 | they will literally run out of oil sometime |
| 0:39.8 | in the next two or three weeks. In response, the communist government says it will open up the |
| 0:44.8 | economy to more private investment, but many still skeptical. At this point, when you hear the president |
| 0:51.4 | talking about changes needed, you ask yourself, okay, what are the practical steps that you're taking |
| 0:57.4 | because it feels like too little, too late. |
| 1:00.0 | So today on Business Daily, can Cuba make the economic reforms needed |
| 1:03.7 | to turn its economy around? |
| 1:10.4 | Ah! Yeah! A fire is raging in what turns out to be the ruling Communist Party of Cuba's offices in the central city of Moron. |
| 1:22.8 | Black smoke billows into the night sky as protesters, lit up by the flames in the social media video, |
| 1:29.4 | hurl rocks and bottles at the building. Someone is seen waving a Cuban flag, and you can make out a cry |
... |
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