ABSTRACT
The economic crisis adversely affected the standard of living. Both the quantity and quality of the goods and services consumed by the population deteriorated severely. The reform measures Cuba has taken to date represent a survival strategy— modest, opportunistic steps from the government and the Communist Party to cope with the economic crisis and still remain in power. The slight economic rebound in the second half of the 1990s relieved the pressure on the leadership for additional measures and effectively stalled the reform process. Cuba's macroeconomic situation in the early 1990s was dismal. There were serious balance-of-payments imbalances, no ability to borrow in international markets, large government budget deficits, very high levels of repressed inflation, and large cash balances held by the population. Economic reforms that would move the nation in the direction of a market economy are frozen, as Cuba awaits President Fidel Castro's exit as head of state.
