The Cuban government has said it wants more foreign investment, that it can't afford to keep so many Cubans on the payroll of inefficient state industries, and it needs more revenue to help its stumbling economy.
But some economists say recent economic moves seem contradictory to realizing those goals and that new regulations governing the island's private sector also fly in the face of meeting the island's economic challenges.
With official economic growth a meager 1.1 percent in the first six months of the year, a sugar harvest of just over one million tons — one of the worst in Cuban history, a growing trade deficit, a soaring fiscal deficit and continued oil supplies from Venezuela problematic, Cubans don't want contradictions. They are looking for clarity about Cuba's economic future.
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