Cuba claims economy has recovered from crisis with major growth

1. Cuban National Assembly hall 2. Cuban President Fidel Castro standing on stage 3. Book by Fidel Castro entitled in Spanish: "We can build the fairest society in the world" 4. President Fidel Castro listening to speaker 5. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Jose Luis Rodriguez, Cuban Economy Minister: "The result of this great effort is the growth of the GDP (gross domestic product) to 11.8%, which includes the value of the social services provided in our country." 6. Parliament members listening 7. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Fidel Castro, Cuban President: "No matter what errors or deficiencies might be, we are going to debate this until we find if there is any ground to doubt it, but I believe that we have reached over 12% growth." 8. Delegates listening to Castro 9. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Fidel Castro, Cuban President: "We have enough data and information. This has nothing to do with Cuba trying to gain prestige." 10. Delegates listening STORYLINE: Communist Cuba announced on Thursday that it had turned a corner in its recovery from severe financial crisis, reporting 11.8 percent economic growth in 2005, using its own unique method for calculating gross domestic product. Addressing the nation's lawmakers as President Fidel Castro looked on, Economy Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez said the Caribbean nation had fully recovered from the early 1990s, when austerity measures were adopted to survive a crushing economic crisis caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union and its withdrawal of aid from the country. "The result of this great effort is the growth of the GDP (gross domestic product) to 11.8 percent, which includes the value of the social services provided in our country," he told the National Assembly. The economy minister said the growth could be the highest it has been since Castro took control of Cuba, and also projected economic growth of 10 percent for 2006. Rodriguez said the biggest income earners for Cuba this year have been tourism, nickel, and the exportation of services, especially doctors and other medical workers hired by other countries such as Venezuela to provide free care to poor people. Castro defended the growth estimate for 2005, saying no one should think that Cuba is coming up with false numbers. "We have enough data and information. This has nothing to do with Cuba trying to gain prestige," he said. Cuba's new methodology for calculating economic growth, adopted in recent years, takes into account the country's vast social safety net and subsidised services. That differing methodology makes Cuba's growth figures difficult to compare with that of other countries, prompting the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean to leave the island's results out of its report for this year. Using the same singular formula last year, Cuba said its economy grew by five percent in 2004. But that's a figure disputed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) which said it only grew by three percent. The Cuban government has been forced to diversify its economy since the loss of Soviet aid and trade in the early 1990s, when it was almost wholly dependent on sugar exports and barter trade with its former ideological allies. Tourism in recent years overtook sugar as the island's top source of income, as sugar prices fell and sugar cane production became inefficient. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/5b343972fc514901bff3e638436439c7 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork