Cuba reports 1.8% drop in investment in first half 2014

 Investments in Cuba decreased by 1.8 percent in the first half of 2014, resulting in a low growth of 0.6 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), said a report by the National Statistics Bureau (NBS).
The NBS release said the investments from January to June this year reached 1.9 billion U.S. dollars, 98.2 percent of those in the same period of 2013.
NBS said the largest investments were made in business services and real estate activities, electricity, as well as gas and water.
Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Rodrigo Malmierca said in March that the island needed about 2 billion U.S. dollars in foreign investment to revive its economy.
According to the minister, the country had to grow at 7 percent of GDP for real development, which meant 2 billion to 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in foreign investment every year.
Cuba in March adopted a new law on foreign investment, stipulating exemption of profit taxes for foreign investors in eight years.