"Cuba Transition Project"

CUBA FACTS
Issue 40- May 2008




Cuba Facts is an ongoing series of succinct fact sheets on various topics, including, but not limited to, political structure, health, economy, education, nutrition, labor, business, foreign investment, and demographics, published and updated on a regular basis by the Cuba Transition Project staff.


Cuba in Context: National Debt and GDP

Table I.

National Public Debt: Cuba and Select Countries, Western Hemisphere , 2007*

Country
(ranked by national public debt as percentage of GDP)
Gross Domestic Product (Purchasing Power Parity)
National Debt: Percentage of GDP

Jamaica
$13.47 billion
134 %

Cuba [1]
$51.11 billion
86 %

Canada
$1.274 trillion
64 %

Argentina
$523.7 billion
59 %

Nicaragua
$18.17 billion
56 %

Colombia
$320.4 billion
54 %

Costa Rica
$55.95 billion
47 %

Bolivia
$39.78 billion
46 %

Brazil
$1.838 trillion
44 %

Dominican Republic
$85.4 billion
40 %

El Salvador
$35.97 billion
38 %

United States [2]
$13.86 trillion
36 %

Mexico
$1.353 trillion
23 %

Chile
$234.4 billion
4 %

*Sources: GDP and national public debt data as of 2007. Cf. U.S. CIA, The World Factbook 2008, online edition, accessed March 2008. Comparative rankings on indebtedness as a percentage of GDP as compiled by U.S. CIA in The World Factbook 2008, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2186rank.html.


Table II.
National Public Debt: Top 10 Indebted Countries, World, 2007*
Country (ranked by national public debt as percentage of GDP)
Population
Gross Domestic Product (Purchasing Power Parity)
National Debt: Percentage of GDP
Japan
127.3 million
$4.417 trillion
194 %
Zimbabwe
12.4 million
$6.186 billion
190 %
Lebanon
4 million
$40.65 billion
188 %
Seychelles
82,000
$1.655 billion
143 %
Jamaica
2.8 million
$13.47 billion
134 %
Italy
51.1 million
$1.8 trillion
106 %
Egypt
81.7 million
$431.9 billion
105 %
Singapore
4.6 million
$222.7 billion
101 %
Sudan
40.2 million
$107.8 billion
97 %
Cuba
11.2 million
$51.11 billion
86 %
*Source: Public debt and national GDP data for 2007 as estimated by U.S. CIA, The World Factbook 2008, online edition, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html. Accessed April 2008.


Notes
1. For Cuba , given that all national debt is held by the state or state-owned entities, foreign debt is used as a proxy for the equivalent of national "public" debt. As of the end of 2007, the Cuban government's total known foreign obligations stood at approximately $43.844 billion, or about 86 percent of the island's GDP ($51.11 billion).
2. The United States ' federal debt "held by the public," as defined and calculated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, stood at $5.049 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2007, or about 36 percent of the country's GDP ($13.86 trillion). Cf. United States Government Accountability Office, "Financial Audit: Bureau of the Public Debt's Fiscal Years 2007 and 2006 Schedules of Federal Debt," ( Washington , DC : GAO), November 2007, http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/feddebt/feddebt.htm.


The CTP can be contacted at P.O. Box 248174, Coral Gables, Florida 33124-3010, Tel: 305-284-CUBA (2822), Fax: 305-284-4875, and by email at ctp.iccas@miami.edu. The CTP Website is accessible at http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/.