Cuba must shun capitalism and seek development solutions from within

As Cuba seeks to revitalise its ailing economy, it could learn much from countries where development has gone hand in hand with state involvement

Cuba is attempting serious economic reform, influenced in part by the promise of the calamitous US embargo being lifted. Cuba's social achievements are the envy of the global south, in particular its state-run health system, but on the economic front there is less to write home about.

Central planning has never worked, and it certainly did not in Cuba. But free markets have not worked very well either.

Related: Cuba: A development model that proved the doubters wrong | Jonathan Glennie

Cuba's decisions will not only determine its own history and economic success, but also echo across the global south