Cuba tallies Gustav's economic damage

By Marc Frank

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba, although apparently spared a major disaster from Hurricane Gustav, began assessing damage on Sunday after the monstrous storm passed over rural areas of mostly minor economic importance, local experts said.

There was widespread destruction of homes, schools, medical facilities, warehouses and infrastructure in Cuba's western province of Pinar del Rio and the Isle of Youth hit hardest by the storm on Saturday, but they account for less than 10 percent of Cuba's 11.2 million residents and except for tobacco, have little economic importance.

The extent of damage to recently picked tobacco being cured to make the island's famous Habanos was not known.

Cuba's major export -- nickel -- comes from the other end of the island and was unaffected by Gustav. The storm's rains were expected to benefit the ripening sugar crop, local experts said.

Cuba's tourism industry, its second foreign exchange earner after medical services, sustained only minor damage except for a handful of hotels and other facilities directly in Gustav's path.

"The damage will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but not billions," a local economist said, asking his name not be used. "In our country every little bit hurts, so it is still a blow, though it could have been much worse."

The import-dependent country recently asked some creditors to reschedule payments due to soaring international prices for food and fuel.

Raul Castro, who replaced his ailing brother Fidel as president in February, bemoaned commodity prices and warned Cubans in July that belt-tightening measures were necessary given the "international economic crisis."

Havana province and city, to the east of the brunt of the storm, remained without power on Sunday, but damage was declared minimal and electricity was expected to be restored quickly. That area accounts for more than 60 percent of the country's manufacturing.

The Cuban citrus crop, already halved to less than 500,000 tonnes in recent years by hurricanes and disease, sustained some damage. The extent will not be known until there are reports on orchards in Matanzas, 100 miles east of the storm's eye, where ripening grapefruit and blooming orange groves were buffeted by tropical storm level winds.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)