Panama is a member, and the Dominican Republic an Associate Member, of the Central American Integration System, known by its Spanish acronym SICA. But neither country is a member of the Central American Common Market (CACM). Cuba has trade and cooperation agreements with several states in the region, and is a member of the Latin American Integration Association ALADI. But ALADI is a loose association rather than a true regional integration grouping.

The three countries differ widely in economic structure. In Cuba, the sugar export economy has been displaced by tourism as an export earner. The same is true of the Dominican Republic, but exports of manufactures from industrial free zones have grown rapidly in the past 20 years. Panama remains primarily a service-oriented economy with strong earnings from international banking and the Canal.

Of the three, only the Dominican Republic managed a respectable rate of growth in 2002 (see Table and Chart). After a marked recovery in the second half of the 1990s, the Cuban economy registered its second successive year of declining growth, reflecting weak world market prices for sugar and a tough year for tourism. Panama had virtually no growth, and per capita income fell.

Other indicators were also discouraging. Gross fixed investment was either flat or falling. Inflation increased in 2002, though still within single digit levels. Unemployment is relatively high in the Dominican Republic and Panama.

Cuba's external debt grew by US$1.1 billion as a result of declining export revenues and rising import costs. The debt stock hardly changed in the Dominican Republic and Panama, but both countries experienced net outward transfers of resources to the rest of the world. In other words payments of profits, interest and dividends exceeded the sum of new capital inflows and borrowing by a significant margin.

Nonetheless, on the whole the economic performance in the non-grouped countries was no worse than that of the countries that are members of existing integration schemes. Lack of membership by itself did not make these economies inherently more vulnerable to external shocks; any more than membership by itself provides a form of insulation.

What is crucial is the extent to which the economy has developed of exports of non-traditional goods and services and has a wide spread of external markets.

Non-Grouped Countries Select Economic Indicators 2001 & 2002

	Cuba		Dominican Republic		Panama
	2001	2002	2001	2002	2001	2002
GDP % Change	2.5	1.4	2.7	4.0	0.4	0.4
GDP per capita % Change	2.1	1.1	1	2.3	-1.1	-1.1
Gross Fixed Investment % change	1.1	-0.1	1.8	5.5	-14	-9.5
Inflation %	-0.5	5.0	4.4	8.8	0.0	1.6
Urban unemployment %	4.1	3.5	15.4	16.1	17.0	16.1
External debt US$ MN	11100	12210	4180	4300	6263	6218
Net resource transfers US $MN			181	-824	88	-418

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