Cuba's inflation will end 2021 at over 70 percent -- one of the highest in the world -- economy minster Alejandro Gil said on Tuesday, insisting it was due to deliberate monetary policy.

The government increased prices by 44 percent earlier this year as part of a new monetary system aimed at eventually increasing salaries by 450 percent.

"We will obviously end with an inflation rate over 70 percent," Gil told the national assembly parliament.

"That 44 percent from January is not comparable with any other country because it is by design," said Gil.

"What inflation is this? Astronomical, but salaries also increased," he added.

The minimum wage in January was 2,100 pesos ($87) a month, and by the end of the year it was almost double that at 3,934 pesos.

Gil said the inflation also was due to external factors linked to the coronavirus pandemic, and the US economic embargo against the island nation.

Gil said GDP would increase by four percent in 2022 with an economic recovery led by the reopening of the tourism industry.

In 2021, the economy grew two percent, a third of that expected by authorities at the beginning of the year, which Gil also blamed on US sanctions.