kovgabor79/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Cuba has reduced the subsidized bread ration for citizens, as the country ran short of wheat flour needed to produce the bread, Reuters reported, amid a deepening economic crisis that has led to the exodus of almost half a million Cubans to the U.S. over the last two years. The subsidized bread's weight will be reduced from 80 grams to 60 grams, around the weight of an average cookie, and its price will be cut slightly to just under 1 peso, or 1/3 of a cent. The bread ration is part of a subsidies scheme created by the late Fidel Castro, under which a ration book (libreta) is assigned to each citizen to provide deeply-discounted products including meat, milk, and toiletries. But the government currently provides only a fraction of the products under the scheme, which often arrive late and are of poor quality. Cuba's economy has been cratered by U.S. sanctions, the COVID-19 pandemic, and government mismanagement, leading to shortages in food, fuel and medicine. According to Spain-based NGO Cuban Observatory for Human Rights, 89% of Cuban families suffer from extreme poverty and 7 out of 10 Cubans are skipping at least one meal due to lack of money or food shortages.