Cuba's economy to falter in 2009 -Cuban experts

* Cuban economy seen growing little, may shrink in 2009

* Global crisis, storms, low productivity hurt economy

* Government warns of blackouts to curb energy use

By Marc Frank

HAVANA, May 18 (Reuters) - A Cuban university think-tank said on Monday Cuba's economy would grow only slightly or shrink in 2009 as the island's financial problems persist against the backdrop of a global downturn.

The forecast followed increasingly strident warnings in recent weeks in Cuba's state-run media that Cubans must tighten their belts and work harder to confront the impact of the international financial crisis.

"Our forecast (for 2009) is for growth to be around 1 percent," said an economist at the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy who requested anonymity.

"But it could fall anywhere between a range of negative 0.5 percent and positive 2.5 percent," he said.

Unlike other economic think-tanks which depend on government ministries in the communist-run nation, the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy is attached to Havana University.