The main currencies this Monday chained a new day of downward quotes in the informal market of Cuba, where the euro was on the verge of falling below 500 pesos (CUP) per unit.
In the midst of a presumed campaign against the digital portal platform The Touchwhose rate is widely used for transactions in the exchange market, the price of dollar The US price fell to 440 CUP, just days after having touched the 500 barrier.
Update of informal currency market rates in Cuba
Date: 03/11/2025Image 1: Representative rate of the informal market (elTOQUE)
EUR: 500.00 CUP
USD: 440.00 CUP
MLC: 205.00 CUPThere are offers in the ranges:
EUR: from 460.00 to 540.00 CUP
USD: from 360.00 to 500.00 CUP
MLC:… pic.twitter.com/ZKuHUX1fZh— The Touch (@eltoquecom) November 3, 2025
At that limit the new fall of the European currency stopped, while the Freely Convertible Currency (MLC), only valid in the increasingly undersupplied local trade network in which it is accepted, took a “breather” by rising to 205 CUP per unit.
The trend temporarily coincides with the increasingly frequent questions about the methodology for calculating the price of currencies in the Cuban informal market, after it experienced a dizzying rise starting in the second half of last October.
Social networks, the support for many of the purchase and sale announcements, have served to deploy accusations against the platform for alleged manipulation of rates for speculative purposes.
In contrast, those responsible defend the criterion that the changes, in any sense, are driven by the supply and demand of currencies through the announcements that they take as reference for their calculations.
Repeated trend?
Oscillations such as those seen in recent times are not new in the Cuban informal market, which weighs down an economy in crisis marked by uncontrollable inflation and rising dollarization.
During the second half of December 2024, both the dollar and the euro experienced considerable falls in their informal exchange rates, but managed to remain above the 300 CUP barrier.
Neither currency had fallen below that limit for nearly seven months. The last time this happened was on June 4 of that year, when the dollar was quoted at 280 CUP and the euro at 295.
With the arrival of this year, the trend was reversed, beginning an unstoppable climb to the current “bump”, which due to previous experience, some consider temporary again.
Beyond the criticism of the population, part of the island’s emerging private sector seems to join the complaints, which in the absence of an official market to acquire the foreign currency necessary for the operation of its enterprises, is forced to resort to alternative means to satisfy its demands.
Official rate for when?
While experts, entrepreneurs and specific currency buyers-sellers hold intense virtual debates about what is currently happening in the informal currency market, the island’s government has still not carried out the announced intervention.
The lack of supply of basic products through state channels has shifted consumption towards the private sector, which produced inflation far from the levels desired by the Government, which has opted for dollarization in a risky strategy that still does not cushion the impact of the crisis.
During the last session of the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANNP), held in the middle of the year, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero explained that this step should be taken during the second half of 2025. With just over two months until this period expires, it is not clear when or how it could be implemented.
