The measures, which took effect on December 17, are part of the government’s mechanism to “better organize and control the allocation of foreign currency.”
MADRID, Spain – The Cuban government will implement a new system for the management, control, and allocation of foreign currency, alongside the enactment of Decree-Law 113, which regulates foreign currency transactions within the country. Authorities are presenting these measures as part of a program to “correct distortions and revive the economy,” according to official state media.
The new legal framework redefines who can operate in foreign currency, under what conditions, and with what level of oversight—at a time when the national economy continues to suffer from a shortage of foreign currency, sustained inflation, and structural failures the state has been unable to reverse.
A Centralized Model to Allocate Every Dollar
According to official information, the system aims to “better organize and control the allocation of foreign currency” by reinforcing centralized planning. The Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) will be responsible for authorizing any transactions in foreign currency, prioritizing activities linked to exports, import substitution, and other sectors the government deems strategic.
The decree also introduces the Foreign Currency Access Capacity Allocation (ACAD, by its Spanish acronym), a mechanism through which the state will determine which entities — even those that do not generate foreign currency — may acquire resources in foreign currency, and under what criteria.
Although authorities claim these provisions are part of a temporary design, the scope of the measures and the high degree of control suggest a deep restructuring of the already dollarized economy operating in practice.
Dollar Authorizations for Private Actors, but Under Restrictive Rules
The regulatory package published in the Official Gazette allows certain private businesses, cooperatives, and self-employed workers to receive payments in foreign currency—but only with approval from the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP). Those granted authorization must open foreign currency accounts supervised by the Central Bank of Cuba and submit to permanent monitoring.
Access to foreign currency will not be free: the state decides who can use it, how much, and for what purpose. The regulations impose strict obligations on the use of foreign currency income and limit its conversion into Cuban pesos, effectively preventing these operations from having any meaningful impact on the domestic market or on the population’s purchasing power.
Starting December 17, 2025, both state entities and authorized private actors operating in foreign currency will be required to hand over 20% of their foreign currency income to the Central Bank of Cuba, at the official exchange rate.
A Growing Dollarization as the Peso Loses Relevance
Even though authorities continue to claim that Cuba “has not abandoned the goal of keeping the peso at the center of the financial system,” the country’s economic reality tells a different story. The expansion of dollar-based operations—although presented as an “orderly mechanism”—formalizes the growing dependence on a currency the State itself discouraged during the Tarea Ordenamiento (2021 monetary reform).
The coexistence of multiple exchange rates, the presence of MLC stores (foreign currency-only stores), the collapse of the Cuban peso in informal markets, and now this new system of authorizations all reinforce a scenario in which the national currency is losing its basic functions, further restricting the population’s access to essential goods and services.
Extreme Centralization and Growing Inequality
The government claims these measures aim to boost the economy, but the model concentrates even more control over the flow of foreign currency and entrenches a segmented economy in which access to dollars depends on administrative approval, institutional connections, and opaque criteria.
Meanwhile, the Cuban population—with no direct access to foreign currency and a national peso in free fall—remains excluded from a system that deepens inequality between those who can operate within dollarized circuits and those who rely exclusively on a weakened currency.
Although official rhetoric emphasizes the correction of “distortions,” the implementation of this model confirms the State’s inability to sustain the monetary framework it introduced just three years ago. The practical recognition of dollarization and the creation of new mechanisms to manage it highlight that Cuba’s economy remains trapped in a cycle of improvised adjustments, rigid controls, and policies that fail to address the root of the crisis.
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