The Central Bank of Cuba conditioned the purchase of foreign currency for non-state actors to once a month and for a limited amount.
LIMA, Peru – The Metropolitan Bank in Cuba reported this Friday through Facebook on the authorization of the sale of foreign currency to non-state actors, namely non-agricultural cooperatives and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) existing within the country.
According to the statementbanking channels are now enabled to receive purchase requests, a measure that is part of the implementation of the transformations of the official exchange market announced since last December by the Cuban regime.
These operations will be carried out under the conditions and procedures established by the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) and have some conditions.
In this regard, the banking entity limited the purchase of foreign currency to once a month, for a maximum amount calculated from the following rule: multiplication of the average income in the fiscal account of the last three months by 50%, and the division of that result by the current segment III exchange rate.
Thus, the exchange rate imposed by the BCC in a “floating” manner since last month which will govern the acquisition of foreign currency by non-state actors on the Island.
“The applicable exchange rates will be those established by the Central Bank of Cuba for Segment III, in force on the day the operation is executed, incorporating the authorized commercial margins, in correspondence with the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Market Regulations,” the official information states.
In addition, all currency sales operations “will be executed in a bank-based manner.” According to the statement, the Cuban pesos would be paid from the tax account and the amounts acquired would be credited to the foreign currency account of the economic actor.
To process applications, interested parties must go to the Metropolitan Online service (Remote Banking), accessing the page www.banmet.enzona.net.
Although the Government maintains that the floating rate seeks to bring official values closer to market conditions, transparent mechanisms have not been disclosed that guarantee real price formation based on supply and demand, nor is there evidence that it has sufficient foreign currency support. In practice, the informal market continues to mark the main reference for companies and citizens, deepening the gap between official discourse and economic reality.
In this context, the opening of a banking channel for the private sector is seen by analysts as a tacit recognition of the weight of the parallel market, but also as a limited measure, whose effectiveness will depend on the real availability of foreign currency in the state banking system and not only on regulatory changes.
