Cuban banks will once again accept the US dollars (USD) in cash, as reported by the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC).
Through Resolution 63 of 2023, published this Monday in the Official Gazettethe BCC reported the repeal of a previous regulation, dating from June 2021, which prohibited the acceptance of USD in cash by banks and non-bank financial institutions on the island.
“The current economic scenario of the country, once the COVID-19 pandemic was overcome and the start of the revival of tourism, the presence of foreign visitors and the gradual recovery of productive activity and services, have allowed to mitigate the situation that motivated the issuance of Resolution 176 referred to above”, explains the new resolution in one of its by how many.
This, he assures, is possible “even when the measures of maximum economic pressure that have extremely reinforced the economic, commercial and financial blockade remain in force, particularly those aimed at hindering Cuba’s external financial flows and preventing deposits abroad. US dollars in cash.
In addition, the regulation specifies that “the exchange market established in August 2022, among other measures, has created the conditions so that it can be accepted, as it was in the past, both the possibility of making deposits in US dollars in financial institutions and banks, such as receiving that currency in cash from exchange operations“.
Consequently, it affirms that “it is necessary to repeal the aforementioned Resolution 176, in order to make the operation of bank accounts in foreign currency viable and increase the availability of US dollars in cash that are offered in the exchange market.”
However, “since the policy of economic pressure that gave rise to the June 2021 decision remains in force, the underlying problem has not been resolved. Therefore, it will be necessary to monitor the evolution of banking and financial activity from this new step, with the confidence that it will be beneficial for the national economic activity and for the population, and with the willingness to make the adjustments that are pertinent according to their behaviour”, affirms the BCC in a published note by the official site cubadebate.
Based on the foregoing, the bank concludes that “from this moment on, financial and banking institutions will accept cash deposits of US dollars in bank accounts, and the acceptance of this currency in purchase operations will remain as it has been until now.” and sale of foreign currency in the exchange market.
Last year, the Cuban government established a new foreign exchange market and began buying and then selling US dollars and other international currencies to the island’s citizens. However, it was not yet possible to deposit USD in banks or use them to top up cards from Cuba to buy in stores in Freely Convertible Currency (MLC).
In this context, and in the midst of a severe economic crisis and growing inflation, the dollar price on the informal market has risen above 180 Cuban pesos (CUP), while the official exchange rate stands at 120 CUP. .
