The Cuban government announced today that as of tomorrow, Tuesday, it will begin selling US dollars and other currencies, on a limited basis, in the official financial market.
The Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil, announced the measure in the TV program Round table. He said that it was a considerable leap, albeit restricted and gradual, in the complex implementation of an authentic foreign exchange market in the country.
The exchange rate will be 120 pesos (CUP) per dollar, a rate similar to that of the informal market and that of the incipient purchase by the State. The operation will have a commercial margin of between 3 and 6%.
Gil explained that the government’s intention is “to continue advancing in” the construction of the exchange system and regain control of it.
“We will gradually take steps in that direction, which we will then be able to deepen, with the aim of achieving a market that allows the legal exchange of currency in the country, and moving forward to give the national currency greater purchasing power in the country. functioning of the economy,” he said.
These foreign currency sales operations will be implemented only in 37 official exchange houses, CADECA, and first of all in cash and exclusively for natural persons, said the minister president of the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC), Marta Sabina Wilson.
According to the official, “the currency that has been exchanged the most in cash” [hasta ahora] “It has been the euro, followed by the dollar, and then pounds sterling, Mexican pesos and other currencies.”
The initial cap per person per day will be 100 US dollars or the equivalent amount in another international currency. Wilson stressed that this foreign exchange market also has another limit, since the State’s sales will depend on previous purchases.
The dollars acquired by individuals, Gil said, cannot be deposited in freely convertible currency (MLC) accounts.
In a second stage, natural persons will be able to buy foreign currency in banks and through bank accounts. It is also planned that the number of exchange points will be expanded later.
The minister affirmed that he aspires to the State entering more foreign currency than the one it sells to natural persons and to be able to use it to import.
Gil emphasized that the step taken on August 4, when the Cuban State began to buy foreign currency at 1 dollar for 120 pesos, has had a positive effect. The State, he said, has been able to access foreign currency “that was not entering the national financial system.”
He added that an amount “incomparably higher” has been captured than was achieved before, when the exchange rate was 1 dollar to 24 CUP.
Finally, Wilson stressed that the ultimate goal is to move towards a “single change in the economy.”
