MIAMI, United States. — The Cuban regime reported that as of this Tuesday, August 23, the sale of foreign currency to the population will begin on the Island.
The measure was announced in space Round table by the Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernández. According to the official, the sale of foreign currency —including dollars in cash— will be possible thanks to the large number of people who have gone to the country’s banks since August 4 to sell their foreign currency.
“It is appreciated that the results correspond to the proposed objectives, of having a level of purchase of the limited foreign currency that is entering the country, due to the fact that there is still not a large influx of tourists and due to the effects of the blockade on remittances” , said the official.
Gil Fernandez assured that the purchase of foreign currency initiated almost 20 days ago validates the maneuver of the Island authorities, who took the informal market exchange rate as a point of reference for the purchase and sale of foreign currency.
“This validates the step we took, because we have incorporated a level of foreign currency into the country’s financial system that is higher than the amounts that were being purchased prior to the purchase decision at an exchange rate of 1×120 (…) It is a step important, part of a process, whose results so far are appreciated as favorable”, he added.
The official declared that the purchase of foreign currency “is incomparably superior with respect to what was compared before the measure”, and stressed that advantages such as legality in transactions are recognized.
“Most people want to operate legally, including foreign visitors. Nobody goes to a country to commit an illegal action. The same thing happens with Cubans who obtain foreign exchange through various means,” said Gil Fernández.
For her part, the Minister President of the Central Bank, Marta Sabina Wilson González, said in the same space that in the last two weeks 10 times more foreign currency has been bought than what would have been bought in a month with an exchange rate of 1 ×24.
The directive revealed that the currency that has been exchanged the most in cash has been the euro, followed by the dollar, and then pounds sterling, Mexican pesos and other currencies.
In her speech, the Minister President of the BCC made it clear that the sale of dollars to the population will be carried out in a limited way and that it will be the director in charge of each Cadeca who will explain daily to the citizens how the operations will be carried out.
“That is to say, it will define the amount of currency that it has to offer the service, and it will explain to how many people, in the first instance, it can be sold. There will always be people who do not demand the maximum limit (100 USD) and this will allow more people to have access”, added Wilson González.
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