Miami, United States. – The Council of Ministers approved the “Government Program by 2025”, which includes the controversial measure of the “partial dollarization of the economy”, within a “transverse issue, which includes all the essences and policies of life economic and social of the country ”, according to affirmed The Prime Minister of the Cuban regime, Manuel Marrero Cruz.
The strategy, presented as part of a plan that would seek to correct distortions and reimprorate the economy, has generated restlessness in critical sectors that question its possible negative effects on the daily life of citizens.
The measure, which is part of a “new mechanism for the management, control and allocation of foreign exchange for all economic actors” and the implementation of an official exchange market, was announced by the official newspaper Granma as a decisive step to achieve key government objectives.
The approval of the program was given after “multiple previous exchanges, at all levels”, which, according to the Head of Government, allowed enriching the proposal with “the different considerations and recommendations received, as well as the application of science and the research results ”. However, the introduction of partial dollarization is presented inaccurately and generates doubts about how the purchasing power of the population will be protected and new distortions will be avoided in a system already tensioning for years of accumulated difficulties.
Although the official discourse highlights the importance of consolidating “a work system that (…) allows sustainability in monitoring and control” of what the authorities have planned, the fact of resorting to partial dollarization could have counterproductive implications. The strategy, which is defined within the framework of a plan that includes objectives, projections, actions, indicators and goals with compliance dates, does not detail how the possible negative effects of the dependence of a foreign currency in vital sectors of the economy will be compensated Cuban.
The plan approved in December, which gave rise to this “government program”, also contemplates other mechanisms to attract foreign investment and strengthen productive sectors, such as the case of the Special Mariel Development Zone.
For critics, the dollarization, even partial, of the Cuban economy, could accentuate the gap between those who access currency resources and those that depend exclusively on weight.
Likewise, the strategy is part of a serious systemic crisis, which includes US sanctions, the consequences of pandemic and the challenges derived from natural phenomena (hurricanes and earthquakes), which have also impacted national production. Faced with this scenario, the inclusion of partial dollarization is presented as a double -edged edge commitment: on the one hand, the economy is promised to boost and diversify external income; On the other, there is a risk of deepening inequalities and dependence on external factors.
The approach to use currencies as a tool to “increase and diversify external income” could, in the absence of clear and transparent mechanisms, cause instability in the domestic market and affect the quality of life of Cubans.
