After a couple of weeks of decline, the dollar It finely stopped its fall and this Saturday its value rose again in the informal market of Cuba.
The US currency, which had remained rising throughout 2025, experienced a striking drop coinciding with the devastating hit of Hurricane Melissa on the island and in the midst of a campaign against the independent media The Touch and its rate outside the Government.
However, already this friday The dollar stopped at 410 pesos (CUP)—after having previously reached the threshold of 500—and this morning It was trading five pesos higher (415 CUP) in its first rebound since its striking decline began.
The MLC also rose, up to 205 CUP, a value on which it has been fluctuating in recent months while hard currencies skyrocketed in value, with the economic crisis and the dollarization process in Cuba as catalysts for its sustained increase.
On the other hand, the euro has continued to fall and this Saturday its value stood at 450 CUP, about 90 pesos lower than two weeks ago, according to the exchange rate. The Touchused mostly as a reference by informal buyers and sellers on the island.
Update of informal currency market rates in Cuba
Date: 11/08/2025Image 1: Representative rate of the informal market (elTOQUE)
EUR: 450.00 CUP
USD: 415.00 CUP
MLC: 205.00 CUPThere are offers in the ranges:
EUR: from 410.00 to 490.00 CUP
USD: from 360.00 to 470.00 CUP
MLC:… pic.twitter.com/Z9xSoOljP2— The Touch (@eltoquecom) November 8, 2025
Questions, realities and uncertainties
The recent behavior of currencies in the Cuban informal market has been accompanied by a campaign against The Toucha medium that – as it has explained on repeated occasions – prepares its rate based on the purchase and sale offers that are published on digital platforms.
However, both the Government and the official media as well as private sector businessmen accuse the publication of manipulating the rate for political purposes, something that The Touch denies. With this argument, a boycott of its rate and a call not to buy foreign currency from it have once again been promoted.
In this scenario, the medium remembered days ago that what has been happening with the value of currencies in recent days is not an unprecedented phenomenon, but rather the result of the dynamics of the market itself together with the campaigns against it, and that it has already happened before in the country.
In this regard, he pointed out that “campaigns of this type do not change the fundamentals of the market: they do not create currencies, they do not reduce inflation, they do not restore confidence,” but rather they introduce “confusion” and “they serve actors who do speculate in a market based on expectations.”
His response coincides with the assessment of independent analysts who point mainly to the current crisis in Cuba and the monetary and economic policies of the Government as responsible for the volatility of the dollar and the other currencies in the informal market.
1/7 List of tentative actions that the Cuban government should explain instead of rambling about the exchange rate of the informal market: 1) monetary unification, 2) exchange rate unification, 3) exchange rate regime with some form of managed float pic.twitter.com/q9fiReWUMW
— Pedro Monreal (@pmmonreal) November 5, 2025
It is this reality marked by shortages, inflation, dollarization and hitherto ineffective government measures to reverse the decline of the economy and the impact of United States sanctions, which many Cubans also point to in their questions to the authorities.
Added to this, as another factor of uncertainty, is the lack of clarity about the new floating rate announced by the Government months ago and which, however, still does not come into force.
With this scenario ahead, and with the strong damage from the hurricane to eastern Cuba as a backdrop, expectations are growing about what could happen in the coming days with the value of currencies in the informal market. The new rise in the dollar this Saturday could give an idea.
