Anyone travelling to Cuba should get a basic understanding of what’s going on money-wise and rethink what spending money to bring. If you Google search official money advice you’ll learn that the CUP ( Cuban Peso ) is the only legal currency in the country.īut if you want to make the most of your trip ( and your money ) a little background knowledge goes a long way! Money has never been straightforward on this island. Which should make things more simple, right? WRONG!!!Ĭuba is edging towards a digital economy and your bank cards may come in handy, but there’s still a way to go before Cuba is truly digital. The only Cuban currency nowadays is the CUP. Meanwhile, the CUC ( pegged CUC1:USD1) was the currency used for everything else ( buying imported food, luxury goods, homes, meals and accommodation ). The CUP was the everyday currency used to pay wages, utilities and basic foodstuffs. Until 1 st January 2021, Cuba had spent nearly 20 years living and working with 2 currencies, the CUP ( Cuban Peso ) and the CUC ( Cuban Convertible Peso ). T he CUC ( Cuban Convertible Peso ) has gone and the country now has a single currency economy. The government has said some companies will be given a year to get their books in order before ending subsidies, and it will continue to provide universal and free healthcare and education, some subsidized food, and other social gratuities.Ĭuban economists estimate around 40% of state companies operate at a loss and though some will benefit from the monetary reform, such as those tied to the export sector, others will fail.More than year has passed since the Cuba got rid of its dual currency system. Those who raised prices unduly would face severe sanctions, he said. "The task is not void of risks," said Diaz-Canel, saying it was one of the most complex challenges the country had faced but promising that "no one will be left destitute". It has said the initial devaluation will be accompanied by a five-fold increase in average state wages and pensions even as many state-controlled prices are increased or allowed to respond to demand.īut the wage increase does not apply to around two million of the seven million-plus labor force in the private sector, informal sector or those who simply do not work. "However it will favor the creation of the necessary conditions to advance in a more solid manner," he said.Įconomists expect triple-digit inflation, and government announcements in recent months suggest it does too. The government has said it will eliminate the CUC as part of the currency reform, although Diaz-Canel did not refer explicitly to it on Thursday, simply saying there would be just one exchange rate from January of 24 pesos per dollar.Įconomists say the reform spells short-term pain for Cubans but is important in the long-term as varying exchange rates have obscured the real functioning of the economy and effectively subsidized some sectors.ĭiaz-Canel said it was no "magic solution" to the cash-strapped country's economic problems. These have been exchanged at various rates: 1 to 1 for state-owned businesses, 24 pesos for 1 CUC for the public and others for joint ventures, wages in the island’s special development zone, and transactions between farmers and hotels. 1," said Diaz-Canel, sitting next to Cuban Communist Party chief Raul Castro.įor more than three decades, two currencies have circulated in Cuba's state-run economy: the peso and the convertible peso (CUC), pegged to the dollar. "We consider the conditions have been created to enable us to announce the start of the task of (monetary) ordering from Jan. In a televised address to the nation, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the Cuban peso would be fixed at a single exchange rate of 24 per dollar in the first devaluation of the peso since the country's 1959 revolution. Cuba said late on Thursday it would start its long-awaited monetary reform in January, eliminating its dual currency and labyrinthine multiple exchange rate system in a bid to improve business conditions in the crisis-stricken economy.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |