“The start of the implementation of the exchange market (in Cuba) is one of the measures designed to mobilize, in the shortest time possible, financial resources and supplies,” he said Thursday in his Twitter account Miguel Diaz-Canel. The ruler inscribed the new strategy of his government’s dollars within what he called the “construction of a better country.”
“As we announced in the last session of the National Assembly of People’s Power, there are close to 70 measures aimed at boosting the domestic market, based on the collection of foreign currencythe increase in income from exports and the reactivation of national production,” he said in another message in the same thread.
“We are not with our arms crossed. That our people have the certainty that each approved decision will be implemented, preserving the highest degree of social justice possible,” he added in another.
“The new measures are an essential step to advance in the consolidation of a foreign exchange market, which will allow us many transformations and advance in the correction of distortions in the functioning of our economy“said a follower of the ruler identified as Maikel Guerra, who immediately received several questions.
“Consolidation, you say! If that market doesn’t even exist, the guidelines, the reordering, the ordering of the reordering, the monetary unification have already failed you. And do you still believe the tobacco story? How many more deceptions can your naivety support?” Raydel Vergara wrote.
“There the fools who believe that the same ones who have impoverished and destroyed Cuba for 60 yearsnow with 70 ‘new measures’ will solve the desperate situation of the Cuban people. You have neither the ability nor the intention to fix anything, just hold power,” said another commenter.
On Wednesday night, the Cuban authorities announced the purchase of foreign currency, including dollars in cash, at a higher exchange rate than the official 24×1 rate currently in force, but “for the moment” they will not sell them to the population.
The Minister President of the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC), Marta Wilson, announced that the purchase rate will be 120 pesos per dollar, as a reference figure to which a commercial margin will be applied according to the bank. That figure is almost identical to what that currency has today on the black market. The state rate will vary depending on the fluctuation of the monetary exchange.
Likewise, the euro will be bought at 122 pesos; the Canadian dollar at 93; the British pound at 143; and the Swiss franc at 125.
“What is the collection of foreign exchange to improve the construction of the country? If they have been building it for 63 years and every day they loot it and destroy it more. The only construction there is that of hotels and the profits go directly to their coffers, cynical,” another Internet user considered in the comments to Díaz-Canel’s publication.
Cuban authorities announced on Thursday through official media what the bank branches that will start buying US dollars as part of the new measures adopted to regulate the foreign exchange market. The legal norms in this regard have already been published by the official Gazette.
According to the official newspaper Granma, seven branches were set up in the municipality of Habana del Este; two in Guanabacoa and El Cotorro; three in San Miguel del Padrón, Marianao and La Lisa; eight on October Ten; four in Cerro and Centro Habana; six in Old Havana and Boyeros; a branch in Regla; five in Arroyo Naranjo; ten in Playa and 14 in Plaza de la Revolución.
On the other hand, the Credit and Commerce Bank (BANDEC) announced some of the facilities where they will be providing this service, among them, the 8981 branch of Isla de la Juventud and the 8991 of Cayo Largo del Sur, which will carry out the exchange through cash.
In Holguín: the Gibara, Banes, Urbano Noris, Frank País and 6921 branches in Holguín; in Sancti Spíritus, the branches of Yaguajay, Jatibonico and 5241 in Sancti Spíritus; in Ciego de Ávila, the branches of Chambas, Cayo Coco, Ciego de Ávila and Venezuela; in Guantánamo, branches 8852 in Caimanera, 8821 in San Antonio del Sur, 8772 in Imías, 8761 in Maisí and 8641 in Guantánamo.
In Santiago de Cuba, the branches 7981 of Mella, 8141 of Alto Songo, 8301 of Santiago and 8421 of Cruce de los Baños will operate; in Cienfuegos, the branches of Aguada, Cruces and Cienfuegos; in Villa Clara, the branches of Santa Clara, Encrucijada and Manicaragua; in Las Tunas, branches 6441 in the provincial capital and 6551 in Amancio.
In Granma, there will be branches 7341 in Río Cauto, 7481 in Bayamo, 7881 in Guisa and 7761 in Pilón and in the rest of the branches in this province, exchanges can be made without cash; in Camagüey, branches 5761 in Minas, 5821 in Guáimaro, 5961 in Camagüey, 6061 in Vertientes and 6101 in Jimaguayú.
DIARIO DE CUBA toured half a dozen central Havana bank branches on Thursday afternoon, on the first day of implementation of the measure. Despite Minister Gil’s call, there were no queues or people eager to sell their dollars to the State.
The journalist expert in economic issues Rafaela Cruz considers that The new monetary measure will not serve to increase the supply of goods and services in national currency, it will make the price of the dollar more expensive, it will be unable to revalue the Cuban peso and it will cause more inflation. Thus he explains in an article in which he described the purchase of dollars at 120 pesos as a new maneuver by the Cuban government to buy time.
Other authorized voices, such as Mauricio de Miranda, Pedro Monreal and Elías Amor, also spoke about the “new” economic measure of the Cuban Government.