The Cuban government announced a new official dollar exchange rate for 2024. Following the dismissal of former Economy Minister Alejandro Gil Fernández, uncertainty regarding the future of the rate increases.
At the end of 2023, the Cuban government announced that it was working on defining a new official exchange rate for the US dollar (USD) for 2024. This measure is part of an effort to “reboot” the economy and “correct distortions of the exchange market,” they say.
The former Minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil Fernández, who is now under investigation for corruptionwas in charge of presenting to the Council of Ministers an updated schedule to implement the decisions approved in the projections for 2024.
At that time, Gil Fernández assured that proposals would be presented to “resize” the exchange market and “control” the exchange rate in Cuba. starting February 2024.
The then head of Economy was also the main face of the announcement in 2022 of an official exchange market of 1 USD = 120 CUP. “There are many people here today who are willing to sell foreign currency to the State and not to the illegal market. Deep down, the vast majority of us are revolutionaries,” he expressed at that time.
However, he was dismissed and later accused of corruption, which has sparked debate regarding the future of the official exchange rate in Cuba.
What will be the official dollar rate in Cuba?
The Prime Minister of Cuba, Manuel Marrero Cruz, indicated last December that a working group, led by the Central Bank of Cuba, has already made progress on specific proposals that would be analyzed in 2024.
This March 11, 2024, in Cuba’s informal currency market, the euro is located at 325 Cuban pesos, while the US dollar is traded at 320 pesos. The Freely Convertible Currency (MLC), for its part, remains stable at 270 pesos. According to The touchthese are only “reference values”, which are calculated “from the median of the numbers written in advertisements for the purchase and sale of currencies in social media groups”.
At this point it is important to note that when the official rate in Cuba of 1 USD x 120 CUP was announced in 2022, the informal exchange rate was around 110 Cuban pesos. “We cannot go to market at the current official exchange rate of 1×24. We would require a level of currency that would force us to have to give up other priorities of the economy,” Gil Fernández justified at that time.
The value that the US dollar will have in Cuba following the announced government intervention in the black currency market remains a mystery. Although the measure is expected to have an impact on the exchange rate, there is still no official information on the specific value that the US currency will have.
After the dismissal and investigation of Gil Fernández, uncertainty increases. Taking into account the government’s previous decision regarding the exchange market, the question arises: Will the official dollar exchange rate in Cuba reach 300 pesos? What do you think?
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