The Cuban Government will allow the use of the US dollar in foreign currency retail operations and the importation of merchandise that is carried out in the country, according to Resolution 73/2020 issued by the Central Bank and published in the Official Gazette of October 22, may.
This new provision will allow natural persons who have dollar deposits in national banks to use their magnetic cards to make payments in businesses managed by the state-owned Corporación CIMEX SA, the Chain of Caribbean Stores and Servicios Automotores SA, among others.
The dollar payment was approved in mid-October of last year, but only in 77 stores that offer home appliances, automotive accessories, as well as popular electric motorcycles and air conditioning equipment.
This new decree issued by the Central Bank of Cuba modifies Resolution 275 of the previous year, which authorized the creation of bank accounts in convertible currency to make purchases in these stores using magnetic cards.
As of the entry into force of the new ordinance, individuals will be able to make payments with the support of accounts opened in dollars at Banco Metropolitano SA, Banco Popular de Ahorro and Banco de Crédito y Comercio.
The operations established for RED card holders, whose deposits are in Cuban pesos or convertible pesos, may be carried out from these accounts.
Funds will be allowed to enter the accounts in dollars by means of bank transfers from abroad, from other accounts in foreign currencies operated by Cuban banks and from the company FINCIMEX SA by remittances.
Cash deposits may also be made in euros, sterling, Canadian dollars, Swiss francs, Mexican pesos, Danish, Norwegian or Swedish kroner, Japanese yen, as well as US dollars, with a 10% tax applied to the latter.
This measure represents another step towards the “redolarization” of the Cuban economy, as experts on the Island have warned since the end of the previous year, and may mean a further postponement of the long-awaited monetary unification.
The economist Elías Amor told DIARIO DE CUBA at the beginning of May about the consequences that this could have: “I foresee that people will go to CADECAS en masse to buy foreign currency to get dollars or euros. This is not the best scenario for unify the currencies and return to a situation of ‘normality’ and control “.
The Cuban economy was dollarized from the early 1990s until 2004, when the dollar was replaced by the Cuban convertible peso (CUC) without eliminating monetary duality or exchange rates. The CUC was seen by many as a transition factor for future monetary unification.
– .
