A Kia Picanto for $ 38,000, a Peugeot 4008 for 63,000 or a Toyota Land Cruiser for 80,000. Secondhand. They are the new prices (with discount) at which the Cuban State offers cars to the population.
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As of next Tuesday, any Cuban who wishes to acquire any of the 30 models of used vehicles offered by CIMEX – commercial partnership of the Ministry of the Armed Forces of Cuba – can go to a single dealer in the country, located in the Havana neighborhood of Miramar.
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The government publishes the price list
The state agency published on Friday the list of used cars for sale, in which the cheapest is a chinese MG 3, the price of which is $ 34,000, and the most expensive a minibus Maxus G10, for 90,000, going through the 40,000 of a Renault Sandero and the 45,000 of an automatic Peugeot 301.
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The list does not specify the year of manufacture, the mileage, the status of the vehicles offered or their origin, although it is believed that they were used for rent to tourists or dedicated to various functions in other state-owned companies.
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I know requires paying them in “freely convertible currency” or MLC, that is, euros or dollars or other currency. None of the two currencies in circulation in the country are accepted: the CUP or Cuban peso or the CUC or convertible peso.
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This is in line with the Cuban State’s strategy to raise foreign currency to try to alleviate its endemic balance of payments deficit, at a time of economic crisis exacerbated by the tightening of the US financial and commercial embargo. in recent months by the Administration of President Donald Trump.
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Although the amounts of cars published today may seem exaggerated, they actually include a 10% discount in relation to what CIMEX said was their real price, in exchange for paying them in foreign currency.
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The prohibitive prices of second-hand vehicles in Cuba are directly linked to restrictions on the purchase of new cars: until 2011 the Government prohibited buying them and since 2013 it taxes them with an 800% tax, so the most economical compact in this country can cost more than a luxury vehicle in any country in Europe or the Americas.
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Cuba does not manufacture cars and no private individual or company outside the State is authorized to import them, hence the distortion of supply and demand that requires paying exorbitant amounts to acquire a means of private transportation, in a country where the average salary of a state worker is around $ 45 per month.
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