HAVANA – The price of the Gasoline in Cuba will register an increase of more than 500% as of February 1, the Havana regime reported this Monday, as part of a battery of measures to try to reduce the large fiscal deficit.
He price per liter of gasoline regular will go from 25 Cuban pesos (0.20 cents of a dollar) to 132 (+528%) and that of the special one from 30 to 156 Cuban pesos (+520%), announced the Minister of Finance and Prices, Vladimir Regueiro, in a broadcast on state television.
The measure, a blow to the squalid Cuban economy, is accompanied by the creation of a network of 28 service centers, of the 613 existing in the country, that they will sell the fuel in dollars. These can be paid using cards, coupons and other electronic means of payment, and will be sold to tourists and transporters who want to pay in foreign currency, reported Diariodecuba.com.
Regarding the wholesale price, in force for state means of transportation, private and cargo carriers, among others, the new value will be between 22 and 56 Cuban pesos, depending on the type of fuel, from the current 14.66 to 20.27 Cuban pesos. All come into effect from February 1.
Regime warns: “shortage will remain”
Vicente de la O Levy, Minister of Energy and Mines, commented that this increase seeks to ensure that tourists pay at the rate of 120×1, as well as to regulate marketing to avoid queues, which since 2023 have become chronic in service centers. of the Island. But the measure will directly impact Cubans.
The authorities also ordered that foreign tourists will begin to pay for fuel in foreign currency.
He added that another objective is that the collection in dollars be used to buy combustible in the international market and “to be able to resupply gasoline and diesel.” And, he emphasized, the above does not “mean that we are going to ensure a supply in dollars from day one” in the service centers. In other words, the shortage will continue.
About the situation with fuel in CubaDe la O Levy commented that the national gasoline consumption has been growing. In 2021, he indicated, 246,000 tons were imported, and in 2022 that figure rose to 335,000, with a decrease due to the supply crisis in 2023, which closed with 258,000 tons.
Electricity bill increase
In addition to the increase in fuel, an increase in the electricity rate of 25% for the highest consumption sector was announced as of March 1.
“The electricity rate today is fully subsidized (…) and will continue to be subsidized even with this 25% growth. The objective is to seek savings,” according to O Levy.
There will also be an increase in the liquefied gas bill.
At the end of December, the Cuban dictatorship admitted that it was unsustainable to continue selling fuel at “subsidized” prices.
“The country cannot maintain the price of fuel, which is the cheapest in the world when you compare it with the prices of other countries,” said Economy Minister Alejandro Gil.
Measures hit ordinary Cubans
For economist Omar Everleny Pérez, these measures will hit ordinary citizens. “If you compare yourself with the world, which is how they (the regime) always want to compare themselves, gasoline is very cheap, but if you compare yourself with the salary of the country that you pay, gasoline is very expensive.”
“If the owner of the car transports people, the fare will increase and it ends up affecting the population,” he points out.
According to official figures, some 600,000 combustion cars were circulating in 2022 in Cubawhere 11.1 million people live.
While public transport is increasingly limited due to lack of fuel, tires and spare parts.
Cuba faces a chronic fuel crisis, worsened in April 2023, when Díaz-Canel attributed it to the non-compliance of commitments by the countries that supply crude oil to the island because they face “a complex energy situation.”
Venezuela, main supplier of crude oil Cubadelivers 56,000 barrels per day to the island, while Mexico and Russia have contributed over the last year to alleviating the island’s severe deficit.
Source: With information from AFP / diodecuba.com
