HAVANA.- The US dollar quote broke another record this Saturday to reach an average of 300 pesos per dollara rate similar to that reached by the euro last Tuesday, which certifies the collapse on purchasing power of the Cuban peso (CUP).
On December 31, 2023, the CUP was exchanged at 265 per dollar, that is, in the 40 days that have passed in 2024, the dollar increased 35 pesos, almost one per day.
Meanwhile, the Freely Convertible Currency (MLC), which Cubans receive as a deposit on magnetic cards associated with bank accounts in foreign currency. it remains at 260 pesos; However, this rate is also expected to increase due to the rise in currencies.
On Tuesday, the euro had reached 300 pesos.
After these rises, The Cuban peso is positioned as the seventh currency with the least value globally, even worse than Venezuela’s currency, the bolivar, which in 2023 lost 51% of its value against the dollar.
By February 1, the Cuban peso already showed a year-on-year drop of 77% against the dollar.
Behind the Cuban peso are the Zimbabwe dollar (year-on-year drop of 1,347%); the Argentine peso (241%); the pound of Egypt and Sudan (both with falls of 131%); the Syrian pound (122%), and the Nigerian naira (90%), according to economist Steve Hanke of John Hopkins University.
At the end of January 2023, each unit of US currency cost 160 pesos, each euro 165, and the MLC, 157, setting one historical record after another since then.
While the prices of almost all consumer goods continue to rise.
At the end of 2023 an inflation of 31.34% was recorded on the Caribbean island, mainly due to increases in restaurants, transportation and food, according to the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).
This strong price increase follows that recorded in 2021, when the ONEI put inflation at 77.33%, and the 39.07% rebound in the Cuban formal market in 2022.
“An official annual inflation of approximately 30% is a very high inflation that continues to systematically reduce the already very depressed purchasing power,” said Cuban economist Pablo Monreal.
Cuba imports 80% of what is consumed in the country.
For about three years, Cuba’s very poor economic situation has intensifiedwith the shortage of basic products, the depreciation of the peso, failures in public services and inflation.
Source: With information from Diario de Cuba
