Cuban government will buy USD at the black market rate

The Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) reported that banks and exchange houses will begin to buy dollars at a price of 120 Cuban pesos per greenback, a rate similar to that of the black market, a mechanism aimed at capturing foreign currency.

"We have considered that the exchange rate of 120 Cuban pesos for the dollar, which is the currency that is taken as a base to later establish the exchange rate with the rest of the currencies, is the rate that we believe will have more expectation," said the bank's president, Marta Sabina Wilson, in a message on the state television program Mesa Redonda.

The currency soared on the black market after, in January 2021, the government put into force a financial reform that fixed the dollar at 24 pesos and in June of that year suspended the sale of dollars to the population, due to the lack of liquidity.

Since then, the US currency has been quoted in the informal market for up to 124 pesos. Last Wednesday it was located at 115 pesos, according to El Toque, an independent media considered illegal in Cuba, which offers a daily board of the price of the main currencies.

At the moment it will only be the financial institutions that acquire the US currency. In the future, the population will also be able to buy dollars.

The new parity will be aimed at the population in general and tourists, explained the official. In this way, two exchange rates will remain in force.

Gil explained that the official parity of 24 pesos will continue to be valid for internal transactions of the island's economy.