Cuban government announces sale of foreign currency to the population

HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 23 (ACN) The sale of foreign currency to the population will begin this Tuesday, throughout the national territory, as part of the measures designed by the Cuban government with a view to the implementation of the foreign exchange market, announced Alejandro Gil Fernández, deputy prime minister and Minister of Economy and Planning (MEP).

During his presentation on national TV, along Marta Sabina Wilson, minister-president of the Central Bank of Cuba, Gil Fernández described as favorable the results of the first stage initiated 20 days ago when the purchase of foreign currency to the population and foreign visitors was established, since the collection of foreign currency has been increasing.

According to Gil, to go back to the exchange market, which includes the purchase and sale of foreign currency, is vital for the functioning of the Cuban economy, in which the lack of foreign currency continues to be the main problem, in the midst of the tight U.S. blockade and the fact that a certain amount of those currencies is still not captured by the country's financial system, since they are traded in the informal market.

In that sense, a strategic objective is to move towards a single exchange rate for all economic actors, which guarantees the internal convertibility of the national currency, and that all operations are in Cuban peso.

Alejandro Gil himself has stressed that an exchange market should work on the basis that you buy a certain level of foreign currency coming into the country, and then sell a certain level because there is a demand.

"The most logical thing is for the market to function on the basis that this exchange and exchange of foreign currency operation should yield a positive net result. In other words, that the State buys more foreign currency than it sells, and that this positive net result can be invested in the economy, generating a supply of goods and services in local currency, so that there is an incentive for the exchange of foreign currency", he said recently.

In his opinion, the success lies in having a level of supply in local currency that generates the incentive for people who have foreign currency to exchange it for Cuban pesos, because with these they will have a level of consumption in the country.

On July 28, the flexibilization of non-commercial imports by natural persons was announced, and on August 4, the purchase of foreign currency in the banking system began, after explaining the day before how an exchange market will be implemented for the purchase and sale of foreign currency to the population with an economically based exchange rate, in which all foreign currency can be used, including dollars in cash, as the head of the MEP pointed out at that time.

Likewise, on August 15, new measures for Foreign Trade and domestic wholesale and retail trade were announced, consisting in promoting the participation of foreign investment in these sectors, in order to alleviate the shortage in the domestic market.