There is a line this Wednesday outside the Centro Habana Currency Exchange House, where they are buying foreign currency at 917 pesos, while the informal market offers 915.
14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, November 11, 2026 — Something unusual is happening in the currency market this week: for the first time, official establishments are competing with the informal foreign exchange market. This Wednesday, at the Currency Exchange House (Cadeca) on Belascoaín and Neptuno streets, in Centro Habana, people were crowded into a line: the dollar was being purchased at 917 pesos, a better rate than on the black market. Everyone there was “selling,” taking advantage of the fact that it was the only Cadeca in the area buying U.S. currency.
“I get a better rate here than on the street, where right now it’s going for 900,” a woman tells 14ymedio. In dollar-buying and selling groups, the dollar was being offered at 895 CUP this Wednesday. Another retiree argued: “Even if it’s the same as on the street, exchanging money at a Cadeca gives you the security of knowing you won’t be cheated, robbed, or given counterfeit bills, as has happened to me.”
The Cadeca on 23rd and J streets, in El Vedado, was closed, supposedly because of construction work. The one on Neptuno Street was not buying dollars, and at the Habana Libre Hotel the line was not moving, so people were leaving.
The official “floating” exchange rate rose sharply from Monday to Tuesday, surpassing the informal rate at the currency exchange houses. While the banks remained well below the street price (886 for the euro and 791 for the dollar), at the Cadeca branches the U.S. currency was being purchased at 919 pesos on Tuesday, just one peso less than on the black market. This Wednesday, the dollar fell in general, except at the Cadeca branches, where for the first time the street rate was surpassed: 917 compared with 915. continue reading
The euro, meanwhile, also experienced a comparable increase: at the same establishments, it was being sold for as much as 1,025 pesos, 108 pesos more than the previous day, and purchased at 1,003.
Although the increase in the banks’ exchange rates was smaller, they also went up: 823 pesos at the Banco Popular de Ahorro (BPA) and the Banco de Crédito y Comercio (Bandec), 7 more than on Monday, and 783 pesos at Banco Metropolitano (779 pesos for transfers, 10 pesos more than the previous day).
At these banking institutions, the exchange rate was the same this Wednesday, while it moderated very slightly at the Cadeca branches, where the dollar was being purchased at 917 pesos and the euro at 999 (the selling rates were 922 pesos and 926, respectively). These rates remain exceptionally high.
After unsuccessfully fighting the unofficial exchange of dollars, a campaign that included an effort to demonize El Toque, the media outlet that for years has reported the informal exchange rate based on information gathered from buying and selling advertisements published on social media and classified-ad websites, the Government created a new formal “floating” exchange rate in late December 2025.
That rate, initially set at 410 pesos, just 30 pesos below the informal market rate, became the third exchange rate operating in the country: the rate of 24 pesos per dollar governing state-owned companies, and the rate of 120 per dollar for individuals, tourism, and other “foreign currency-generating entities.” The measure was intended to “organize” the economy and move toward monetary unification, but a year later, that has yet to happen.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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