English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 31 January 2021 — “No one here to buy and sell?” asks the clerk of the notary’s office on 20 de Mayo Street, in Havana. Clients are waiting to make a will or formalize a power of attorney, but requests for procedures related to housing have disappeared from these offices since the monetary … Continue reading “Cuba’s Monetary Unification Slows the Sales of Homes”
14ymedio, Havana, 13 October 2020 — The elimination of the country’s dual currency is delayed, according to the latest statements by Cuban leaders who are at the forefront of the so-called “regulatory task.” In the Roundtable TV program on Tuesday the issue was addressed but without giving details about the date on which the monetary … Continue reading “Cuba Will Subsidize Unprofitable State Companies After Monetary Unification”
Eliás Amor Bravo, Economist, August 24, 2020 — Perhaps, possibly, together with salaries, housing and the daily worry about food, monetary unification has become one of the main problems for Cubans. There is proof of that. The article published in Granma with the title “Monetary unification is on the horizon in Cuba”, in which several specialists … Continue reading “Monetary Unification: The Story Never Ends”
Cubanet, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 24 August 2020 — A note recently published by the official Cuban press discusses once again the much harped on and, so far, unresolved issue of monetary unification, through an interview conducted by its author with various specialists from the Central Bank of Cuba. Said officials agreed on the importance of … Continue reading “Cuba, Monetary Unification and “The Horizon” for its Destiny / Miriam Celaya”
EFE via 14ymedio, Havana, 30 March 2018 — Cuba’s Central Bank, on Thursday, tried to calm the “false” rumors that one of the two currencies circulating in the country will be immediately withdrawn in the process of monetary reunification, which has led to a rush on banks and currency exchanges. “This event is based on the … Continue reading “Cuban Government Asks for Calm in Face of Rumors About Imminent Monetary Unification”
14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, 15 March 2018 — The last weeks have been like a heart attack for Luis, the employee who guards the door at the Metropolitan Bank (Banmet) on Galiano Street, in Havana. The flood of customers doesn’t give him a minute’s rest because “people are going nuts changing and saving money” out of fear that … Continue reading “Long Lines at Cuban Banks For Fear of Monetary Unification”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 26 October 2015 — Without a doubt the most complex challenge Raúl Castro’s regime has in the short-term is monetary unification. The use in the country of two national currencies for the last two and a half decades has ended up generating an inestimable distortion in the internal finance system, which by itself would … Continue reading “Monetary Unification in Cuba, an Unresolved Issue / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
HAVANA TIMES —The announcement that the Cuban government plans to eliminate Cuba’s two-currency monetary system has awakened numerous concerns among common citizens and analysts. This was to be expected, for, even if we assume the simplest and most vulgar point of view on Cuban reality, it is clear that this is a serious issue that … Continue reading “Cuba’s Monetary Unification: a Turn for the Better or for the Worse? / Haroldo Dilla Alfonso”
14ymedio, Madrid, 14 December 2023 — The increase in the fiscal deficit of 2023 by 44.4%, announced this Wednesday by the Cuban Government, arouses unfavorable comments from several independent economists, who regret the lack of a plan to fight against an inflation of 27% so far this year. According to the decree that modifies the … Continue reading “Only an Adjustment Plan and Monetary Reform Can Stop Cuba’s Growing Fiscal Deficit”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 30 March 2019 — There are issues that appear cyclically in the official media. Discussions that get heated in the streets and later cool down waiting for institutional responses. Among these is the end of the dual monetary system, a measure that at times seems to be around the corner and … Continue reading “Academic Warns of Economic "Shock" if Cuba’s Dual Monetary System is Maintained”
Ed. Note: This article talks about Cuba’s two currencies, the Cuban peso and the Cuban convertible peso, and the potential ‘unification’ of the two currencies. The Cuban peso is also called “national money” and by the acronym “CUP.” The Cuban convertible peso (“CUC”) only came into use in 1994. It is not convertible outside the … Continue reading “The Dollar Strengthens In Cuba In Anticipation Of Currency Unification / Iván García”
HAVANA, Cuba , December, www.cubanet.org – Monetary and exchange rate unification was addressed by Raúl Castro in his speech at the closing session of the National Assembly and by Vice President Marino Murillo Jorge, on December 21, according to the Cuban media. The interest of calming the population can be seen in the president’s assertion … Continue reading “Unification of Dual Currency, but the Economic Future Remains Uncertain / Miriam Leiva”
The road to exit the crisis is clear; what is lacking is the political will to travel it. Among the partial reforms the government of Raul Castro announced was the enforcement of a timeframe for measures to eliminate the dual currency, implemented following the loss of Soviet subsidies. A look back at the topic helps … Continue reading “Currency Unification: Causes and Limits / Dimas Castellano”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 29 August 2023 — It was just what was missing. Faced with the bewilderment caused by a fall in the value of the Cuban peso with respect to all currencies, which pushes the economy into an abyss, the regime takes out of the hat in the state press a theory … Continue reading “The Regime Brings Out the Heavy Artillery Against El Toque”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 15 Dec 2020 (Readers note: This article is more than three years old, but has just been translated for this site] — We are so accustomed to Castroism’s autocratic punches that we end up reacting in the same way every time the Cuban authorities announce with suspicious solemnity some “set of new … Continue reading “Economic Disorder, Castroism’s Vocation / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”