The function that allows customers to receive money with a QR code linked to their bank account is thus lost.
14ymedio, Madrid, February 28, 2025 — The Government must have thought “for big problems, big solutions” when it invented the “extra cash” service. The long lines at the banks, the lack of cash in the branches, the blackouts that shut down the ATMs and the disconnections that prevent card payment were going to be solved with this alternative. The concept is simple: the customer goes to one of the affiliated establishments, scans a QR code and makes a transfer of money to the premises, which – once the validity of the operation is verified – gives him cash: the panacea for rural areas.
More than three years later, the idea, which never prospered as expected, fails to work worse than ever. “If the stores and government establishments don’t collect money, you can’t withdraw money. The last thing they told me in the grocery store is that they are saving money to pay their workers. The rest of us have to sleep in front of the bank to withdraw 2,000* pesos, assuming there is money and electricity,” says a woman from Nuevitas.
Businesses that request the extra cash service do not receive money in advance by the bank to put in the hands of customers but rather depend on what they collect themselves. The 2021 measure was designed for ration stores, points of sale for propane and pharmacies, although later Correos [post offices], Casas de Cambio [currency exchanges], Cupet [gas stations] and other state-owned companies have been able to take advantage of it. The incentive is basically null, since the bank pays the premises a commission of 0.5% of the balance of the day and a peso for each operation carried out, but – in return – it is doing the job of a cashier.
The official press of the provinces has dedicated some sporadic reports to the disappointment of this service
The official press of the provinces has dedicated some sporadic reports to the disappointment of this service, which has been progressively reduced. In December, the Central Bank of Cuba announced that the amount of 5,000 pesos without limit of operations, that was in force until that moment, was drastically reduced: 6,000 pesos, but only once a week.
The Government has not given up on the service but admits that it has been increasingly limited, as indicated by the report published this Friday by the State newspaper Granma. The article gives both praise and criticism to the extra cash service, based on cases in two provinces: Villa Clara, where the project progresses properly, and Granma, where it is shipwrecked without hope of rescue.
Juan Miguel Cabrales Perdomo, director of Development of the Commerce Business Group in the eastern province, says that of the 862 extra cash services that were initially enabled in the Commerce network, there are not even 400 that continue to work. For the official, the reason is very clear: the shortage of products for the rationed family basket leaves the coffers of the ration stores empty.
“Regardless of the fact that the majority of ration stores sell industrial products and other items, the most money they collect is from the sale of products for the family basket, which today do not have stability and arrive in fractional form. What happens as a result? The ration store requests extra cash, but there is none,” he tells the official newspaper of the Communist Party.
Cabrales Perdomo says that it was a good idea and was born “as an alternative to the lack of cash,” but “the situation has been changing.”
The provincial management of the Bank of Credits and Commerce (Bandec) indicates that there are 1,298 premises with the service, but the requests have stopped due to “lack of interest of some agencies, given the limitations they have with the existence of cash.”
However, the bank states that the increase in electronic payments is also behind the reduction in available cash and gives the electricity company as an example. Last year, 85% of the billing was through the bank, the company says, so the little money in cash they have left is for paying the workers and not for the public that requests it. “For me, the extra cash service has been a very comfortable and effective option, but for some months, withdrawing money that way has become an impossible mission,” said a customer. She told Granma that she used to withdraw cash from the gas company and that she would be an example of this type of case, since payments for electricity are most often done by bank, as the authorities have stated numerous times.
Apparently to alleviate the situation, the report addresses the case of Villa Clara, where 2,243 premises offer the service
Apparently to alleviate the situation, the report addresses the case of Villa Clara, where 2,243 premises offer the cash service. In this way, the residents of the province obtained 815,425,000 pesos (about 2.4 million dollars at the informal exchange rate), an amount that, without the comparative data, was much higher than that of the previous year. Specifically, Santa Clara ostensibly excelled, with 257,210 extra-cash operations (45% more than the previous year), worth 681 million pesos.
According to the newspaper, the abysmal difference between the two provinces is due to the fact that the administrators of the establishments of the Commerce of Villa Clara carried out very adequate informative work, which has promoted adherence to the program. The merchants managed to pocket 3,745,000 pesos in commissions, “nothing negligible,” the report considers, although it is the equivalent of 11,000 dollars among more than 2,000 establishments.
The report also addresses the corruption that can occur in this service, although the Commerce director assures that everything is under control. “We have had some cases of people trying to take advantage of this facility for personal purposes or to favor others, which have been detected and neutralized immediately, thanks to the vigilance that we carry out every day on this matter, and to our close relationship with the banking system, which can trace and record all the operations,” he emphasizes.
Translator’s note: The peso/dollar exchange rate is quite volatile, and varies even on the same day in different places based on different exchange scenarios. That said, today 1 Cuban pesos is worth roughly 4.2 cents US.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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