Freely convertible currency breaks the barrier of 300 Cuban pesos

After the strong rise in currencies in recent days, this Saturday the freely convertible currency (MLC) reached the barrier of 300 Cuban pesos (CUP) in the informal market of Cuba.

Following the behavior of previous occasions, the MLC was once again dragged by the increases experienced by European and American currencies, standing at 300 CUP, according to the informal rate prepared by the independent media. ElTOQUE based on the analysis of purchase and sale offers on social networks.

Euro and Dollar currently maintain the price reached this Friday, of 390 and 385 CUP respectively, although alternative exchange rates managed by other platforms detect a rebound in the European currency, which could reach a price of around 392 CUP in the next hours.

Exchange rate today 05/04/2024 - 5:53am in Cuba:

• Exchange rate from USD to CUP according to elTOQUE: 385 CUP
• Euro exchange rate EUR to CUP according to elTOQUE: 390 CUP
• Exchange rate from MLC to CUP according to TOQUE: 300 CUP

Alternative exchange rate from other platforms:

• Dollar (USD) exchange rate: Buy 384 CUP, Sell 385 CUP
• Euro (EUR) exchange rate: Buy 391 CUP, Sell 392 CUP
• MLC exchange rate: Buy 295 CUP, Sell 299 CUP

Inflation remains uncontrolled in Cuba, leaving a bleak panorama in which Cubans lose their purchasing power day after day.

In this scenario, the Cuban regime seems to find itself in a dead end, unable to offer economic solutions to the problem and opting to blaming the devaluation of the CUP on the independent media, Specially to ElTOQUE.

At the end of January, the government of Miguel Diaz-Canel, through his then Minister of Economy and Planning, the defenestrated Alejandro Gil Fernandez, announced that he was prepared to the intervention of the informal foreign exchange market in February.

Although no details of the interventionist plan were offered, the Presidency of Cuba indicated that the government would advance “in the presentation of proposals to resize the exchange market, the intervention of the informal sector and the control of the exchange rate in the country.”

In this sense, they indicated that the actions to be developed included “the determination of the exchange rate and the formation of prices.” However, after the dismissal of Gil Fernández, the issue of intervention in the informal currency market has ghostly appearances in official rhetoric, without taking shape in reality.

According to the Cuban economist Rafaela Cruz, right now the MLC no longer fulfills its function of collecting dollars for which the freely convertible currency was conceived.

In an article published in Cuban Diary, the expert predicts that the Cuban regime watches with helplessness how the MLC has become an unexpected escape for the private sector.

"Given the possibility of transferring MLC between individuals, large amounts of these have been accumulated in private agents who today act as financial intermediaries receiving foreign currency abroad and delivering MLC in Cuba, in operations that totally exclude state banks," observed Cruz. in his analysis.

Therefore, the economist concluded, the days of the MLC's life seem to be numbered. "The question is not if Castroism is going to disappear, but when."