Inflation in Cuba: Up to 150 pesos for a pound of tomatoes

The inflation in Cuba reaches unthinkable figures and Cubans pay up to 150 pesos for a pound of tomatoes.

The citizen Miriam Pérez She published this Wednesday in the Facebook group Memesterio that a friend of hers paid 800 Cuban pesos (CUP) for 19 tomatoes, some of them green. "And what is this?" she asked herself, amazed at the exaggerated price of that vegetable, without specifying the place where she had acquired it.

What appears to be a meme demonstrates the unstoppable inflation on the island, which reached 208% in the latest measurement by American economist Steve Hanke.

As if that were not enough, some citizens added in the comments other cases where they have bought 6 tomatoes for 600 pesos (that is, 100 pesos per unit).

In the midst of the jokes where a rhyme dedicated to Murillo even appears ("Oh, Murillo, Murillo, you have only filled our pockets"), examples of the exorbitant price of food appear: 80 pesos per pound of taro ; 120 the bundle of beets; 120 the hand of banana.

An Internet user said that a young seller offered her a cheese for 6,000 pesos but she looked at him and said: "Thank you, I don't like it," as a way out of such an excessively priced offer.

"We have to give up tomato salad," but judging by the trends in food prices in Cuba, the population will have to give up eating.

Eating in Cuba stopped being a necessity and became a luxury. This was expressed by a Cuban woman who questioned a relative for having bought that product and he assured her that he had done so "to treat himself" - "one of those that you treat yourself to two or three times a year."

Some predicted that they would end up as cannibals in a country where food is scarce and others remembered the price of tomatoes last year when the pound was sold between 60 and 100 pesos.

These are, without a doubt, "revolutionary tomatoes", "tomatoes that go for more", "tomatoes that advance and it hurts", as someone joked.

Although many citizens criticized the woman's purchase and there were those who asked to be sold the most expensive tomatoes because "they have money to pay for things," the publication - which went viral on the networks - shows that inflation has no limits.

The country continues with a constant devaluation of its currency. Recently Cuba was ranked as the second highest inflation of the world.

Since the beginning of 2022, the Cuban peso has lost 59.09% of its value against the US dollar, according to Steve Hanke.

As part of the government's inability to stop the economic crisis, the currency continues to decline in Cuba.