At a dizzying pace: Increase in foreign currencies in Cuba confirms weakness of the CUP and instability of the informal market.

The behavior of the informal currency market in Cuba in the last 72 hours is a clear indicator of its instability, as well as the accelerated sinking of the value of the national currency and the purchasing power of millions of Cubans.

After three weeks of a striking decline in the value of the reference currencies of the informal market, four days of investment in that trend have been enough to place the dollar, the euro, and the freely convertible currency (MLC) at values close to the records set in May.

If yesterday these coins were once again experiencing strong price increases compared to the previous day, with rises of between 10 and 30 pesos, this Saturday the increase is even more acute in some of them and outlines a dizzying escalation that takes the breath away from workers and pensioners with incomes in Cuban pesos.

The increase of 30 pesos experienced by the dollar yesterday is repeated this Saturday, with the US currency starting the day trading at 380 Cuban pesos (CUP), only 15 pesos below its historical peak of May 10th.

In the case of the MLC, a currency implemented by the Cuban regime for electronic transactions (which usually maintains more stable values and is less prone to the fluctuations experienced by the European and American currencies in the informal Cuban market), the rise this Saturday can also be classified as spectacular.

While the increase this Friday was 10 pesos, the jump this Saturday is 20 units, double in less than 24 hours, which leaves its quotation at 300 CUP, ten pesos below the historical maximum reached on May 14th.

However, it is the European currency that most violently drives up its value in the informal currency market in Cuba, jumping by 45 pesos in a single day and placing its price this Saturday at 400 CUP, close to its historical high of 402.5 CUP also reached on May 10.

Exchange rate today 08/06/2024 - 6:49am in Cuba:

• Dollar exchange rate.USD to CUPaccording tothe TOUCHCubans express concerns about the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country and the impact on the healthcare system.380 CUP
• Euro exchange rateEUR to CUPaccording totheTOUCHTranslate the following text to English:400 Cuban pesos
• Exchange rate ofMLC to CUPaccording toelTOQUETranslate the following text to English:300 CUP

Alternative exchange rate from other platforms:

• Dollar exchange rate (USD): Buying 355 CUP, Selling 378 CUP
• Exchange rate of the Euro (EUR): Buying 365 CUP, Selling 390 CUP
• Exchange rate of MLC: Purchase 289 CUP, Sale 296 CUP.

Faced with this chaotic panorama, the independent media outlet elTOQUE, which documents the ups and downs of currency values in the informal market, reported that it has reinforced controls to calculate the representative rate, amid growing suspicions of attempts to inflate or plummet values with false announcements.

The independent media outlet referenced a campaign by "government actors associated with State Security and propagandistic spokespeople of the Communist Party" who, since April, have attempted to delegitimize that outlet and the methodology they use to calculate the rate.

Campaign to which -they pointed out- “private sector actors who claim to have the ability to coordinate to promote the appreciation of the Cuban peso” have joined.

It would seem that this is the intention, to generate enough noise so that the spaces in which the informal currency exchange market has been articulated - as a solution to the lack of action in Cuban State exchange rate policy - cease to be credible and functional," the mentioned media outlet regretted.