The halt of foreign currency in the Cuban informal market is imposing itself.

Dollars, euros, and MLC experience another day of fluctuations in the informal market.

Current Affairs
CiberCuba Editorial Team

11/08/2024 - 8:54 am (GMT-5) | 1

The currencies are experiencing another day of a pause in their usual price fluctuations in the informal market in Cuba this Sunday.

At 7:00 a.m. (local time) on this August 11, the U.S. dollar was still valued at an average of 320 pesos, while the euro remained at 330 CUP.

The dollar has now accumulated nine days without increasing or decreasing in price.

The U.S. dollar reached 320 CUP on August 3, and since then, monitoring of classified ads that average its price in the informal market shows no movement, according to elToque.

In the case of the euro, it has been a week today without rising or falling. The European currency reached 330 CUP on August 5 and has not changed its value since then.

In recent days, only the freely convertible currency (MLC) has fluctuated in its average selling price, experiencing two consecutive days of declines. However, since yesterday it has joined "the stability" and is quoted at 275 CUP.

Exchange rate today 11/08/2024 - 7:33 a.m. in Cuba:

Exchange rate of the dollar USD to CUP according to elTOQUE: 320 CUP.

Exchange rate of the euro EUR to CUP according to elTOQUE: 330 CUP.

Exchange rate of MLC to CUP according to TOQUE: 275 CUP.

What is happening with currencies in the informal market?

"The dollar is like Cuba, it wants to keep moving forward but can't," joked an internet user; while another lamented the halt because he says that "if it stops, how do you eat?"

Others attribute the supposed slowdown to the lack of flights to Nicaragua, one of the reasons that drove the demand for hard cash.

There are also those who believe that those who have dollars do not lower the price and prefer to keep it.

There are also those who wonder if this data truly represents a slowdown in the value of currencies in Cuba or if the recent threats of imprisonment made by the regime have led to a change in strategy in the informal buying and selling of reference currencies, which may have moved to more discreet forums like WhatsApp groups.

It is important to note that the stability of recent days in the informal market has occurred just a few days after an article published in Granma threatened Cubans who engage in street currency trading with up to five years in prison.

"These actions are penalized with imprisonment from two to five years, or a fine of five hundred to one thousand units, or both," pointed out the official source, which also noted that any transaction of sale, assignment, transfer, or acquisition of foreign currency "is illegal and constitutes a crime."

For the moment, elToque has not commented on the "stability" of the currencies in recent days.