A Cuban visited an agricultural fair with 9,000 Cuban pesos in her pocket—equivalent to just 18 dollars at the informal exchange rate—and recorded each purchase on video to showcase the actual purchasing power of that amount in today's Cuba.
The content creator ElyVlog Cubita la Bella posted the journey on Facebook, and the details of what she managed to acquire starkly summarize the economic crisis that the island is experiencing.
"I’m going to the fair and let's see what we can buy with 9,000 pesos. This is approximately 18 dollars," the Cuban started before embarking on her tour of the fair stalls.
The exchange rate context is crucial for understanding the magnitude of the experiment.
At the time of recording, the informal exchange rate of the dollar was at 520 pesos, well above the official rate of the Central Bank of 480 pesos, a gap that reflects the structural distortion of the Cuban economy.
What the creator was able to buy with that 9,000 pesos was limited: some vegetables, basic spices, and a few other things.
The amount, which for many Cubans represents more than a month's salary, barely sufficed to cover basic food needs.
And the average income in Cuba was just 6,830 pesos, a figure that is far below what this Cuban even brought to the fair. The gap between salaries and actual prices is one of the most devastating factors of the current crisis.
The numbers are striking: the basic basket for two people in Havana amounts to 41,735 pesos per month, and surviving in Cuba costs over 50,000 pesos a month when including other essential expenses like transportation and services.
Transport is, indeed, another aspect of the crisis. Alongside the collapse of purchasing power, no urban routes are operating in Havana due to a lack of diesel, forcing citizens to spend even more to get to fairs and markets.
The government has tried to contain prices through regulations, but the results have been limited. Authorities have imposed fines of up to 16,000 pesos on offending sellers, a measure that many economists and citizens consider ineffective given the magnitude of the imbalance between supply, demand, and the real purchasing power of the population.
The video from ElyVlog Cubita la Bella quickly became a social document that thousands of Cubans shared as a testimony of their daily reality, a reality where 9,000 pesos —more than a full salary— is not enough to fill a grocery bag.
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