The euro reached 635 Cuban pesos (CUP) this Wednesday in the informal market of the island, according to the exchange rate recorded by elTOQUE, setting a new all-time record for the European currency in Cuba.
The jump happened in a single day: this Tuesday the euro closed at 625 CUP and in less than 24 hours it added 10 additional pesos, the largest daily increase recorded so far in May.
Informal exchange rate in Cuba Wednesday, May 20, 2026 - 07:30
Exchange rate of the dollar (USD) to Cuban pesos CUP: 550 CUP
Exchange rate of the euro (EUR) to Cuban pesos CUP: 635 CUP
Exchange rate from (MLC) to Cuban pesos CUP: 420 CUP
The rise this month has been steady and relentless. The euro started May at 605 CUP, rose to 610 on the second, reached 615 on the fifth, hit 620 on the eighth, and stabilized at 625 between May 12 and 19. The jump to 635 CUP this Wednesday breaks that plateau and establishes a new historical high.
In just 20 days, the euro has risen by 30 CUP, highlighting the rapid decline in the purchasing power of Cubans.
Exchange Rate Evolution
The euro thus solidifies as the foreign currency with the highest value in the Cuban informal market, surpassing the dollar, which remains this Wednesday at 550 CUP —the level at which it also set its own historical record the day before— and the MLC, which rises to 420 CUP.
The gap between the informal market and the official rate of the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) —which sets the euro at 588.68 CUP— has already exceeded 46 pesos, a difference that highlights the structural distrust in the Cuban peso and the regime's inability to stabilize its economy.
In perspective, the euro crossed the 600 CUP mark for the first time on April 19, 2026. Since December 2025, when it was around 480 CUP, the peso has lost more than 155 CUP in value against the European currency in just five months.
The Observatory of Coins and Finance of Cuba (OMFi) projected that by the end of April, one euro would be around 604 CUP; the market exceeded this estimate comfortably and continues to rise. The average year-on-year depreciation of the peso between January and April 2026 was 45%, more than double the rate recorded for the entire year of 2025, which was 22%.
The euro is establishing itself as the most valuable foreign currency on the island. The growing demand is largely attributed to travels to Europe and the desire of many Cubans to protect their savings against inflation and the depreciation of the Cuban peso.
The collapse of the Cuban peso is not a recent phenomenon: in 2020, the dollar was trading at about 42 CUP in the informal market, which means that the national currency has lost nearly 95% of its value against the dollar in six years, a collapse accelerated by the failed "Monetary Ordering" of January 2021, the chronic shortage of foreign currency, and the high dependence on imports.
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