The Banco de Crédito y Comercio (BCC) in Sancti Spíritus has just confirmed what was seen coming and has been a reality for some time: its branches will stop replenishing the ATMs and will return to physical operations after acknowledging that they don’t have cash.
The above occurs less than a year after the Government imposed the obligation that salary payments and financial exchanges of the economy on the Island be through electronic transactions and not cash when the sums exceed 5,000 Cuban pesos (CUP).
However, the BCC of the provincial capital of Sancti Spíritus announced that, “given the low availability of cash in circulation”, its local office decided that as of last Tuesday cash will not be served at ATMsa measure that “could be extended to other municipalities.”
In statements to the official Radio Sancti Spíritus, Luis Francisco Castro Díaz, business manager of BANDEC in that province, announced that “Those who wish to withdraw money from their magnetic card must use the cashier service within the branch itself and may withdraw up to 5,000 pesos.”
“Maybe today there are 5,000, maybe tomorrow we will have greater availability of cash and we can give more,” the official acknowledged.
Castro Díaz did not avoid mentioning the root causes of the situation: “In a country that has the level of inflation that we have, the mass of money in circulation is four, five times what the economy requires, according to the level of goods and services provided, is alarming. And we do nothing by continuing to print money.
According to the official, “with the fact that the bank tellers are the ones who are going to dispense money to the population, there will be a certain benefit,” because all interested parties could access a sum, instead of the ATMs, which before demand from those interested, they often run out of tickets.
The problem, Castro Díaz added, is linked to the country’s serious economic crisis and the economy’s low income generation. Therefore, he said, In Trinidad, BANDEC ATMs will continue to provide service.
“There, many MSMEs deposit money in the bank, and BANDEC has greater availability of cash,” he acknowledged. Trinidad is the main tourist destination in Sancti Spíritus, and numerous artisans, restaurant owners and rental houses earn income from visitors.
On the other hand, the official acknowledged, “in La Sierpe the measure (of not serving cash in the ATMs) was taken a while ago, because there are more peasants, who need cash to be able to pay the day laborers, and they don’t make you deposits. Even if they sell their crops in cash, they don’t deposit it in the bank, because they are going to need it.”
“It is not a situation of the province, it is a problem of the country”Castro Díaz remarked.
DIARIO DE CUBA consulted Loyda Díaz, a teacher from Holguín who since the so-called “banking” was implemented, with which the Government said it pursued the gradual elimination of cash, has suffered the consequences in her daily life.
“I haven’t cashed my checkbook since December 2023”, he assured. Although she carries out her operations in a Banco Popular de Ahorro (BPA), the situation in her branch is worse than what has been described so far.
“You go to the bank and they only give you 1,000 pesos at the tills. But my bank is always full, the connection is bad, there is no electricity, and you waste your time.”
Loyda’s husband, who is retired, usually waits in line at the branch around 3:00AM to try to collect. “This is how we manage to solve it if there is no other problem,” says the Cuban.
“Talking about card money here is crazy. Nobody wants card money, because it is death to be able to get it”acknowledges Díaz, who says that operations through the Transfermóvil application to pay the electricity, water and telephone bill, for example, solve a problem for him.
“But to buy bread or pay for something on the street, it’s an ordeal,” he points out.
Bankarization or “financial corralito”, as several experts anticipated, sought to take control of the monetary exchanges of Cubans, forcing them to deposit their money in state financial institutions, in which it has been widely seen that they do not trust.
However, the crisis of the Cuban economy has ended up making it unviable. Already in December 2023, the Council of State approved a fiscal deficit of 22%, greater than that allowed by the law to which the authorities should comply.
This implies, therefore, the increase in the issuance of cash without productive support. This measure was taken in the middle of the accelerated increase in inflation, the fall in the purchasing power of the Cuban peso, the dollarization of the informal economy and, what is worse, the application of the economic package starting last February, which aims to worsen rather than alleviate the situation.
