This Monday the dollar dawns with a new price drop in the Cuban informal market and thus completes a streak of 19 consecutive days of an unprecedented decline.
Although its fall moderates, the US currency drops two units and is trading today at 280 CUPaccording to the value recorded at 7 in the morning (Cuban local time) on June 3.
The dizzying pace at which currencies have fallen in the last two weeks remains a notable fact, in some cases adding 10 and even 20 pesos of fall in a single day.
Today the dollar drops 115 pesos in 19 dayswhich confirms a fall speed unprecedented since the touch He began to document price fluctuations in the informal sale of currencies on the island.
The euro remains at 295 CUP today, a price it reached the previous day.
The Freely Convertible Currency (MLC)also repeats value and remains valued at 260 CUP.
Exchange rate today 06/03/2024 – 7:46 am in Cuba:
Dollar exchange rate USD to CUP according to the touch: 280 CUP.
Euro exchange rate EUR to CUP according to the touch: 295 CUP.
MLC to CUP exchange rate according to the touch: 260 CUP.
Alternative exchange rate from other platforms:
Dollar (USD) exchange rate: Buy 276 CUP, Sell 286 CUP.
Euro (EUR) exchange rate: Buy 288 CUP, Sell 296 CUP.
MLC exchange rate: Buy 253 CUP, Sell 258 CUP.
The informal Cuba exchange rate offered here is not officially recognized or endorsed by any financial or government entity.
Although many Cubans consider the drop in the informal price of foreign currency in Cuba to be positive, they wonder why the prices of consumer goods are not also contracting at the same rate.
Meanwhile, those who are lucky enough to have access to the reference currencies in the country recommend waiting and not selling because they believe that in the long run the value of the euro, the dollar and the MLC will rise again.
The Cuban government has continued without comment since the price of foreign currency began to decline in informal sales in mid-May.
Equivalences of each available banknote from euros and US dollars to Cuban pesos (CUP)
US Dollar (USD) to Cuban Peso (CUP)according to the exchange rates of this Wednesday, May 29.
1 USD = 280 CUP.
5 USD = 1,400 CUP.
10 USD = 2,800 CUP.
20 USD = 5,600 CUP.
50 USD = 14,000 CUP.
100 USD = 28,000 CUP.
Euro (EUR) to Cuban Peso (CUP):
1 EUR= 295.
5 EUR = 1,475 CUP.
10 EUR = 2,950 CUP.
20 EUR = 5,900 CUP.
50 EUR = 14,750 CUP.
100 EUR = 29,500 CUP.
This information can be useful to calculate the cost in Cuban pesos of any amount of dollars or euros. These conversions are based on the provided rates of 280 CUP for each dollar and 295 CUP for each euro.
Without parachutes: Currencies experience a dizzying decline in Cuba
Recently, the touch who since 2019 has been documenting the ups and downs of the price of reference currencies in Cuba in the informal market, gave his opinion about the sharp decline in the value of dollars, euros and MLC.
“The announcement of the reestablishment of remittance services to the island through Western Union (on May 9) and the proximity to a fixed value (400 CUP x 1 USD) could have influenced expectations, the so-called ‘market sentiment’“, first noted the economist Pavel Vidal Alejandro in an extensive article on the subject.
The economist specified that a “new balance has been formed in the consensus and attitude of market participants.”
That is to say, “a growing number of people began to consider that the price of currencies was excessively high and chose to sell before a possible fall,” which triggered the supply.
Vidal Alejandro assured that since mid-May – coinciding with the beginning of the fall of the three reference currencies – there has been a notable increase in the supply of currencies in the sample monitored in virtual spaces.
On the other hand, the aforementioned media pointed out that it is natural that “temporary corrections occur after an extended bullish period in the market.”
He explained that since 2022 there have been six sharp and consecutive falls in currency values, which have lasted up to weeks in some cases, but have then recovered again.
Is the Cuban peso really revaluating?
Vidal Alejandro considered that the fundamental factors that explain the internal and external imbalances of the Cuban economy have not changed and that therefore “the current inflection of the rate should not be associated with a modification of the trend.”
“During the last four years, the value of the Cuban peso has presented a permanent tendency towards depreciation that is consistent with the high fiscal deficit, the excessive issuance of Cuban pesos, the contraction of national production and exports, the growing dependence on products and imported inputs, dollarization, emigration and generalized and persistent inflation in the markets”, that is, the crisis continues and there is no reason for the peso to change its tendency towards devaluation.
And there is more, the growth of tourism has slowed, exports of goods were below expectations and the sugar harvest continues to fail to stabilize production. As if it were not enough, at the end of February of this year, the imbalance in the State budget accumulated more than 20,000 million pesos.
For his part, the Cuban economist Emilio Morales He stated this week in an interview with CyberCuba that It is “impossible” that the Cuban peso has revalued on its owngaining ground on the dollar, as has happened in recent days, and attributed the fall in the informal price of currencies to maneuvers by the cyberclarias of the UCI (University of Computer Sciences) of the island.
In Morales’ opinion, the only news that can revalue the peso on its own is “that the Government fell,” and this because it would finally open up hope for a change in the system.
Morales also ruled out that the decrease in the price of dollars, euros and MLC in Cuba is due to an alleged injection of foreign currency into the informal market.
“Where are they going to get the foreign currency if they have blackouts every day because they can’t buy oil? It would have to be a multimillion-dollar injection and they don’t have it,” she questioned.
When asked if there could be any mechanism other than the intervention of the clarias to control inflation this week, the economist responded forcefully.
“That’s a lie. Cuba doesn’t produce. Where is the productive support for that to happen? That’s probably going to get back on track and surpass the 400-peso barrier,” he asserted.
