The depreciation of the Cuban peso advances at a dizzying pace to be placed in less than 24 hours in the informal market with an exchange rate of 150 CUP per US dollarincreasing two points in relation to the previous measurement.
“For the first time, since the 1990s, the dollar reaches the value of 150 Cuban pesos, according to the reference values of our Informal Market Representative Rate. How far do you think it will go? ”, Said the independent media this Saturday The touch on their social networks.
Just 24 hours beforethe reference rate prepared by this means indicated that the value of the dollar in Cuba had increased in the informal market to 148 Cuban pesoswhile in the official market of the Casas de Cambio (CADECA), it was maintained and remains at 1×123.60 CUP.
For its part, the euro – which was also at 148 pesos on Friday – rose one point in the informal market to reach 149 pesos this Saturday. The exchange rate in the informal market of the freely convertible currency (MLC) also experienced a rise of one point, which stood at 148 CUP this Saturday.
The unstoppable inflationary process that the Cuban economy is suffering has reached the point where it was in the 1990s, when the country suffered the crisis known as the “special period.”
Not even the increase in wages in Cuba provided for as part of the “economic regulation” has strengthened the purchasing power of Cubans, who have seen their wages reduced months after the government raised them by decree.
The initial 24×1 exchange rate adopted by the Cuban authorities and their refusal to sell dollars once established, together with the inflation caused by scarcity and rising prices, has given rise to a process of depreciation of the national currency, taken over by the government itself, which recently opened on a very limited basis the sale of dollars at an official exchange rate of 123.60 CUP.
The independent Cuban media outlet The touch Every day he shares his analysis of the representative rates of the informal currency exchange market in Cuba. The representative rates of currency exchange in Cuba are calculated from the analysis of the median of the numbers offered by Cubans in advertisements for the purchase and sale of foreign currency on Cuban social networks and Internet sites.
The touch warns that “these are not concrete operations, but expressions of «wishes» of the actors that attend that market”. The reduction in the value of the national currency, which implies depreciation, will have various effects on the Cuban economy, among which it is worth highlighting “an increase in the inflation rate, due to the increase in the cost of imported goods and services when expressed in national currency and a deterioration in the real terms of trade”.
“How far will the price of the dollar go? Well: TO INFINITY AND BEYOND”, commented a Cuban user on the social networks of the independent media. “Some ‘specialists’ said that the price of the USD would be 200 MN for December… it seems that they fell short. #GraciasPorTodoMurillo #ElComunismoEsMiseria”, he added.
“What they are doing with their ‘informal tax’ is inflated to the face, in retaliation against the regime for what it did to its journalists. Raising $5 in hours is ridiculous, unbelievable and denotes zero professionalism. They were always a poop; now they are ashamed”, said another user, who attributed the rapid increase reflected by the media to a retaliation from the editors for the repression exerted by the regime against its journalists.
“Everything is pure speculation, because the dollar rises in hours without any basis,” considered another, while a third replied that “there are fundamentals: a lot of demand and little supply.”
Given the controversy created around the reference rate of the independent media, and the comments of some who accused him of “inflating” the values, a Cuban Internet user proposed a Solomonic decision: “Go to Cadeca and stop following The touchif in the end the rate is false”, he said with evident sarcasm.