Cuba: dollar opening rate today March 22 USD to CUP

The US dollar is trading at the opening at 25 Cuban pesos at the official exchange rate, which implied a 4.32% increase compared to the previous day's figure, when it closed with 23.97 Cuban pesos at the official exchange rate.

With reference to the profitability of the last seven days, the US dollar accumulated a 4.18% increase and in year-on-year terms it still accumulates a 4.24% increase. Comparing this data with that of previous dates,, proving unable to establish a trend in the last few dates. The volatility figure is clearly higher than the figure achieved for the last year (13.54 per cent), indicating that it is going through a phase of instability.

In the last year, the US dollar has changed by a maximum of 25 Cuban pesos at the official exchange rate, while its lowest level has been 23.80 Cuban pesos at the official exchange rate.

The Cuban peso

The Cuban peso is the legal tender in Cuba and is used by the majority of the population that is divided into 100 units called cents.

As of January 1, 2021, the Cuban convertible peso ceased to exist as a legal tender, since it was the most accepted in the payment of obligations and although it still has legal value, it is not accepted in the payment of goods and services.

In 2002, the exchange rate was 21 Cuban pesos per convertible peso, but then it devalued to 26 Cuban pesos per convertible peso. As for the dollar, it is equivalent to 25 Cuban pesos and one Cuban convertible peso.

It was not until April 2005 that the administration agreed to devalue the Cuban peso with respect to the convertible by transferring it to 25 Cuban pesos per convertible peso and the latter remained at a 1:1 parity with respect to the dollar plus a tax of 10 per cent, which means that for every dollar changed 12% of its value is lost .

This was the case until January 1, 2021, when the “Zero Day” of monetary unification was agreed, although for many the extinction of the convertible peso was seen as a devaluation, for others it was only a measure to catch up with the 24 Cuban pesos per dollar.

As a result, the demand for foreign exchange also pushed the black exchange market in which one dollar was sold for every 100 Cuban convertible pesos.

Currently there are coins of 1, 2, 5 and 20 cents and 1, 3 and 5 pesos; while in banknotes there are 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 pesos.

Economically, the coronavirus pandemic has hit the nation as well as many others globally, which is why the government expects that in 2022 the country will have a growth in its Gross Domestic Product of only 4 percent, this after a fall of 11% recorded in 2020, from which in 2021 it could not fully recover, as it was estimated at 2 percent.

It should be noted that Cuba is not part of international organizations such as the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund (IMF), so estimates of economic growth are made by the State itself.

Other factors such as inflation and the devaluation of the peso skyrocketed after the unification of its national currency was launched. In addition, the non-payment of international creditors and the pressure by the United States government with the economic embargo that, according to the Cuban administration, these measures have resulted in the loss of 9.15 million dollars.

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