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Home > What's New > Cuba Cuts U.S. Currency
Cuba Cuts U.S. Currency
Posted: Tuesday, October 26, 2004
By Michael Moretti
Cuba is banning the U.S. dollar. The Cuban peso will regain its place as the country's primary currency. On Monday, President Fidel Castro announced that starting next month, businesses on the island nation would no longer be allowed to accept the dollar in exchange for goods and services.
The dollar has been the primary currency in Cuba since the early 1990s when the government lost a substantial amount of its trade and aid with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
"On November 8, the convertible peso will begin to circulate in substitution of the dollar throughout the national territory," Castro said in a written statement. After the policy is instituted, citizens will have to pay a 10 percent surcharge to exchange dollars for pesos. In his message, Castro encouraged Cubans to tell relatives living abroad to send money in other forms of foreign currency.
This past summer, the U.S. government tightened already existing restrictions on Cuba, which have been in place since 1962 as part of an embargo, further limiting visits to family members, monetary spending and cash transfers to the island.
Photos Courtesy of Claudi Daut/Reuters Also in Cigar News:
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