With the aim of regaining sovereign control of the exchange rate in the country, the Cuban State is working on the implementation of a set of comprehensive measures related to the exchange market, confirmed authorities from the Central Bank of Cuba.
In an interview with the Granma newspaper, Ian Pedro Carbonell Karell, Director of Macroeconomic Policies at the Central Bank of Cuba, stated that the necessary operational, technological, and regulatory conditions are being created to establish an official, orderly, transparent, and functional foreign exchange market.
He emphasized that the representative exchange rate of the informal currency market currently imposed by El Toque cannot be considered valid from an economic policy perspective for attempting to stabilize the economy.
According to Carbonell Karell, the danger of using the informal market rate as a reference for economic activities lies in the fact that it is a platform without institutional oversight, where the information cannot be verified as reflecting real transactions, and which, moreover, lacks any type of regulatory responsibility or supervision.
The deputy to the National Assembly of People’s Power also pointed out that the foreign exchange market is a key element in the economic transformations that must be carried out in the Cuban economy.
“It is the space that allows us to connect the external environment with our national economy, especially in a country like ours, which is an open economy, highly dependent on imports. Therefore, having a functional official foreign exchange market that gives convertibility to the national currency is a key and strategic element,” he said.
According to the Director of Macroeconomic Policies at the Central Bank, while the foreign exchange market alone does not solve all the problems, it is fundamental for implementing other measures and can help resolve the current market segmentation, the distortions of speculative prices, and other elements of microeconomic inefficiencies that are currently limiting growth.
He emphasized that the strategic objective is to achieve external and internal equilibrium regarding the country’s relationship with the rest of the world, and also to promote the strategic objective of de-dollarizing the economy.
According to Carbonell Karell, there are currently more favorable conditions for advancing the implementation of this policy, among which he highlighted the progress being made in reducing the fiscal deficit and in managing the State Budget, which allows for consolidating other measures towards macroeconomic stabilization.
From an economic policy perspective, the El Toque exchange rate is not valid for establishing equilibrium in the economy. ACN | Photo: José Manuel Correa / Granma Newspaper
[ SOURCE: AGENCIA CUBANA DE NOTICIAS ]
