Cuban Informal Market Sees Dollar Soar to 675 CUP, Euro Hits 763

The Cuban informal currency market has seen a positive trend for both the US dollar and the euro. At local time 8:00 PM on Saturday, August 29th, the US dollar closed at 675 Cuban pesos (CUP), marking its highest point in the last 30 days. This represents an increase of 2.5 pesos compared to the previous day, equivalent to a rise of 0.4%. Over the past week, the greenback has risen by 12 pesos from the average of 663 CUP it stood at seven days ago.

The euro also experienced a gain, closing at 763 CUP on Saturday evening. This represents an increase of five pesos compared to the previous session, or a rise of 0.7%. Over the last week, the European currency has gained 12.5 pesos from the 750 CUP recorded seven days ago.

The gap between the official and informal exchange rates remains significant, with the dollar and euro trading at 636 CUP and 737 CUP respectively in Segment III of the Central Bank of Cuba's currency mechanism. This reflects the ongoing shortage of foreign currency in the state banking system and high demand for dollars and euros among the population.