The guideline will come to effect on June 21, according to Banco Central de Cuba. The decision seems to be temporary, but it will affect natural and legal persons.
The Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) announced that all deposits with dollars in cash in the banking network will face a temporary suspension. The measure will take effect on Monday, June 21, and will affect natural persons, national or foreign, and also legal entities.
The financial institution argued that the suspension has to do with the economic blockade The United States of America has been imposing on the island. The authorities highlighted that these “limitations” affect the banking system since they cannot freely dispose of funds marked in dollars.
The central bank highlighted on the matter that, given the obstacles imposed by the economic blockade of the United States of America so that the national banking system can deposit the cash in dollars abroad, which is collected in the country, the plan has been released to temporarily stop the acceptance of banknotes.
The authorities also explained that the existing accounts in dollars and the funds in them will not receive any harm from the measure. These accounts will not be blocked, and it will grant the possibility of making transfers without mishap. The measure only relates to deposits with US bills and coins.
Regarding transactions in other currencies such as the euro, the bank clarified that they will keep being executed without any extra limitation. Regarding the time that this measure would last, the institution stressed that it will solely depend on the eradication of the restrictions that prevent the normal operations of the export procedures of the dollar.
The president of Cuba himself, Miguel Díaz-Canel, talked about the suspension of deposits, saying that it is a brutal and unprecedented financial persecution of the blockade. The president assured that the biggest problems facing the island, in economic matters, have to do with the decision of the United States of America to restrict the trade that any country intends to do with the Caribbean nation.
Bitcoin is a Target for the Cuban government
In April of this year, the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) reported that it would add bitcoin (BTC) as part of the country’s new economic guidelines. Mercedes López Acea, a member of the party’s political bureau, stated that they would closely follow the operation of cryptocurrencies to adapt them to the conditions of the local economy.
This measure by the Cuban central bank, related to operations in dollars, could increase the possibility of the potential adoption of bitcoin in the country. However, some of the obstacles that the nation has for the massification of BTC would be the availability of a telecommunications infrastructure and better access to the Internet.
By: Jenson Nuñez
