Author Name: Carribean Channel, Cuba TV.
This story was originally published on canalcaribe.ict.cu. [1]

Sales in convertible currency begin this October 28
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Next Monday will start the sale of household appliances and vehicle parts, as well as mopeds, in a first stage. The purpose is to progressively expand the number of establishments throughout the country to 77. But at least, in the early days, the sale will be made only in Havana and Santiago de Cuba.

Detractors and defenders of the initiative

It was a surprising news, worked in stealth by all involved. In fact, almost nobody knew anything. And when the measures were announced at the Round Table, detractors and defenders put their arguments back together, almost always taking them to the limit.

Some have said that these are brave, timely, beneficial measures for the people, which oxygen for the national economy. Others claim that they are drowning kicks, that they redouble the economy, that they only postpone the elimination of monetary duality (a policy that seemed of imminent application). And a lot of other things, among them, that are not measures that benefit the entire people of Cuba, but some, mostly those that have family abroad.

The purchasing power of our people is not equal

And that’s true. But let’s be honest: nothing in this life is conceived for everyone. Egalitarianism is not healthy. The purchasing power of our people is not equal. Then we must also accept that there are different market segments. And you may not be able to, and I cannot, but I am glad that someone can buy here, at a similar price and with guarantee, the products that in the last years wove a commercial travel gateway between Cuba and Panama, Mexico, Russia, Guyana, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and several other nations, whereby these markets captured the currency that came out of Cuba. And we lost, because the money was in other hands, went to another destination.

And I don’t talk about some pesitos¨. Some specialists place the calculations at close to 300 million dollars, only from January to September, in one of the markets where Cubans go. There are even those who say that it is much more. But from the products that will be marketed in MLC from next October 28, these people have the possibility to save the trip, and also, they can buy, at home, more reasonably priced items, comparable to those of markets foreign; while avoiding the problems of lack of guarantee of the equipment that today they buy outside and resell inside; they don’t have to buy a plane ticket or spend money on visa documents (money that also ends up in “foreign” coffers); customs procedures decrease, and the chances of scam, theft, corruption decrease.

The State collects the much needed currency more quickly

All that personally, because at the state level, the Cuban economy, so unstable because of the blockade, now moves. The State collects the much needed currency more quickly; banks earn in liquidity; the domestic market is replenished; there are more possibilities to finance certain state industries, so that they undertake investments, imports and act with purported autonomy and solvency; and if people choose to import non-commercial equipment and products using state import entities, even better.

We will have to see how resupplying or supplying, which has been a drag on retail trade in Cuba, intermittently motivated by the financial deficit; and what control mechanisms are articulated to face hoarding, another one of those ghosts that eat us.

After seeing the images of the equipment that is already in the stores enabled for this type of trade, a friend asked me: “Can I buy everything I want? If total, Cuba needs hard currency, wherever it comes from and in large quantities. ” But no. Cuba needs the currency, but several authorities have made it clear that an illegal parallel market for these products with differentiated prices cannot be created. So in this first moment of insurance there will be specific commercial regulations, from the use of the magnetic card itself … There are those who want to buy a container of equipment, to supposedly set up a business.

The support of the people has outnumbered those who criticize this step

But these measures are not aimed at selling the container to anyone. You can buy 1 Split, or 2, or up to 3, but in wanting to buy figures that transcend the logic of a home or business, there is a cat locked up. And do not believe that I exaggerate, for there is everything in the vineyard of the Lord.

I do believe that the support of the people has outnumbered those who criticize this step by the Cuban State in order to boost the economy. And certainly we will have to follow the steps step by step, to press their benefits, without believing that our problems will be solved with them.

If we realize, we continue to import excessively, we do not export enough, monetary duality slows us down, and the dollars we need still do not have them. So the road is long, we are riding on this train and we do not intend to get off. Remember that this is Comment Cuba, and your opinions interest us, to think, among all, the country we want.

(C) Cuba TV, Cuban state owned media.
[1] Url: https://www.canalcaribe.icrt.cu/en/sales-in-convertible-currency-begin-this-october-28/