Cuban financial authorities have initiated a comprehensive transformation of the country’s foreign exchange market, implementing strategic measures that took effect on December 18, 2025. The development, reported extensively by Cuban media including Cubadebate, follows a special appearance by Central Bank of Cuba President Juana Lilia Delgado Portal on the same day the reforms were enacted.
The Central Bank has been systematically preparing conditions for these foreign exchange market changes, operating under principles of gradualism and strategic timing. The current Cuban economy suffers from multiple coexisting exchange rates that create significant economic distortions, encourage informal market activities, and complicate banking and tax oversight of economic transactions.
This currency reform initiative aims to restore convertibility to the Cuban peso, strengthen monetary institutions, and facilitate an orderly transition toward exchange rate and monetary convergence. Authorities emphasize that establishing a functional foreign exchange market requires fundamental prerequisites: macroeconomic stability, operational banking system capacity, and a regulatory framework adapted to contemporary economic conditions.
Financial experts caution that immediate exchange rate unification without a transitional period could trigger severe currency devaluation, potentially generating higher inflationary pressures than currently experienced and further eroding the national currency’s purchasing power against foreign denominations. After careful consideration of these economic factors, Cuban officials determined that implementing measured reforms represents the most prudent approach to foreign exchange market transformation.