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Cuba

Situated in the northern Caribbean, the Republic of Cuba is spanning the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Ocean. This Latin American country comprises mainland Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and some other tiny islands. Cuba lies close to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, the state of Florida in the US, the Bahamas, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands. The country was a territory of Spain from 1492-1898.

The Cuban government maintains a balance between a loose economy and a firm political administration. It announced that by March 2011, about 500,000 state jobs would be terminated and self-employment would be promoted instead. According to President Raul Castro, the shift is intended to upgrade the economic model and retain socialism. To improve enterprise productivity and reduce the inadequacy of food, goods, and services, the country has executed some reforms. However, the way of life of Cubans is still at a lower level without financial support from the Soviet Union.

Since 2000, the country has been supplied with approximately 100,000 barrels of petroleum products per day by Venezuela. In exchange, the nation pays Venezuela with services of the Cuban workforce that includes about 30,000 medical practitioners.

Before the Cuban peso was introduced in 1857, the Spanish and Spanish colonial reals were the money used in Cuba. In 1869, decimal peso banknotes were released. In 1881, the Cuban peso was linked to the US dollar at the same rate.

In 1960, the United States initiated an embargo against the country and held off the sugar quota, causing the Cuban peso to collapse. Since the nation’s economy relies on the sugar quota, Cuba was forced to team up with the Soviet Union. As a result, the country pegged its currency to the Soviet ruble.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cuban monetary unit lost its value again. Consequently, the country made the US dollar its official currency. In 1994, the Cuban convertible peso, or the CUC, which is at the same rate as the US dollar, was released and was in use along with the US dollar. In 2004, the US dollar was withdrawn, leaving only the Cuban peso and the CUC in circulation.

On January 1, 2021, the convertible peso was withdrawn, making the Cuban peso the sole official currency. Before the unification of the two monetary units took place, some Cuban state employees were paid in Cuban peso while other’s salaries were partly in the CUC. Most enterprises would only accept one currency depending on the type of goods they’re selling. However, in 2014, a lot of state-owned businesses started accepting the two currencies.

 

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