Cuban Authorities Allow Currency Purchases by Small Businesses Under Tight State Control

This Friday, the Metropolitan Bank of Cuba announced the opening of banking channels for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), non-agricultural cooperatives, and other non-state economic actors to request foreign currency purchases, in accordance with resolutions 127 and 128 of 2025 from the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC).

Advertised by state media as part of the "implementation of foreign exchange market transformations," the measure formally extends access to foreign currency within the private sector. However, it operates under a system completely controlled by the government, retaining the authority to decide who can purchase foreign currency, how much, and how often.

The National Television News (NTV) reported that these transactions must be conducted through banking systems. Payments will be made in Cuban pesos from the applicant’s fiscal account, and the acquired amounts will be credited to the economic actor’s foreign currency account.

Stringent Controls Over Currency Transactions

Before any transaction is executed, banks are required to verify the client's identity, the legality of the accounts involved, and the traceability of the funds, as per the control protocols established by the BCC.

The Metropolitan Bank clarified that currency sales would occur only once a month under strict limits. The maximum allowable amount is calculated as 50% of the average income in the fiscal account over the last three months, divided by the Segment III exchange rate, known as the "floating rate" of the official exchange system.

Applications must be processed solely through the digital platform Metropolitano en Línea. Moreover, the bank can reject or defer operations based on "availability" or "economic priorities," leaving the final decision in the hands of the state apparatus.

Symbolic Access to Foreign Currency

While the Central Bank has presented this as a step towards "normalizing" the foreign exchange market, the mechanism designed for SMEs and other non-state actors reveals extremely limited access.

According to official values announced by the BCC on January 13, 2026, the floating rate stands at 413 Cuban pesos per dollar and 482.22 per euro.

To illustrate, if a private SME recorded an average income of 300,000 CUP over the last three months, the maximum allowable amount would be calculated as follows:

50% of 300,000 CUP = 150,000 CUP 150,000 ÷ 413 ≈ approximately 363 dollars. In terms of euros, the figure would be even lower: 150,000 ÷ 482.22 ≈ around 311 euros.

In both cases, the business could access a maximum of between 300 and 400 dollars or euros per month, provided the bank approves the request and funds are available.

This example highlights the symbolic nature of the access: even businesses with medium or high revenue in national currency will receive amounts that are barely sufficient for minor operations, without the real possibility of financing imports or payments to international suppliers.

An Administered System Rather Than a Market

Despite resolutions 127 and 128 referring to a "new design of the foreign exchange market," what has been established is an administered system for currency allocation, inspired by the concept of Foreign Currency Access Capacity Allocation (ACAD).

This mechanism grants state banks—and by extension, the government—the power to authorize or deny each purchase, set maximum amounts, and apply additional commercial margins.

The scope of the measure is not limited to SMEs. According to the regulations, non-agricultural cooperatives, self-employed workers, and other non-state economic actors with legal personality can also access it, provided they have active fiscal accounts and meet the control requirements set by the Central Bank.

Conversely, state companies, public or mixed-capital SMEs, and state agricultural projects are explicitly excluded from this scheme. Natural persons or informal businesses not registered with the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) are also barred from participating.

The introduction of these channels comes only weeks after the enactment of Decree-Law 113/2025, which institutionalized a partial dollarization of the Cuban economy.

This legal framework officially recognized a multi-currency system and repealed the foundations of the failed 2021 Monetary Reordering, which had attempted to maintain the Cuban peso as the sole legal tender.

With this new model, the regime does not liberalize access to foreign currency but rather administers it centrally through state banks and under the direct supervision of the BCC.

Instead of an open market, a financial control structure is established, segmenting economic actors between those who can operate in foreign currency and those who remain confined to the Cuban peso circuit.

Economists consulted by CiberCuba argue that this segmentation deepens inequality and concentrates opportunities within a small group of companies with favorable ties to the State or greater banking management capacity.

Meanwhile, the informal dollar market—where the rate is much higher than the official one—will continue to dictate the real dynamics of prices and supply.

With this measure, the regime aims to regain some control over the foreign currency circulating in the economy while attempting to curb the depreciation of the peso and the inflationary pressures affecting the population.

However, experts warn that the result will be an even more closed and unequal model, where access to hard currency remains a privilege administered from power.