Since January 2021, when Cuba abolished the double currency system and switched to the CUP (ordinary Cuban Peso), not only did a double currency system arise, inflation also ignited.

In 2021 the official inflation was 67% but those are the official prices and at those prices nothing is for sale at all. The actual money depreciation was previously around 500%! 2022 added to that about 400%. And, since lots of state owned businesses raised their prices on the first of January, the 4th, we already had about 10% inflation!

10 times! That’s inflation!

So everything has become about 10 times as expensive in two years!

That does not bother you, as a tourist, if you understand how money works here. If you don’t understand that, then, due to lack of preparation, you’re it!

Fortunately for us, the money devaluation is also enormous. Where 2 years ago you got 25 pesos for a Euro, that is now, if you are smart, 260. (November 2023).

So everything has become ten times as expensive and 8 times cheaper.

And at most state institutions, everything is now 50% cheaper than 2 years ago because they can’t calculate. The state still calculates its prices at 25 Pesos to the USD! Let me give you an example:

The state buys a bottle of Californian wine for 4 USD. At 25 that is 100 Pesos. They sell that bottle with a 200% profit… 300 Pesos…And you buy that wine at 500 Pesos in the shop… Which at the current street rate is 2,80 USD… Virtually everybody in the chain is making a profit… LOL

I don’t know how long that will last but I’m drinking great wines!

Prices are going up fast. For example, last month a Mojito in Hotel Inglaterra cost 180 pesos, now it is 300. Breakfast from 350 to 800. From one day to the next! Inflation is rampant and the Cubans suffer.

If you want to understand the current situation in Cuba a bit, it is important to understand the money. The unprepared tourist, who thinks that Cuba must be like Cyprus and Curaçao because those are also warm islands that start with a C, is screwed. So please prepare!

Recommended reading: How to handle those Cuban Jineteros?