Cuba recognizes an inflation of 6,900 % in the informal market
The Cuban government acknowledged that the economic reform known as "task management" has caused inflation of 60 % in retail prices in shops and 6,900 % in the informal market, an issue that generates discomfort among the population.
The "system", implemented since January despite the pandemic, went through a monetary and exchange unification, the increase in prices, wages and subsidy reduction, and a consequent devaluation of the Cuban weight (CUP), which has triggered theInflation in the black market, growing due to product shortage.
Ten months later, "that 60 % do not hit what people are living. People are living seven, ten times larger prices," admitted Cuban deputy Marino Murillo in the recent session of Parliament (Unicameral).
Murillo, in charge of implementing the economic measures announced a decade ago by former President Raúl Castro, now explained that this data is part of state prices, "but when I add informal market levels, inflation would be much larger," 6,900, 6,900%.
An "design" error
The minimum wage increased by 450 % in January and went from more than 400 Cuban pesos (CUP) to 2,100 (about $ 17 to $ 87 per month to the official change of 24 CUP per dollar).
However, he never quoted at that price in the informal market, where he already exceeds 70 CUP compared to the foreign currency, driven by product scarcity, the depressed national industry, the impact of pandemic and the resurgence of the economic sanctions ofUSA
To this is added the concentration of food and basic products in exclusive payment stores in foreign exchange, despite the fact that the majority of the population charges their salaries in Cuban pesos.
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The value of the basket of goods and services designed in the "system" was 1,528 pesos, but today it is around 3,250 in Havana, according to the calculation presented by Murillo to the deputies.
"The cost of the basket has been rising month by month and has not been arrested," said the official, who came to occupy high political positions as vice president of the Council of Ministers and member of the State Council.
A matter of reality, according to expert
This data is contrasted by Cuban economist Pedro Monreal who explained on Twitter that "the relevant comparison is not with the" design ", but with reality."
The increase in the cost of the reference basket was much higher (7.9 times) than the increase in the average salary (4.4 times), the expert argued by defending that "the system went wrong."
There are no positive results, "ordering" seems to travel to an anti -inflationary program based on the controversial capacity of centralized planning to create business efficiency, and in a care vision of poverty relief, he said.
Monreal also criticized the increase in life in a country that crosses one of its worst economic crises in years and lost 13 % of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between 2020 and September 2021.
Talking about the "income", in the opinion of Monreal, "a pious way of saying that" order "has increased inequality."