USD in Cuba keeps rising in price, and since I don’t know much about economics, all I can do is panic. It has started to climb steeply, right at the moment when we most needed it to remain stable. It feels as if, economically, Cubans can’t catch a break.
Along with the rise of the dollar, food prices have obviously also gone up. Practically everything consumed here is imported from abroad. Therefore, if foreign currency increases in price, then everything increases.
Right now, a simple pound of chicken is equivalent to approximately 10% of a doctor’s salary. What’s most upsetting is that the rise hasn’t been slow and gradual, but rather has happened in giant leaps. There’s no way to adapt. People are buying less, but…
There’s one type of product that continues to sell a lot: alcoholic beverages. Everywhere I go, there are at least two people drinking together, especially beer. Of course, the heat plays a role.
Men are the most prominent in this “sport.” And those who have some kind of business—legal or illegal—even more so. At the end of their workday, they start buying and drinking until they reach near drunkenness or outright drunkenness. That’s thousands of pesos spent that could well be used to improve their business and aspire to a better life.
I feel jealous of the way they earn money so easily, and just as easily waste it on nonsense, when in reality, it’s not like they have their lives figured out. It seems nobody wants to stop consuming imported products that depend on the dollar’s price.
People here don’t have the vision to produce their own goods and products. Everything has to come by ship. Alcohol comes first. The stability of my family and my wallet will have to find its own path.
I’m not saying it’s easy to start producing local products, because in Cuba, in general, people don’t know anything. We haven’t learned anything—not about economics, not about finance, not about production. But learning is possible. The tools to learn are there. All that’s needed is to start redirecting the money used on alcohol and invest it in a smarter way.
English isn't my native language. Text translated with DeepL
¡Hola!
Imagino que la cerveza y el ron serán de producción nacional. Seguramente los tomadores buscan aliviar el calor y espantar las preocupaciones que no encuentran alivio en el esfuerzo que no alcanza a igualar a la destrucción sembrada.
En cuanto al dólar, dicen los entendidos en economía y flujo monetario que no es que aumente. En realidad, hasta los estadounidenses lo ven menguar, pero los pesos menguan más rápido.
Parece que casi todos los Estados-países viven de la inflación, mientras los profetas del desastre economico esperan el pinchazo de la burbuja.
Buena suerte.
Sí. Está claro que se trata de una devaluación del peso más que un aumento del dólar. Y en cuanto a las bebidas alcohólicas, algunas son de producción nacional y otras son importadas, pero sus precios también se han duplicado incluso triplicado
Será cuestión de explorar las posibilidades de iniciar la fermentación de alguna fruta disponible y reunir recursos para construir un alambique artesanal. Siempre fue un buen negocio.
Sounds like hard times. What would make the situation better in Cuba?
Well, basically we need Trump have a stroke, or Rubio. Our government has dictated some economic laws we never thought they would take. Although I do have the conviction that our solution lies in our own hands, only we need to change the mentality of receiving handouts and become more disciplined and conscious. Which is also a bit utopian.
Dinámica que prolifera a borbotones lamentablemente
I disagreed with you in some things
That is just wrong. In general cubans know how to produce and build things, the main problem is there is no incentive to do it. In the cases where is not directly prohibited, then the taxes, permissions and regulations make easier importa finished goods than produce them here. That is the country design since decades ago.
Let's talk about this in our next Hive meeting en Santiago
LOL ok. pick the day