In response to the Bush administration's increased sanctions on
Cuba, they have banned use of US$ in shops. It's still legal for
people to hold them, but to spend them they need to be exchanged
for 'convertable pesos', for which a 10% levy will be applied.
They seem to suggest they'd rather have other foreign currency,
but things like GBP won't ever be accepted by people on the
street, so you'll still lose on conversion in the banks, I expect.
It's a money-making move for them, but might hit them hard in the
tourist pocket since they haven't come up with a particularly
good alternative.
Cuba bans US dollar transactions
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3953291.stm
Cuba says it is to ban commercial transactions in dollars from
8 November in response to tighter US sanctions.
--
Ken Tough |