Cuba: Currency & Financial System

Cuba's sole legal currency is the Cuban peso (CUP), a status in place since January 1, 2021, when the government carried out a long-planned currency unification known as the Tarea Ordenamiento. The reform eliminated the convertible peso (CUC), a second currency that had circulated alongside the CUP since 1994 and created a confusing structure of parallel exchange rates for consumers, state enterprises, and foreign visitors.

As of 2026, Cuba operates more than one official exchange rate rather than a single unified rate. State enterprises generally exchange at 24 CUP per US dollar, while individuals use a separate official rate near 120 CUP per dollar. In December 2025, the Central Bank of Cuba introduced an additional floating rate, initially set near 410 CUP per dollar, intended for exporters and other suppliers of foreign currency and adjusted periodically based on supply and demand. All of these official rates remain far below the informal market rate, where persistent shortages of hard currency have pushed the dollar's peso value well into the hundreds, reflecting the country's deep foreign-exchange difficulties.

Cuba's financial system remains dominated by state-owned banks, and the decades-long US embargo continues to restrict the country's access to international banking and payment networks. To work around these constraints, Cuba joined China's Cross-Border Interbank Payment System in 2025, expanding its options for processing international transactions. Domestically, the Central Bank of Cuba has responded to a worsening cash shortage by issuing new high-denomination banknotes, including 2,000 and 5,000 CUP notes in March 2026 and 10,000 and 20,000 CUP notes that September, underscoring the scale of the peso's depreciation.