Official Gazette Publishes New Regulations on Foreign Currency Management in Cuba
Havana, Cuba. — The Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba, in its Ordinary Issue No. 76, published yesterday two regulations aimed at organizing and governing foreign currency management in the country, including the sources through which foreign currency may be accessed and the rules governing economic actors’ foreign currency transactions in an orderly and lawful manner.
The new provisions are Resolution No. 103/2026 of the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP), establishing the General Guidelines for the Management, Control and Allocation of Foreign Currency within the National Economy, and Resolution No. 102/2026 of the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC), concerning the Rules for Opening Foreign Currency Bank Accounts.
The scope, significance and main innovations of the new regulations were explained today to the Cuban News Agency by Suset Rosales Vázquez, Director General of Planning and Development at the MEP, and Ian Pedro Carbonell Karell, Director of Payment Systems at the BCC.
The new regulations update previous provisions in order to reflect the economic and social transformations approved on June 18, adapt the regulatory framework to the current circumstances, and take into account the broader powers granted to economic actors.
They are also consistent with greater flexibility and autonomy at the enterprise and territorial levels, the participation of non-state economic actors in the country’s development, and the need to achieve greater efficiency—all aimed at increasing production and services, boosting exports and import substitution, and expanding the supply of goods and services to the population.
Suset Rosales highlighted among the main changes introduced by the MEP resolution, which enters into force today, the inclusion of inter-enterprise and wholesale transactions among economic actors as sources of foreign currency.
Against the backdrop of an unprecedented tightening of the U.S. blockade, the new provisions will allow economic actors to operate with greater fluidity, flexibility and autonomy, helping to boost economic activity, with priority given to export-oriented sectors and those engaged in import substitution.
The measures are also expected to strengthen productive linkages and business relationships through direct foreign currency payments, while facilitating the replenishment of raw materials and inputs. This could have a direct impact on the availability of goods and services for the population, without requiring economic actors to access the foreign exchange market for such transactions.
Both the MEP official and the BCC director emphasized that legal entities and individuals engaged in economic activities may open foreign currency accounts both within Cuba and abroad without prior authorization. However, they must notify the Central Bank of Cuba and the National Tax Administration Office (ONAT) of such accounts.
They stressed that domestic transactions within the Cuban economy may be conducted both in national currency and in foreign currency. They clarified, however, that foreign currency transactions are being incorporated specifically into wholesale trade, while in retail trade only transactions in U.S. dollars (USD) will be authorized, in accordance with the country’s current priorities.
The Central Bank resolution will enter into force seven days after its publication in the Official Gazette. It establishes that, at the customer’s discretion, non-state economic actors may accept foreign currency cash payments. Such funds must subsequently be deposited into fiscal accounts in foreign currency or in national currency, using the applicable exchange rate for the segment in which the economic actor operates.
Economic association contracts, as well as local development projects and international cooperation projects, are also subject to these provisions.
Suset Rosales noted that the MEP regulation will remain in force until December 31, 2026, while the approved self-financing schemes will operate during the second half of the current year.
Foreign currency retained or otherwise made available to entities subject to the resolution may be sold through the foreign exchange market in order to obtain income in national currency.
(ANC- EmbaCuba Bahamas)