Uncle Sam Saves Cuba Money
- jim Young “Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” - Buddha From 1994 to 2020, tourists had to exchange their home country’s currency into Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC) to spend when visiting Cuba. The exchange rate for the CUC was usually valued pretty close to the U.S. dollar. As of January 21, 2021 the CUC has been discontinued. Tourists typically now exchange their home country’s currency into U.S. dollars prior to visiting Cuba. Manufacturing money that is difficult to counterfeit is a costly process to say the least. In addition to the initial costs of printing currency, the average lifespan of paper currency is 4.5 to 8.5 years depending on the denomination, after which it needs to be replaced. While I could find no data to indicate how much Cuba actually spent on manufacturing the CUC for the past 25 plus years, the U.S. 2023 annual budget, has allowed $265.5 million for variable printing costs such as paper, ink, labour and direct overhead