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WORLD NEWS Friday 18 February 2022

Shortages, inflation frustrate Cubans struggling to get by

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ pound) on the black mar-
Associated Press ket
Julia Sardiñas awoke early “There are many factors
so she could reach a gro- (for the rising prices), but
cery store in Cuba’s capital the principle is the fall in the
by 6 a.m. supply of goods and servic-
After seven hours in line, es.” said economist Omar
she achieved her goal: the Everleny Pérez.
purchase of two plastic 1 li- The government itself has
ter bottles of cooking oil for recognized inflation as a
which she paid 48 Cuban serious problem.
pesos $2 each. Economy Minister Alejan-
“I was standing for many dro Gil said overall prices
hours; you have to wait rose by about 70% in 2021,
your turn to be able en- though increases for some
ter for two bottles, but it’s goods clearly have been
something,” said the retired far greater.
65-year-old. A carton of 30 eggs cost
Grocery shopping has be- 150 pesos $6 last year, but
come an increasingly cost- are now 400 pesos on the
ly and arduous struggle for Wearing masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a man transports a customer on a bicycle taxi in black market. A package
many people in a country Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. of sausage that cost 40 pe-
where the pandemic, in- Associated Press sos is now 118 even in of-
efficient production, gov- That has led to limits on in- to a store to shop and re- In recent weeks, the price ficial stores. Pork that used
ernment controls and U.S. dividual purchases. The solve many problems.” of powdered milk touched to cost 40 pesos a pound
economic sanctions have state store where Sardiñas With those exchange hous- about $40 a kilo ($18 a now goes for 200. q
aggravated an economic bought her oil scanned her es closed, she relies on
crisis. A drastic drop in cru- identity card to ensure she visitors who bring in money
cial tourism income caused wasn’t buying more than from her son and recently
by COVID-19 helped spur two at a time. got about 70 pesos per
the government last year The problems have fed a dollar on the informal mar-
to adopt reforms it had sense of inequity among ket nearly three times the
long considered. Those in- many that is especially bit- official rate. That black
cluded elimination of an ter in a socialist system that market rate over the past
inefficient dual currency prides itself in a relatively week rose further, to about
system that had made the equal distribution of goods. 100 to 1. To help confront
local peso in which most “It’s impossible to main- shortages and bring in hard
Cubans were paid a sort tain my family on my sal- currency, the government
of second-class currency. ary,” complained Marcia also expanded a network
It had been a poor cousin Ochoa, a state worker who of hard currency stores that
to the “convertible peso” said she makes 2,400 pe- are often better stocked
used by tourists, people sos $100 at the official rate but much more costly than
who worked with them and each month and lives with standard shops. They now
those who received money her husband and elderly accept dollar-linked debit
from relatives abroad. parents. cards though not cash it-
Adoption of a single cur- She said she depended self. Cubans can use euros
rency for all, along with on money sent by her son or Canadian dollars to pur-
shortages, led within a few in the United States to help chase such cards.
months to sharply increased buy things like soap, sham- But long lines now are com-
prices for many goods that poo and food. mon both in local and hard
weren’t matched, for most Life became more compli- currency stores, where
at least, by the simultane- cated when the adminis- products ranging from
ous rise in salaries. tration of former U.S. Presi- soap to beans to chicken
And because the govern- dent Donald Trump tight- tend to suddenly appear
ment has had trouble pro- ened economic sanctions and rapidly vanish.
ducing or importing all the on Cuba in November 2020 That’s led to an increasing
goods needed, it also led and blocked remittances black market as people
to emergence of a black via Western Union. speculate by buying what
market, with people pay- Her son used to send her they can and reselling it
ing a premium for dollars or roughly $100 a month via days later when shortages
for scarce items. Western Union. “I could go increase.