Cuba is ending its dual currency system in January 2021

Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel says the country will end its decades-old dual currency system and adapt a single unified exchange rate of 24 pesos per dollar, starting this January 2021, reports Bloomberg. 

Making his remarks in a televised speech on Thursday night (Dec. 10), Diaz-Canel the new system will allow Cuba  “to go ahead with the transformations that we need to update our economic and social model." 

The news comes as Cuba copes with millions of lost tourism dollars due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has added to the already-existing pain of the U.S. embargo. 

Salaries, prices and subsidies will be modified to reflect a reform package that Cuba is working on. 

Since the early nineties, tourists visiting Cuba have used the Convertible Cuban Peso, or CUC, pegged to the dollar, while locals use the much weaker Cuban peso. U.S. dollars are also widely circulated. 

The government says the change will take effect from Jan. 1. The CUC will be removed from circulation in June.

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