Impact on Foreign Trade of the New Measures

One of the most impactful measures announced by the Cuban government on July 16 was the authorization of non-state structures to carry out import/export operations through specialized state companies.

To date, there are 36 companies that specialize in import and export services to self-employed workers located in Havana and other provinces of the country. To implement this measure, it is expected that:

• goods and services subject to exports have the quality necessary for their insertion in international markets;

• exporters / importers have bank current accounts in MLC (freely convertible currencies), CUC and CUP at the following banks: Popular de Ahorro, el Metropolitano and Crédito y Comercio;

• import operations / export between non-state and state structures take place upon signing a contract in which the prices of goods / services will be fixed, taking as a reference the prices of such products or the like in the regional market; the commercial margin and the logistical and operating costs of the state company, in the case of imports, the contract will also include customs and transport costs to be paid in currency. In addition, the percentages of margin that the non-state structure will be able to retain in MLC (hard currency) / CUC and CUP (convertible and non-convertible pesos cubanos) will be set;

• the payment for the services provided by the state company to the private (non-state) by means of magnetic cards associated with the accounts enabled in the aforementioned banks, therefore no cash should be provided for such transactions

• these transactions benefit from the elimination of 10% tax on cash deposits from authorized bank accounts and in the sale of US dollars;

• 36 Cuban state-owned companies specializing in foreign trade are authorized to provide import / export services.