Cubans fret, sweat currency reform launch

Cubans have welcomed news the government will end its unpopular dual currency system, but they are beyond keen to know when the change will actually come. "It should be done already," said retiree Mirtha Graveran, 67, who earns a monthly pension worth 147 pesos (six dollars) and "rarely" has access to convertible pesos. "That would put us on all the same playing field," Graveran said, echoing the feelings of many Cubans that the system has let social inequalities widen in the only Communist nation in the Americas.
Many basic necessities here are available only in convertible pesos at special state-run stores, a source of tension between Cubans who have access to dollars and the majority who don't.
The government announced October 22 it will phase out the dual currency system, in place for almost two decades, as part of President Raul Castro's gradual attempt to streamline the country's Soviet-style economy.
Under the current system, Cubans who have dollars (a minority) can buy convertible pesos (CUC) at a one for one rate, and use them to buy scarce goods in well-stocked special state stores.
Cubans' salaries, however, are paid in non-convertible pesos (CUP), which are valued at 24 to a convertible peso and do not go far in a country where builders, teachers and doctors, for example, are paid $20 a month.
The government set up the system originally to steer hard currency into its coffers which it needs to buy bulk food on international markets for this nation of 11 million.
While Cubans enjoy almost free education and health benefits, housing and a subsidised food basket, most say they still struggle to put food on the table.
In state stores, a liter bottle of cooking oil costs $2.40 - which might not sound bad except for that average monthly salary at the local equivalent of about $20.
"Really, I thought the story in Granma would say more. It does not really have an outline of what is happening now so much as where we are headed, an outline," said Laura, a 54-year-old economist who asked that her family name not be given.