Cuban regime raises gas prices fivefold

The Cuban regime announced Monday that the price of fuel will increase by more than 500% starting on the first day of February, as part of a new package of measures to gain liquidity as well as to reduce the deficit that is plaguing the government.

The public sale price per liter of will go from 25 pesos to 132 pesos, slightly less than $5.50. The price of premium gasoline, is also set to increase from 30 Cuban pesos to 156.

With this, the communist regime puts an end to its policy of strong intervention on the price of fuel, which is totally controlled by the state. The objective was to allow the population to access this good by subsidizing the price, despite the negative impact that this had in the long term for the Cuban government and its finances.

In Cuba, access to fuel is becoming increasingly difficult since the changes in the geopolitical situation with the war in Ukraine, as well as the successive setbacks for the government due to its management and its poor infrastructure. The Cuban power grid requires the use of fossil fuels, as do vehicles. For this reason, widespread power outages have been occurring throughout the island.

In his televised speech, communist Minister of Finance Bladimir Regueiro also announced that tourists traveling to the island of Cuba must pay for fuel in foreign currencies.

This is another way that the Cuban government intends to gain access to currency with a value higher than the Cuban peso, which has become increasingly devalued. Cuban saw 30% inflation in 2023, and the economy had a 2% recession the same year.