HAVANA — Alejandro Fonseca stood in line for anumberof hours outdoors a bank in Havana hoping to withdraw Cuban pesos from an ATM, however when it was practically his turn, the money ran out. He madly hopped on his electrical tricycle and tookatrip anumberof kilometers to another branch where he lastly handled to withdraw some cash after losing the whole earlymorning.
“It shouldn’t be so hard to get the cash you make by working,” the 23-year-old informed The Associated Press in a current interview.
Fonseca is one of an increasing number of disappointed Cubans who have to grapple with yet another difficulty while browsing the island’s currently madecomplex financial system — a scarcity of money.
Long lines outdoors banks and ATM’s in the capital, Havana, and beyond start forming early in the day as individuals lookfor money for regular deals like purchasing food and other fundamentals.
Experts state there are numerous factors behind the lack, all insomeway associated to Cuba’s deep financial crisis, one of the worst in years.
Omar Everleny Pérez, a Cuban financialexpert and university teacher, states the primary perpetrators are the federalgovernment’s growing financial deficit, the nonexistence of banknotes with a denomination higher than 1,000 Cuban pesos (about $3 in the parallel market), stubbornly high inflation and the non-return of money to banks.
“There is cash, yes, however not in the banks,” stated Pérez, including that most of the money is being held not by employed employees, however by businessowners and owners of little- and medium-size organization who are more mostlikely to gather money from industrial deals however are hesitant to return the cash to the banks.
This, Pérez states, is either duetothefactthat