HAVANA (AFP) - Cuba will open a currency exchange window to trade Japanese yen, Canadian, European and Latin American currencies for the convertible peso, the local currency the government is using to replace the US dollar, the communist party daily Granma announced Tuesday.
The special exchange office will open next week in Havana, the report said.
The convertible peso, which has no value on international markets, on Monday became the only currency accepted for transactions in communist-ruled Cuba, after more than a decade in which the US currency was used in transactions involving imported goods.
"In response to the Empire's aggressions, Cuba recovers monetary sovereignty," read a Granma headline refering to the United States.
Expatriate Cubans send more than 800 million dollars a year to relatives on the island.
But the government, on the heels of tightened US sanctions, is set to charge from next Monday a 10-percent tax on money sent into Cuba in US dollars.
So most Cubans have traded in greenbacks for convertible pesos, and many have opened US-dollar denominated savings accounts; if they receive transfers from abroad into these accounts they will not be charged the 10-percent tax.
Cubans can still keep a limited amount of dollars at home, as well as hold US dollar bank accounts.
11/09/2004 - 19:42 GMT - AFP