Cuba: Fuel Prices Skyrocket After Flour Disappearance

This is the result of the implementation of a sharply criticized package of price increases announced by the Havana government, which does not have the funds to pay the subsidies

If flour shortage was not enough, another added problem now is expensive fuel, the price of which rose 500 percent overnight. Such a sharp increase is part of a series of economic measures announced by the government at the end of 2023 and immediately described by the population as a “Christmas gift to the Cuban people,” which in theory should reduce the burden on public finances, on subsidies decided upon back when Commander Fidel Castro was still in office, but which the current Cuban authorities are no longer able to pay.

In addition to fuel, prices will skyrocket for electricity, public transportation, and gas that is commonly used for cooking. Faced with this series of blows, the purchasing power of ordinary people is not increasing. Wages are not rising at all, and income from informal or private businesses is expected to be hit hard by rising prices.

Very high prices and shortages of many basic products, some of which are totally lacking, strain the patience of the inhabitants of the Liberty Island, as Cuba was known around the world in the 1960s. Cuba actually produces very little, with 80% of food imported. At the moment, for example, Cuba does not have enough flour, and thus not enough bread. To cope with the milk shortage, which in turn threatens the country’s political and social stability, the Cuban Government has applied to the United Nations World Food Program for milk powder, requesting an urgent supply and then monthly deliveries to cover the needs of Cuban children up to the age of seven.