HAVANA: Despite a series of government measures adopted last year to strengthen the local currency, boost incomes and improve economic conditions for the neediest segments of society in Cuba, wages and pensions still fall short in relation to the high cost of living.

“I was given a raise of nearly 50 pesos a month, but that means nothing when it comes to facing my household expenses,” said Carmen Díaz, a computer technician who works for a cultural institution. “Everything you earn goes towards putting more or less decent meals on the table and paying the water, telephone and electric bills.”

Díaz lives with her son — a university student — and her elderly parents.

“My parents also benefited from the rise in pensions, but that didn’t stretch far either,” she added. “The cost of living in Cuba has gone up a lot in the last few years, and if it weren’t for my brother, who helps us from the United States, I wouldn’t know what to do.”

After pension and wage hikes were implemented in 2005, the average salary in this socialist Caribbean island nation rose to around 300 Cuban pesos, or 15 dollars according to the rates at the government exchange bureaus.

Two currencies are now used as legal tender in Cuba: the regular peso and the ‘convertible peso’ or CUC, which was created in 1994 as a substitute for the US dollar in internal transactions. The CUC and dollar were used interchangeably until late 2004, when the US currency was removed from circulation on the island. At the current exchange rate, the US dollar is worth 80 cents of a CUC.

Cubans receive their state salaries and pensions in regular pesos, which they use to pay the low utility rates and to buy a very limited amount of low-cost rationed food items. —Dawn/IPS News Service