Cuban government asks individuals to make more use of electronic payments

Authorities in Cuba ask workers in the non-state sector (private, individual) to make more use of electronic payment channels.

The Deputy Minister of Communications, Ernesto Rodríguez Hernández, recently stated that “although the use of magnetic cards to conduct electronic operations has increased over the past five years, it is still very limited in some areas, such as non-state sectors, for example ” “Haven’t reached the required level,” he told the Round Table Conference.

Earlier, banking sources in Sancti Spiritus province had alleged that one of the problems of cash crunch at ATMs had to do with “high volume of withdrawals by particular sectors like MSMEs, self-employed workers basically”.

Similarly, he assured that many private initiatives do not accept electronic means of payment in their services, “because they are afraid of losing control of their finances, because that money will go to their operational account and they will have to pay taxes there.”

It was also stressed that “the idea is not to grow more in ATMs, but in operating through payment channels,” and warned of possible limits in withdrawing cash from MSMEs.

“Businesses have little trust in Catwalk for something so simple: you play with people’s money. When are you going to request an amount if there is no money and if there is, you have to justify it. It Not the treasure or the fear, but the obstacles they put up,” said a Cuban on the subject.

According to official data, Cuba has two national payment gateways, TransferMovil, which has more than 4 million customers, and Angona, which has more than 600,000 customers.

“Mobile telephony penetration reaches 7.8 million Cubans with a mobile phone and 6.6 million access the Internet via phone,” he reported on television space.

The deputy minister of domestic trade assured that the deployment of electronic channels in the commerce network is 82%, and in warehouses 64%. MICIN replied to a cubedebate reader, “In the event that they do not allow you to pay through electronic channels, you as a consumer have every right to demand a mode of payment.”