Cuba to end US dollar circulation
Havana: Cuban President Fidel Castro has said that Cuba was ending circulation of the US dollar as of November 8 in response to tightened American sanctions.

Cubans, foreign residents and tourists will have to use convertible pesos, equal in value to the dollar, a Central Bank decree said.

A 10 percent commission will be charged for changing dollars into the local currency, according to the decree read on a special television broadcast attended by Castro.

The dollar was legalized in Cuba in 1993 after the collapse of the Soviet Union plunged the island into deep economic crisis and forced it to open up to tourism and foreign investment.

Dollars became the dominant currency and are used to buy most consumer goods in dollar stores that will now only accept the local currency.

The decision will effectively tax remittances from the United States, a major support for the cash-strapped Cuban economy that amount to an estimated $1 billion a year, unless they are sent in other currencies.

Castro said his communist government was not banning possession of dollars, just their use in the economy.
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