The company CIMEX reported this Monday that from August cash payments will not be accepted in its network of gas stations in Cuba
Customers will only be able to pay with magnetic cards at the gas stations of the network attached to CIMEX, which in its announcement did not advance if it will apply discounts for the payment made with the so-called plastic money.
The measure will come into force, gradually, from April 1, according to the official Cubadebate media, but there will be a transition period of 120 days, during which you can continue paying in cash, but after this period, all payments will have to be paid by debit and credit cards, from the first day of August.
During those 120 days, customers must enable their card at banks, said Yamil Hernández González, General Manager of FINCIMEX.
The executive announced that the gas stations have been equipped with faster electronic payment platforms, although some of the equipment interconnected by telephone will be maintained in those service stations with a stable and fast connection.
They may be used all cards issued by the Cuban banking system (BANDEC, BPA or BANMET), used today to collect wages or as savings accounts in Cuban pesos and foreign currencies authorized by the Central Bank of Cuba.
Type cards scratch (similar to the one used by ETECSA for the recharge process in cell phones), will have an amount of 1 to 20 convertible pesos (CUC).
Hernández warned that until the process of changing the PIN developed by the banking system is concluded, if the client pays with his card, he must present the identity card as established in the trade network in CUC.
Some 6 million 217 thousand bank cards had been issued in Cuba, at the end of 2019 and about 90% of private carriers already use this means of payment for the purchase of fuels, he said. Cubadebate.
The CIMEX entity, which manages the vast majority of gas stations throughout the Island, belongs to the Gaesa business conglomerate, owned by the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and directed by the ex-son-in-law of Raúl Castro, Luis Alberto López-Calleja.
Recently, it was also reported that construction material stores they would only receive payments from users on magnetic cards and other unspecified electronic channels, starting this March.
This measure would be gradually applied in the country and will start in the municipalities of the provinces of Mayabeque, Cienfuegos, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud.
In a meeting held at the end of last February, Orlando López, president of the Banco Metropolitano, highlighted the need to “go from traditional banking to electronic banking”, in order to modify the payment matrix of clients, with the decrease in payments in cash.
On the other hand, from October 21, 2019Cubans residing on the island can open foreign currency accounts at the Metropolitan, Popular Savings and Credit and Commerce banks to operate with magnetic cards in the new foreign currency collection stores.
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