Cuban Gov’t. extends tariff benefits for imports

The Cuban Government announced Thursday to extend tariff benefits for locals who import non-commercial goods such as food, toiletries, medicines, medical supplies, and electrical plants.

The new measure is a continuation of a resolution with similar purposes, issued in March 2024 by the Ministry of Finance and Prices (MFP), and whose validity term was set until June 30.

The term was now extended until September 30, 2024 due to the persistence of internal limitations in the supply of food and other products, fundamentally due to the impact of the U.S. blockade and the international economic crisis, the MFP argued.

As the Ministry explained, the Official Gazette of the Republic No.57 Ordinary published on Thursday Resolution 211 of the head of the MFP related to the aforementioned affair.

The Ministry further approved on an exceptional basis, from July 1 through September 30, the exemption from payment of customs tax on products classified as food, toiletries, medicines, and medical supplies imported by passengers as unaccompanied baggage up to a limit of USD$500 of the equivalent value or weight up to 50 kilograms in the value/weight ratio established by the General Customs of the Republic.

For air, maritime, and non-commercial postal shipments by natural persons, the value limit will increase from USD$ 200 to USD$ 500, in addition, the customs tax exemption will remain in force for the first USD$ 30 of the value or equivalent weight of three kilograms of the shipment and a tariff rate of 30% will be applied to the excess.

Likewise, the exemption from payment of the customs tax on food, toiletries, medicines and medical supplies that are imported without commercial character by natural persons as air, sea and postal shipments up to a limit of USD$200 or equivalent weight up to 20 kilograms in the weight/value ratio, in correspondence with the provisions herein by Customs, will be in force.

Given the situation of the national energy system and the favorable effects on the population, the tariff benefits for the non-commercial import of power plants with a power of over 900 watts will also remain in force until September 30, the Ministry asserted.