HAVANA: Cuba’s government on Wednesday delayed a planned 500% surge in the fuel price after a “cybersecurity incident,” an official said.
The island’s cash-strapped government had announced the five-fold increase with effect from Feb 1, as part of a series of measures seeking to cut its budget deficit.
Economy Ministry official Mildrey Granadillo said there had been a “cybersecurity incident whose origin has been identified as a virus from abroad.”
She did not give a new date for the planned increase.
The cost of a liter of regular gasoline is to rise from 25 pesos (RM0.95) to 132 pesos, while the price of premium gasoline will jump from 30 to 156 pesos, the government said earlier this month.
According to official estimates, the Cuban economy shrank by 2% last year, while inflation reached 30%.
Fuel and other basics are already hard to come by.
Cuban drivers had been waiting on Wednesday in long lines to fill their tanks before the measure was implemented.
Lorenzo Castillo, 57, said he feared a “domino effect” and further inflation.
“If a taxi cost me 1,000 pesos, now it might cost me 2,000 or 3,000, I don’t know.”
Authorities have ordered that tourists pay for fuel in foreign currency. – AFP
