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1st LD: Cuba to eliminate 10-pct tax on incoming U.S. dollars

Xinhua, March 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez announced Thursday that the government will eliminate a 10-percent tax levied on U.S. dollars entering the country.

At a press conference in Havana in the lead up to U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Cuba next week, Rodriguez indicated that repealing the tax was in response to White House measures easing financial restrictions on Cuba.

Cuba will scrap the tax "only after it has verified" the effectiveness of the U.S. measures, Rodriguez added.

The tax on U.S. cash used in Cuba was first introduced in 2004, as Washington intensified economic and financial sanctions against the island.

Relaxing its sanctions regime against Cuba does not make "a real difference" to the Caribbean country's economic situation so long as the U.S.-led trade embargo remains in place, the minister said. Enditem