Cuba to eliminate tax on US dollars

Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez said that the government will eliminate the 10 per cent tax levied on US dollars entering the country.

At a press conference on Thursday in Havana in the lead up to US 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, Xinhua news agency reported.

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

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