HAVANA (AP) - Cuba's central bank chief said Tuesday that the country's economy registered its first surplus in a decade in 2004 and expects another surplus this year as the government reasserts economic control after dumping the U.S. dollar and strengthening its own national currency.

Central Bank President Francisco Soberon said in an interview high international prices for the nickel the island produces and an improvement in tourism contributed to creation of the first surplus since 1994.

Ten years ago, Cuba was still reeling from a severe economic crisis brought on by the loss of its Soviet aid and trade. Since, the island has been forced to diversify its economy from one that was once almost wholly dependent on sugar exports and barter trade with its former ideological allies.

"We have to keep an eye on the price of petroleum," Soberon allowed, saying higher crude costs would affect the Cuban economy.

"But we are optimistic" about another surplus in 2005.

Soberon declined to quantify Cuba's surplus, saying that and other numbers such as reserve figures are confidential information that could be used against the island by the U.S. government and other enemies of Cuba.

He also expressed optimism about recent moves to strengthen both the Cuban peso, which is used by government wage-earners for subsidized goods and services and the convertible Cuban peso, a second currency used for consumer goods that aren't available in poorly stocked peso stores or on the government ration.

President Fidel Castro announced Thursday that the convertible Cuban peso would no longer be on par with the U.S. dollar.

After being the island's primary form of legal tender for 11 years, the U.S. dollar was removed from circulation four months ago and replaced on a one-to-one basis by the convertible Cuban peso as the primary currency used for many consumer goods.

Now, beginning April 9, the convertible peso will be tied to several major foreign currencies including the euro, initially marking an eight-per-cent revaluation.

The Cuban leader said the move was necessary to create an economy that is no longer dependent on the U.S. dollar, which he noted is steadily losing value against other world currencies.

Castro's announcement came a week after the government strengthened the regular Cuban peso by seven per cent. That revaluation marked the first change in the currency's exchange rate since it was frozen in December 2001.

In addition, a 10-per-cent surcharge put in place last year for the sale of U.S. dollars at exchange houses remains intact. That means with the eight-per-cent revaluation of the Cuban convertible peso it will now cost 18 U.S. cents for each dollar changed into Cuban money.

Euros, British sterling, Swiss francs, and other major international currencies will lose eight per cent of their value when changed into Cuban convertible pesos.

Soberon said those most likely to be affected by the latest measures are Cubans who receive U.S. dollar remittances from relatives in the United States.

"It will all depend upon what their family abroad does," the bank chief said.

"If their relatives increase what they send, it won't affect them. It really isn't that much more they have to send."

Soberon said one of the measure's aims is to narrow the difference between average Cuban government workers who earn the equivalent of $13 Cdn a month and people who receive money from abroad.

Soberon said the measure would affect foreign entities operating on the island, such as embassies and international firms, requiring them to pay eight per cent more on many monthly bills, most of which are now charged in convertible Cuban pesos.

Soberon said the measure probably would not have a major impact on tourists travelling to Cuba on package deals charged in foreign currencies in other countries - as long as the tour operators don't decide to pass on their increased costs to consumers.

He admitted it will cost more for tourists travelling on their own but said Cuba's worth it.

"Cuba is so attractive, of such cultural interest, that the eight-per-cent (increase in cost) will be imperceptible," he said.