Uruguayan president Jose Mujica confessed that dealing with neighbouring Argentina is “one of the most painful problems” faced by his administration given the weight of the Argentine economy.
Uruguay’s budget deficit soared to 3% of GDP in the twelve months to the end of October, the highest since November 2003, (3.1%) when the country was recovering from the financial crisis which spilt over from Argentina. The deficit also exposes Uruguay’s precarious power generating situation.
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica appealed to workers and entrepreneurs to avoid an escalation of salaries and prices which leads “to all sort of fiddling” as is happening in Argentina.
Inflation is a priority and is “decisively much higher than what authorities and public opinion would like” admitted Mario Bergara, Uruguay’s Central bank president during the opening on Monday of a two-day annual economic conference.
Uruguay’ Chamber of Industries, CIU, criticized the ‘indiscriminate’ influx of foreign goods, labour costs and Mercosur, and called on government to change the focus of its policies towards manufacturing underscoring that the domestic market represents 55% of industries’ GDP.
It's a common grumble that politicians' lifestyles are far removed from those of their electorate. Not so in Uruguay. Meet the president - who lives on a ramshackle farm and gives away most of his pay.
A World Bank report released Tuesday found that Latin America and the Caribbean registered a 50% jump in the number of people joining the middle class during the last decade, which was called by economists an historic achievement for a region long exposed to wealth inequality.
The United States is forecasted to overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world's top oil producer by 2017, the West's energy agency said on Monday. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said it saw a continued fall in US oil imports with North America becoming a net oil exporter by around 2030 and the United States becoming almost self-sufficient in energy by 2035.
Sir Rex Hunt, who was Governor of the Falkland Islands during the 1982 Argentine invasion precipitating the Falklands War, has died aged 86, in Stockton-On-Tees, where he had lived in retirement.
Four former elected Uruguayan presidents openly discussed Mercosur revealing an overall disenchantment with the regional political and trade group but with different emphasis as to what was the path to follow.