MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay's total debt equivalent to 68% of GDP

Uruguay's overall debt at the close of the second quarter was 18.2 billion US dollars, having increased 779 million US dollars over the first quarter, thus totalling the equivalent to 68% of GDP. At the end of March the debt/GDP ratio was 70%.

However net debt, excluding all government assets from the public sector, at the end of the second quarter was 9.47 billion US dollars, down 373 million US dollars from the first quarter according to a release from Uruguay's Central Bank. This together with the strong showing of the Uruguayan economy, above target, helped the GDP debt ratio in the second quarter fall to 35% at the end of June from 40% in March. Regarding the total debt of 18.2 billion according to the Central Bank, 74% belonged to the central government; 21% the Central Bank; 5% government owned companies; 2% county governments and the rest other autonomous public units. Creditors are mainly private agents, 84% and 16% multilateral organizations. A detailed analysis of debt shows that 79% is in sovereign bonds; 16% loans; 2% procurement agents and the rest deposits. Central Bank also points out that the second quarter balance does not include the foreign debt swap operation which further alleviates Uruguay's international financial exposure. Meanwhile the US dollar in the Uruguayan market --as in the rest of Latinamerica-- has rebounded 11.34% which means the Uruguayan peso appreciation to the greenback in the nine months of 2008 has dropped to 0.51%. The average US dollar exchange rate in September was 20.42 pesos, which is 6.38% higher than in August. Uruguay Central Bank sources have said that the bank is following closely international events and will "monitor the value of the peso faced with such volatility; we're going to operate in the money market to dampen upward and downward peaks, as we did when the dollar was falling".