MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US Dollar rises: Uruguay behind Argentina

The exchange houses in the center of Montevideo today marked up to 31.70 Uruguayan pesos per dollar, a rise of 2.08% compared to Monday - the highest in five years. Photo: Sebastián Astorga

After several days up in Argentina, the devaluation of the Argentine peso and the rise of the US dollar have had some impact on the other side of the River Plate, where the exchange houses of downtown Montevideo marked on Wednesday the value of the currency up to 31,70 Uruguayan pesos per dollar, a rise of 2.08% compared to Monday —the highest in five years—. For the Uruguayan government, the country follows the global trend and calls for calm, beyond the noise generated in Argentina, which is beginning a dialogue between the Finance Minister, Nicolás Dujovne, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.

Uruguayan Economy Minister Danilo Astori said last night at a press conference that he takes what happened in the neighboring country “with great serenity and attention”, but looking to clear any parallelism about what happened in the last great crisis of 2002, when Uruguay suffered a financial insolvency process that affected more than half of commercial banks.

“Uruguay is well standing in front of a situation like this. And, therefore, we can not expect any unbalancing effect on Uruguay from the situation that Argentina is experiencing”, Astori said at a press conference. The minister ruled out the possibility of “a mismatch or pronounced volatility.”

Meanwhile, the dollar closed today at 23.10 Argentine pesos in capital Buenos Aires. 16 cents above yesterday's close.

Although a financial imbalance would not occur in Uruguay as in its neighbor, what happened in Argentina could have an impact on tourism and domestic consumption in Uruguay, according to El País (Uruguay).

When asked about the rise of the dollar in Uruguay, a foreign exchange agent told MercoPress that it was due to “lack of liquidity” due to “the pressure generated from Argentina” on the currency.

Argentine Finance Minister Nicolás Dujovne is in Wasington waiting to meet tomorrow with the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, and start negotiations for a loan that, according to the Treasury, Argentina could request about 30,000 million dollars.

Meanwhile further north, in Brazil the currency was traded at 3.57 reais with an increase of 0.45%.

By Sebastián Astorga.