Uruguay issued 2 billion dollars of a new 2050 global bond on Tuesday at a spread of 165 to 170 basis points over U.S. Treasuries as part of the government's bid to put less strain on its accounts in the near- and medium-term, it was reported.
Uruguay and Peru are the first Latin American countries in line for a possible credit rating hike by Moody's Investors Service, at a moment when sovereign upgrades are expected to become more scarce in the region, a senior analyst with the ratings firm said.
Vice-president Danilo Astori confirmed that Uruguay will continue with its current flexible foreign exchange policy, because this has helped us reduce volatilities, but also admitted concern about inflation, the third highest in South America and fourth in Latin-American and the Caribbean.
Uruguay’s inflation in August kept climbing and reached 1.04%, totalling 6.74% in the first eight months of the year and 8.86% in the last twelve months, which is well above the Central bank target of 4% to 6%, according to the latest report from the local Statistics Office, INE.
Consumer prices in Uruguay during July increased 0.77% while twelve-month inflation reached 8.75%, which is the highest since last February, and well ahead of the 8.21% to June, according to the latest release from the country’s National Stats Institute, INE.
Uruguay’s economy expanded 1.2% in the first quarter of the year compared to the last quarter of 2012, which had a poor performance of 0.1%, according to the latest release from the Central Bank. Likewise in the first quarter the economy increased 3.7% over the same period a year ago.
Uruguay announced on Thursday new measures to discourage short term speculative capital inflows that have appreciated the Peso, eroded the country’s international competitiveness, made imports cheaper than domestic production and threaten an already stubborn inflation.
Uruguay's main economic problem is high inflation, and policymakers will continue to use interest rates and bank reserve requirements to bring it under control, Vice President Danilo Astori said on Tuesday. Consumer prices in Uruguay rose 8.14% in the 12 months through April, far outside the country's official annual target range of 4 to 6%.
Inflation in Uruguay during April slowed down for third month running, according to the latest release from the country’s Statistics Office, INE. Consumer prices in the fourth month of the year climbed 0.45% with inflation in the last twelve months reaching 8.14%, compare to 8.54% in March.
Uruguay’ financial and political stability is backfiring as the Central bank is forced to buy a massive inflow of foreign capital which in turn creates an abundance of Pesos that need to be absorbed to control inflation and support the competitive edge of the country’s exports.