Uruguay’s Vice president Danilo Astori downplayed the effects of Argentina’s restrictive measures for the purchase of dollars and forecasted an excellent summer season with hundreds of thousands of Argentines tourists visiting Uruguay.
Members from the Brazilian and Uruguayan governments have warned about the increase of capital flight from emerging countries as the Euro crisis lags in search of a strong decision.
Uruguay’s Central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged as policymakers focus on bringing inflation back to target in anticipation of possible impacts from a global slowdown.
As anticipated, Uruguay's central bank raised its benchmark lending rate 50 basis points to 8% on Thursday in an effort to keep inflation within its target range. Uruguay’s consumer price index rose 8.53% in the 12 months through May, far above the official target range of between 4% and 6% set for the 12 months ending June 2012.
Uruguay’s April consumer inflation, 0.34%, the lowest since last November came as a relief for government authorities, but the accumulated rate of the last twelve months was 8.34%, well above the Central bank 4% to 6% target. Furthermore compared to April 2010 inflation was almost double: 0.18% vs 0.34%, according to the country’s Statistics Institute, INE.
Uruguay’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 6.5% after annual inflation slowed to within policy makers’ target range, according to a statement posted on the bank’s website.
Uruguay whose credit rating was cut to junk in 2002, expects to return to investment grade within two years, central bank President Mario Bergara said. “We are confident that in one or two years we will have investment grade again,” Bergara said at an investors’ conference in New York Monday.