For several days beginning Wednesday Uruguay, as its neighbours, Brazil and Argentina will be ruled by a woman. Lucia Topolansky, Fist Lady but also Senator and third in the succession line will become interim president since her husband is off on an official trip to China and Europe, and Vice-president Danilo Astori will be attending the Alliance of the Pacific summit in Colombia.
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%.
The Uruguayan 2012/13 cruise season experienced a 10% increase in the number of calls to the ports of Montevideo and Punta del Este totalling 240 and approximately 400.000 visitors between passengers and crew members.
In an interview with the Spanish government news agency EFE, Uruguayan President José “Pepe” Mujica said Argentina’s economic “autarkic project” “worsens” bilateral ties and “multiplies” trade troubles. Still, he ruled out pressures on Buenos Aires; “they won’t work,” he insisted.
By Jude Webber in Montevideo - The Financial Times has published a piece on Uruguayan president Jose Mujica and his view on the future and his government’s policy towards two powerful neighbors, Argentina and Brazil.
Uruguay awarded French gas and power group GDF Suez SA a contract to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) re-gasification plant at an estimated cost of 1.125 billion dollars, the government said on Tuesday.
The outlook the Uruguayan banking system is stable, based on expectations that continued economic growth and favourable labour market conditions will sustain loan growth and banks' profitability, says Moody's Investors Service in the report Banking System Outlook: Uruguay.
Uruguay’s stubbornly high inflation is as much structural in nature as it is due cyclical factors and to bring it down requires changes in fiscal policy, tackling widespread salary indexation and policymakers need to enhance their credibility according to Capital Economics.
Peru which currently holds the chair of Unasur, Union of South American Nations is promoting a new meeting of country members’ heads of state to address the political situation in Venezuela, Foreign minister Rafael Roncagliolo said on Thursday.
President Nicolas Maduro said he was a ‘Kirchnerite president’ and the ‘second Peronist president’ of Venezuela during a political rally with Argentine trade unions and militant groups in a packed Buenos Aires stadium to recall the figures of the deceased Hugo Chavez and Nestor Kirchner.