Uruguay

• Tuesday, April 26th 2011 - 05:49 UTC

  Price of farmland in Uruguay increased on average 13% during 2010

  

  The average price for a hectare of farmland in Uruguay during 2010 increased 13% and reached 2.650 US dollars. The average farmland hectare in 2009 was 2.239 USD.

• Wednesday, April 20th 2011 - 04:44 UTC

  Uruguay’s booming tourism industry needs “a harbour for cruise vessels”

  

  Uruguay is seriously considering the construction of a harbour for the cruise industry and admits infrastructure is already lacking in many areas for the exponential growth of the tourism industry, which in 2011 could be reaching the targets set out for the five year period 2010/2014.

• Tuesday, April 19th 2011 - 17:30 UTC

  Uruguay admits to IMF concern over inflation, but rejects capital flow controls

  

  Uruguay’s concern with inflation risks and instruments to ‘mitigate’ its impact was underlined by the region’s representative at the IMF Monetary and Financial Committee meeting in Washington where the IMF and World Bank are holding their spring meetings.

• Tuesday, April 19th 2011 - 04:04 UTC

  Wikileaks reveals Malaysian air force over up of F-5 jet engines which turned up in Uruguay

  

  The Malaysian government failed to inform Washington that two “US-supplied” F-5 fighter jet engines had gone missing since May 22, 2008, despite having at least “three opportunities” to come clean, according to leaked United States diplomatic cables released recently.
  The engines two years later were finally located two years later in Uruguay.

• Tuesday, April 19th 2011 - 01:57 UTC

  Uruguay resisted pressure from the Bush administration over ties with Iran

  

  Uruguay resisted pressures from the administration of former US President George W. Bush to reduce ties with Iran. Uruguay’s Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro on a Middle East tour made the revelation during a meeting in Teheran with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, according to the official Iranian news agency.

• Friday, April 15th 2011 - 02:13 UTC

  Mujica promises to control the curse of inflation, but ‘there are no magic solutions’

  

  President Jose Mujica promised there will be no ‘uncontrolled inflation in Uruguay’ and although admitting it’s not a simple problem, with no magic solution, there are “sufficient tools’ to address the issue including putting “government spending on a diet”.

• Friday, April 15th 2011 - 00:12 UTC

  “Other blocks demand too much from Mercosur and offer too little”

  

  Several Mercosur negotiations with other blocks have failed because “they ask too much and offer too little” said Samuel Pinheiro recently appointed Mercosur High Representative and who is holding a round of meetings with member countries’ leaders.

• Thursday, April 14th 2011 - 02:30 UTC

  Uruguay Senate annuls amnesty bill benefiting the military but triggers further controversy

  

  A closely divided Senate has passed legislation to overturn an amnesty for human rights crimes committed by the military and security forces during Uruguay's 1973-85 dictatorship, overruling voters who in two referendums upheld the law in 1989 and 2009. The decision triggered strong controversy in the Uruguayan political system.

• Wednesday, April 13th 2011 - 18:34 UTC

  Mercosur to release members’ same criteria macro-economic data beginning June

  

  Beginning June, Mercosur full members will share macro-economic indicators elaborated with the same criteria and which will be released simultaneously, according to reports in the Montevideo press. The initiative was partly financed by the European Union that also played an advisory role.

• Wednesday, April 13th 2011 - 05:41 UTC

  IMF approves Uruguay’s performance but road ahead has many uncertainties

  

  Uruguay’s growth estimate for this year remains at 5% but is forecasted at 4.2% for 2012 with warnings on the economy’s over-heating, significant inflow of capital and inflation, according to the IMF World Economic Outlook released this week. In 2010 the Uruguayan economy expanded 8.5%.