Uruguay

• Monday, May 16th 2011 - 06:38 UTC

  Major setback for President Mujica and for the Uruguayan ruling coalition

  

  The administration of Uruguayan president Jose Mujica suffered a major setback over the weekend and could experience a further showdown on Thursday when members of the ruling coalition vote in Parliament the annulment of an Amnesty or Crimes expiration law which impedes the investigation of human rights violations committed during the country’s military dictatorship (1973/1985).

• Friday, May 13th 2011 - 14:11 UTC

  Mercosur has a surplus production of three million tons of rice

  

  Uruguay which does not harvest transgenic rice has been consolidating as a growing European Union supplier and is a traditional provider for Mexico and Middle East countries such as Iran and Iraq.

• Thursday, May 12th 2011 - 20:22 UTC

  Killing of bank guard unveils Uruguay’s dilemma with expanding insecurity

  

  Activities in Uruguay’s private bank branches were partially altered Thursday following the killing earlier in the week of a security guard during a robbery attempt. This was the seventh bank robbery since the beginning of the year and triggered a controversy between the banks and the Ministry of Interior.

• Thursday, May 12th 2011 - 06:02 UTC

  Uruguay raises banks reserve requirements to contain inflation

  

  In an effort to contain inflation and cool an overheated economy Uruguay will raise reserve requirements for banks “given the domestic prices increase and the international context” advanced Central Bank president Mario Bergara.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 06:29 UTC

  FDI in Uruguay has soared in last five years and reached 1.6 billion USD in 2010

  

  Foreign direct investment, FDI, in Uruguay during 2010 reached 1.627 billion US dollars which represents a 29% increase over 2009 and puts the country among the top six FDI recipients in South America and eighth in the region, according to the latest report from the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 00:14 UTC

  Uruguay and United Arab Emirates sign an open skies agreement

  

  A visiting delegation from the United Arab Emirates, UAE, signed this week an ‘open skies’ air services agreement with Uruguay.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 00:10 UTC

  Uruguayan inflation eases in April but still is almost double the annual target

  

  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.

• Wednesday, May 4th 2011 - 18:32 UTC

  Montevideo apartment prices surged 22% over the year, says Global Property Guide

  

  With Uruguay’s economy growing at 8.5% in 2010 and managing to skip the 2009 slowdown with a 2.86% expansion, the housing market in the capital Montevideo is going through an excellent moment according to Global Property Guide based on info from local appraisers.

• Tuesday, May 3rd 2011 - 08:22 UTC

  Uruguay: overturning amnesty law could cost ruling coalition ‘dearly’

  

  Uruguayan Vice-president Danilo Astori acknowledged that overturning the “Expired Crimes” or amnesty bill for human rights violators during the military dictatorship (1973/1985) could cost the ruling coalition ‘dearly’ and said he voted following ‘party discipline’.

• Friday, April 29th 2011 - 05:10 UTC

  French Navy state of the art space tracking floating lab calls in Montevideo

  

  A French navy vessel equipped with state of the art systems for tracking missile launchings and other space objects called in Montevideo as part of its tour of the South Atlantic.