
Banco do Brasil, Latin America’s largest financial institution has requested a licence to operate in Uruguay as a commercial bank according to the Brazilian government’s news agency.

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff arrives Monday in Uruguay, the third country she will be visiting after China and Argentina, since taking office last January first. The two countries are founding full members of Mercosur and Brazil is Uruguay’s main trade partner.

Uruguay has the most expensive cattle in the world in moments when international beef prices tend to slide which makes it very difficult to have a reasonable operation forcing abattoirs to leave workers redundant.

Mercosur tourism ministers agreed to facilitate border crossings for citizens from country members and to draft a homogeneous system for keeping the industry’s statistics, during their XI meeting held in Asuncion, Paraguay.

Interest for Uruguayan ten-year bonds in Yens more than doubled the issue equivalent to 490 million US dollars. The bonds are guaranteed by Japan Bank for International Cooperation with a 1.6% yield.

Chile’s Arauco the forestry and pulp unit belonging to the Copec group, trebled profits in the first quarter boosted by higher international prices and sale volumes particularly pulp, according to the company’s latest financial report.

Real estate operations in Uruguay’s hottest resort and leisure farms’ area totalled 2.55 billion US dollars in the twelve months to April 2011, equivalent to daily deals involving 7 million USD.

Roubini General Economics, RGE, founded by Nouriel Roubini the economist described as Dr. Doom for having predicted long before his peers the US financial and mortgage crisis said the Uruguayan government must apply additional measures to higher rates and bank reserves, to help contain inflation.

The scarcity of qualified labour and the increase in costs have become a growing concern for the pulp mill that Chilean and Scandinavian investors are building in Conchillas, Uruguay.

Uruguay’s beef exports in the first four months of 2011 have been lower in volume but higher in revenue compared to the same period a year ago. Something similar is happening with lamb although the fall in volume was even greater.