Uruguay's trade deficit last year soared to 2.52 billion US dollars, up from 787 million US dollars in 2007, according to the latest release from the Central Bank.
Tourists arriving in Uruguay during January spent 40% more than a year ago although the number remained almost similar, 315.000, according to the latest figures released by the Ministry of Tourism.
Uruguay's exports were down 20% in February compared to a year ago, the fourth month running, evidence that the global slowdown has reached the country's foreign trade, according to Foreign Trade expert Luis Bonifacino, quoted in the Montevideo press.
A Uruguayan mining company is turning to art to beat the effects of the global economic slowdown on its amethyst exports.
According to a report by the United Nations Development Programme, suicides and accidents are the cause of the greatest number of violent deaths in Uruguay. Homicides came in third place.
The Italian flagged cruise Costa Romantica with 1.400 passengers remained on Thursday midday anchored seven miles off the Uruguayan sea resort of Punta del Este after having suffered last night a brief blackout caused by a fire in the generators room.
The Italian flagged cruise vessel Costa Romantica with 1.400 passengers that was anchored seven miles southwest of the Uruguayan coast after suffering a power blackout was heading Thursday evening for Punta del Este to disembark travellers who will continue their trip to Argentina by land and ferry.
Uruguay's economy expanded 10.6% last year compared to 2007, said the government in an official state of the country address to Congress. The report also underlines that with the triggering of last year's international crisis, ”the neo-liberal (economic) paradigm collapsed”.
By Peter Lowy - A recent trip to Uruguay enabled me, along with another journalist, to visit The Refuge, a ranch belonging to Roberto Canessa, a member of a rugby team that in 1972 survived a crash in the freezing Andes for more than two months, in part, by resorting to cannibalism. What started as a leisurely tour of the ranch, ended late that night with a seaside dinner, after assisting with emergency horse surgery!
Spanish pulp maker Ence has narrowed a search for a partner in its 1.6 billion US dollars paper mill in Uruguay to four foreign players as it struggles with huge debt, tight credit and an ailing European paper industry, reports Reuter's office in Madrid.