Uruguay and Brazil are advancing rapidly towards an energy cooperation agreement “unprecedented at continental level” according to Ramón Méndez, Uruguay’s energy secretary. Uruguay’s industry, energy and mining minister Roberto Kreimerman was scheduled to travel to the Mercosur presidential summit in Brasília on 31 July for further talks. Kreimerman has been holding weekly videoconferences with Brazil’s deputy mining and energy minister, Marcio Zimmerman, to put together the deal, with the support of 20 technicians. The idea is to exchange 500 megawatts (MW) of energy daily, according to Méndez, thereby optimising the energy flow in both countries and reducing costs. Uruguay expects…
“It is like night and day.” That was the succinct response of the president of Uruguay’s central bank, Mario Bergara, when asked to compare the economic and financial status quo with the situation 10 years ago. Then, Uruguay was reeling from the financial meltdown across the River Plate in Argentina; now, the economy is in burgeoning health after years of strong recovery – and better prepared for a possible repeat of events in Argentina. But as the government of President José Mujica seeks to attract more foreign investment and foreign businesses by cutting red tape and reducing bureaucracy, what is…
Although the new government headed by President Federico Franco has very little time in office, its ambitions are big. Within weeks of taking office it declared that that one of its key objectives is to lay the foundations to industrialise Paraguay’s agri-based economy. The new administration might do better to use its limited time to support the key agricultural sector, which is still struggling to recover from a disastrous start to the year [RBS-12-01]. Moreover, Paraguay’s suspension from the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) has also fanned uncertainty about the country’s international trade and diplomatic relations. Upon his investiture on 22…
President Sebastián Piñera managed to force a minimum wage increase through congress, but only after a prolonged process that took a heavy political toll on both the executive and the ruling coalition. That bodes ominously for the administration’s imminent submission of its key economic reform, the long awaited tax reform bill [RBS-12-01]. The timing is delicate – ahead of the October municipal elections. The ruling Coalición por el Cambio, comprised of the conservative Unión Demócrata Independiente (UDI) and Piñera’s more moderate Renovación Ncaional (RN), has been at internal odds on many important issues ever since it took office in 2010.…
Some Argentine economists say they can see the light at the end of the tunnel; others fear that it may just be the headlights of the oncoming train. Regardless, one thing is clear: confidence in the ability of the administration led by President Cristina Fernández to handle the evident economic slowdown is sliding. The latest monthly index of confidence in the government, calculated by the Universidad Torcuato di Tella and ranges between zero (no confidence) and five (total confidence), registered a monthly drop of 7% in July, to 1.87 points. In total, confidence in the government has fallen by a…
The Spanish proverb which says that ‘in rough waters fishermen profit’, is more applicable than ever to the bilateral relations between Argentina and Uruguay, which are once again embroiled in a diplomatic row over the management of a common natural resource, the River Plate. As Buenos Aires and Montevideo descend into mud-slinging, the domestic political opponents of Presidents Cristina Fernández and José Mujica stand to gain, by pointing out that the bilateral relationship between the two neighbours is highly dependent on very personalist presidential politics. The latest dispute is the result of alleged corrupt practices in a bilateral concession to…
No sooner had round one between Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli and President Cristina Fernández finished [RBS-12-07] that each fighter left their corner and launched into round two. Though not as clear-cut as the first confrontation, the second stand-off reinforces the argument that the two rival Peronists will be forced to break sooner rather than later. The test will be the 2013 midterm elections, which will set the stage for the 2014 presidential contest. In round one President Fernández threw the first punch by refusing Scioli the funds he needed to pay the mid-year salary bonus for public sector workers…