After a strong start to the year, activity has experienced a slowdown and setbacks in recent months.
He GDP (Gross domestic product) of Uruguay it went from more to less in the year 2022. It began with strong year-on-year growth rates, as the economy emerged from the pandemic and the service sectors became more vigorous, while agriculture and exports closed an excellent first semester.
From the middle of the year the scenario changed and activity did not advance in the third quarter. In the last quarter -data released today by the Central Bank- GDP fell 1.3% in seasonally adjusted terms (-0.1% YoY). The drop in meat exports, the impact of the exchange gap with Argentina in trade and the first effects of the drought (they will be much worse this year) are the main factors that influenced the drop.
Indeed, when analyzing the data by supply sectors, in interannual terms, there was a 21.5% drop in agriculture, 4.3% in industry and 5.7% in the energy sector. On the demand side, there was a 4.5% year-on-year increase in household consumption and 3.7% in imports, while exports (goods and services) fell 5.6% year-on-year.
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Revised figures
Although the expectations of various analysts pointed to the country’s GDP growing 5% or more in the annual data, the setback in the last quarter was greater than expected and the final increase was the aforementioned 4.9%.
However, another key piece of information must be added: the Central Bank sharply revised the economic performance of 2021 upwards, increasing the base of comparison for 2022. The growth figure for 2021 known up to now was 4.4%but the monetary authority reviews the figures every quarter, in addition to adding the latest data, in a correct and usual statistical practice in the rest of the countries.
The review showed that Uruguay’s GDP grew almost one point more than what was known so far in 2021: 5.3%. This way, GDP in 2022 was 3.5% above its 2019 level (pre pandemic).
Source: Ambito
