The economist and executive director of the Center for Studies of Economic and Social Reality (Ceres), Ignacio Munyoassured that the exchange delay and high internal costs reduced the margins of the national productive sector throughout 2023.
The CEO considers that the Uruguayan economy became more expensive throughout the year due to these factors, forcing the productive sector to “tighten its belt” due to the new margins, leading to the postponement of new investments and hiring in the sector. private.
In dialogue with Radio Durazno, Munyo remembered that Uruguay It will close 2023 practically with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that did not grow throughout the year.
Munyo indicated that although 2024 will be a better year, since a rebound is expected due to a harvest of soy which is once again positioned within normal levels, this “is not to throw butter on the ceiling either,” since generalized growth is not expected throughout the productive sector.
In turn, he stated that to analyze the Uruguayan economy next year, one must first observe what is happening at the regional level, since “an important part of the game is played abroad, regardless of the electoral year,” because there are exogenous factors. that in the short term are “absolutely decisive.”
In that sense, he highlighted that “the world slowed down” and that interest rates rose, at a general level, increasing the cost of financing for all productive sectors. Likewise, he highlighted that, also, the international prices of what Uruguay exports to the world are “stagnated.”
Government’s cost-cutting agenda is ‘halfway there’
Regarding cost reduction, one of the government’s agendas, he expressed that “obviously” it is “halfway there,” and that it began “later than would have been desired.”
However, he pointed out that it “is heading in the right direction” and that “the Uruguay is advancing on all fronts, although not at the speed that one would like.
Source: Ambito
