Strong increase in inflation in Uruguay; gasoline increases by 9%

Inflation in Uruguay was 0, 99% in June compared to May, a figure that has accumulated in 12 months at 8.11%, well above the official goal ceiling of 7%.

The information was known this Wednesday when, specifically, The second increase in the price of gasoline in the country this year, 9%, began to apply. The previous month, in January, was 9.8%.

According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), prices rose 5.85% in the first half of the year, well above the 4.33% was recorded in June 2017.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages were the products with the largest increase over the same month of the previous year.

The government has an inflation target range of 3-7%, but the 8, 11% accumulated in 12 months far exceeds, in a context of low employment and high dissatisfaction in some productive sectors, mainly related to the agricultural interior.

At midnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, the Government carried out a second increase in the price of petrol in Uruguay, of 9%, which adds to another of 9.8% decided by the authorities last January.

In January, rates for basic public services provided by the state also increased.

In this case, the government – in the middle of a difficult offer with the movement "One Uruguay only", agricultural producers and retailers, resolved to leave without modifications the price of diesel, the main fuel of road transport and farm machinery.

The liter of common gasoline in Uruguay costs $ 1.77. The government of this country net importer of crude oil refining, argues that the increase in the price of a barrel of oil and the dollar requires it to raise gasoline tariffs.

Uruguay has a monopoly fuel refining and distribution company, ANCAP, which was to be "capitalized" by Tabaré Vázquez's executive in several hundred million dollars after having took the left leader (2015-2020), due to a large deficit of their accounts. The government has decided indeed to cancel a debt of the oil company in search of the restructuring of its failing finances.