Uruguay’s inflation rate raced into double digits and hit its highest in nearly 12 years in February, prompting the economy minister to warn on Thursday of an excess supply of pesos in the money market, NewsNow reported. Consumer prices in Uruguay rose 1.6% last month to push the year-on-year rate to 10.23%, well above the government’s targeted ceiling of 7%. Uruguay’s spiraling inflation is a major policy headache for the center-left government that is also grappling with a fiscal deficit that hit 3.8% of gross domestic product in January, its highest level in 13 years, and a local currency which has weakened 8.4% so far in 2016, after depreciating 20% in 2015.
