Money

From UruguayWiki

Contents 1 Currency 1.1 General Information 1.2 Exchange Rates 2 Spending Money 2.1 Opening a Bank Account 2.2 Using Credit Cards 2.3 Opening a Local Bank Account 2.4 ATMs 2.5 Currency Exchange 3 Taxes

[edit] Currency

[edit] General Information

• The currency in Uruguay is the Urugayan peso and the symbol is the dollar sign ("$").
• The international currency code is UYU.
• Some things, such as hotel rooms and electronics, may be priced in United States Dollars. This is commonly abbreviated as "U$S" (or less frequently, "US$").
• There is a Montevideo Stock Exchange

[edit] Exchange Rates

• As of this writing, the exchange rate is approximately 20.5 Uruguayan pesos to one United States dollar (2010-09).
• For the current exchange rate, the easiest way is to ask Google. You can enter the query "<amount> UYU in <currency>" to convert the stated number of pesos to another currency. Use international currency codes to select the target currency. For example, you can ask Google to convert 150 pesos to dollars or to euros.
• Historical exchange rates from the official Banco Central de Uruguay.

[edit] Spending Money

[edit] Opening a Bank Account

• One blogger has posted a synopsis of the process for opening a bank account.
• A blog about opening a bank account at the Banco Republica of Uruguay.

[edit] Using Credit Cards

• VISA is the predominant card accepted by Uruguayan businesses. MasterCard is not frequently accepted.

• Unlike most credit cards, the Schwab Bank Invest First Credit Card is a VISA card with no foreign transaction fees, which makes this a very attractive card to have if you are in Uruguay and charging money to your accounts back home. This card is only available to residents of the USA.

[edit] Opening a Local Bank Account

• Different Uruguayan banks apparently have very different restrictions if you wish to transfer large sums of money into the country, so choose wisely.

[edit] ATMs

• Some banks may be starting to impose surcharges on foreign ATM withdrawals within Uruguay? (2009-07)
• Guia Telefonica has a list of ATM locations (affiliated with the major ATM networks) in various parts of the country.
• It may actually be cheaper, depending on your home bank, to withdraw money directly from the BROU?

[edit] Currency Exchange

• Ola Uruguay has a good article on shopping for the best exchange rate.

[edit] Taxes

This section is a stub that still needs to be written.

• If you spend more than US$60 at a local store, legislation passed in July 2009 suggests that the bulk of the 22% VAT paid can be refunded to non-resident tourists.