The slowdown in sales of trade and services at the close of 2025 is not an isolated incident, but rather the inevitable expression of an economic model that has prioritized state intervention over the freedom of economic agents. According to data from the Chamber of Commerce, real sales growth in the last quarter was limited to a squalid 0.9%, with most companies reporting stagnation or contraction adjusted for inflation. This indicator, which reflects the daily decisions of millions of consumers and entrepreneurs, reveals the exhaustion of a system that, under the cloak of social equity, has multiplied distortions in the
Uruguayan economy.
The legacy of Batllism and its expansive vision of the State have left a profound mark: more than half of private income ends up being absorbed by the treasury. High taxes, strict labor regulations, a public sector that employs one in five workers and a social protection system that, although well-intentioned, has ended up eroding productivity and real purchasing power. It is no accident that unemployment has risen to 7.4% in recent months, a level that especially punishes the service and trade sectors, dependent on domestic demand. This figure does not arise from external fatality, but rather from artificial barriers that discourage hiring and private investment, perpetuating a cycle of low growth and
high fiscal dependence.Analysts agree that the Uruguayan economy has entered a phase of “slowdown”, with projections for 2026 that point to even weaker growth than initially estimated. Real GDP has shown signs of technical recession, with consecutive quarters of adjusted contraction, while the fiscal deficit threatens to escalate again, reviving patterns of instability that the free market would naturally correct if not for constant interventions. Inflation, although contained at 3.1% per year between February 2025 and 2026—the lowest in seven decades—does not compensate for the underlying damage: relative prices distorted by subsidies and controls that
