Uruguay has been a proud exception to
the privatizing wave that swept through South America in the 1990s. Its
state-owned firms are more efficient than many of their counterparts in
Argentina and Brazil ever were. In 1992, Uruguayans voted in a referendum
against privatizing telecoms. They rightly observe that some of Argentina’s
sales were smashed, creating inefficient private monopolies. And with
unemployment at 15%, nobody is enthusiastic about the job cuts privatization
would involve. That leaves President Jorge Batlle with a problem. Uruguay has been in recession for the past two years, mainly because of low prices for its agricultural exports, and because of Argentina’s woes. But public debt is at 45% of GDP, and rising. Some economists argue that privatization would give a boost to the economy, by attracting foreign investme A. moved in the privatizing wave B. adopted the same measure as that of Argentina C. sticked to its old economic mode D. developed very slowly [单项选择]Text 4
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