Uruguayans are all about celebrations this week. On Sunday night they partied through the night, after their national team “Los Celestes” (“the baby blues”) won the Copa América, the regional football competition for national teams that took place in Argentina. Some 60,000 fans crowded the historic Centenario stadium in the capital, Montevideo, to welcome the players, after the 3-0 victory over Paraguay.

Forward Luis Suárez, who was voted the tournament’s best player, said Uruguay deserved the title after so many years without a championship. For Standard & Poor’s, there is something else Uruguay deserved: higher credit rating. On Monday, the agency upgraded Uruguay’s credit ratings by one notch to BB-plus, only one notch below investment grade, praising years of “prudent and consistent” economic policies in the country. Continue reading »