The sector employs around 36,000 people, including activities related to software, commerce and trading.
Uruguay's external sales of global services exceeded US$ 5.9 billion in one year. This figure places the country as one of the main countries with the highest exports in the region in terms of per capita.
A report prepared by the Uruguay XXI Institute explained that the growing importance of global exports from the country is based on some key sectors that took advantage of the benefits offered for the development of their businesses.
The business models carried out by companies include captive centres (operations of foreign companies that offer support services to their subsidiaries from Uruguay) and outsourced suppliers (local or foreign suppliers subcontracted by foreign clients).
The agency added that Uruguay traditionally operates as a logistics hub, facilitating both the export of regional goods and supplies from extra-regional countries.
The global services developed in Uruguay are within five key segments: business, trade, software, financial and creative.
In the business sector, tasks such as accounting and finance, human resources, legal services, data analysis and customer service centers, among others, are carried out.
In the commerce segment, there are trading and logistics operations; in the software segment, there are support activities and information technology services; in the financial sector, there are investment advisors, portfolio managers and securities agents; and in the creative sector, audiovisual production and video game development stand out.
URUGUAY'S POSITION IN EXPORTS
The document indicated that developed economies exported 76% of global services, while developing economies exported 24%. In the breakdown by country, the United States had 15% of the total exported worldwide. Also important were the United Kingdom (10%), Ireland (8%) and Germany (6%).
In Latin America and the Caribbean, looking at the data in relation to population, Costa Rica and Uruguay led the regional ranking. The Central American country led global services exports with US$ 1,763 per capita. Uruguay came in second with US$ 881.
They occupied the same positions in the measurement of the participation of global services exports in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In this case, Costa Rica had 11% and Uruguay 4%, according to information provided by the Central Bank (BCU) and the World Bank.
Last year, Uruguay achieved external sales of global services and trading for US$ 5,919 million, made up of US$ 3,016 million and US$ 2,903 million, respectively.
In the first case, exports of business services stood out, which together with professional and technical services reached US$ 1,331 million, with an interannual decrease of 8%.
IT services were next with US$1.02 billion, virtually unchanged from a year ago. In third place were financial services with US$337 million, up 35%.
Overall, global services showed a minimal decline compared to 2022 and grew 27% compared to 2019.
In the case of trading exports (US$ 2,903 million), there was a year-on-year growth of 1.4% and 66% compared to 2019.
EMPLOYMENT
Uruguay XXI pointed out that global services generate quality employment that requires a high level of qualification.
The sector has a workforce of approximately 36,000 people. More than 70% of the total is concentrated in the software (13,684 employees) and business services (13,627 workers) segments. The third segment was financial services with 1,337 people.
The document reported that 662 companies are linked to the global services sector in Uruguay. There are 100 dedicated to financial services, 213 to business services, 108 to trade, 201 to software and 40 to creative services.
