Fitch Teleconf: Upgrade of Uruguay Sovereign Ratings to 'B+'.

NEW YORK -- Fitch Ratings will host a teleconference on Wednesday, March 9 at 10 a.m. EST to discuss the recent upgrade of Uruguay's sovereign ratings.

Fitch took the following rating actions on March 7, 2005 for Uruguay:

-- Long-term foreign currency rating upgraded to 'B+' from 'B';

-- Long-term local currency ratings upgraded to 'BB-' from 'B+';

-- Short-term foreign currency rating affirmed at 'B'.

-- Country ceiling affirmed at 'BB-'.

These rating changes affect US$6.9 billion in bond debt, and the Rating Outlook is Stable.

Morgan Harting, Senior Director, Latin America Sovereign Group, will conduct a teleconference to discuss Uruguay's recovery, the economic outlook under the new government, and rationale for the upgrade.

U.S. participants should call [phone] and non-U.S. participants should dial [phone] five minutes prior to the 10 a.m. EST start time and give the title of the call, "Uruguay." To ensure that sufficient telephone lines are available for all companies, use internal conferencing capabilities, if possible, to accommodate multiple listeners at your location.

Interested parties who are not available for the teleconference will be able to hear a replay of the call starting on Wednesday March 9, at 2 p.m. EST  until Wednesday March 16, at 11:59 p.m. EST. Domestic listeners should dial [phone], and international listeners should dial [phone] and use the access code "4655130."