"Hacia la Cuenta Satélite en Cultura del Uruguay” (Working towards a Satellite Account of Culture in Uruguay) is a report that seeks to shed economic data on the cultural sector. El Espectador spoke with Dr. Hugo Achugar, National Director of Culture, Ministry of Education and Culture, and the economist Diego Traversa, the editor of the report, to know more.

"Countries relate information on industry sectors with a specific methodology that allows international comparison and the comparison of sectors within a country," said Traverse. "All sectors have to be managed separately from this system are called 'satellite accounts' including Culture and Tourism ".

To Achugar, this report is important "to make visible the contribution of culture" to the Uruguayan economy. "The report is based on the fact that politicians from all sectors understand that culture creates jobs, creates wealth, and that is it time to pay attention to this," said the national director of Culture.

"In 2009, piracy of movies and music created a loss of 25 million dollars. According to the Audiovisual and Cinema Institute of Uruguay (ICAU), in 2012 the loss was more than 30 million dollars, "said Traverse.

"Data from 2012 shows that the export of citrus fruits made 20 million (dollars). In the audiovisual sector, we reached a 30 million dollars in exports "Achugar added."The reasoning for this report is: there is a big fuss because we achieved this quota, but the export of culture has no visibility".

To read this article in Spanish, see IFACCA's International News listing.

This report is available in Spanish at IFACCA's Publication listing.