Uruguay goes through the final moments prior to this weekend's presidential elections. After five years of the Tabaré Vázquez administration, Uruguayans will hold presidential and legislative elections on October 25.

Uruguay's Economy Minister Alvaro García said that candidate José Mujica, who is the frontrunner to win presidential elections this month, would maintain the current economic policy, clearing the way for the country to regain an investment-grade rating on its debt.

Frente Amplio's candidate José Mujica, a former leader of the Tupamaros rebel group that battled Uruguay's military dictatorship in the 1970s, leads polls ahead of the October 25 vote. He's already indicated he will delegate economic policy to his vice presidential running mate, former Economy Minister Danilo Astori, signaling that only small changes would be likely to take place.

President Tabaré Vázquez, who like Mujica is a member of the Frente Amplio coalition, fell short of his goal of securing an investment-grade rating during his five-year term. Uruguay lost its sole investment grade rating by Moody's Investors Service in 2002 as banks closed in the aftermath of neighboring Argentina's default.

Getting an investment grade rating "we had hoped to accomplish," García told reporters and added, "Without a doubt it's something the next government, in the medium term will be able to do."

García, a poet who writes the lyrics for the Contrafarsa musical theater troupe that dances to a heavy bass drum during Montevideo's carnival, said his country struggles to get noticed even though it has one of the region's best fiscal records.

"When you open bank reports and turn to Latin America, we're not there," said García, who took over from Astori on September 18, a day before his 48th birthday and three days after the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Uruguay and Perú are the only two South American major economies the IMF expects to grow this year. Gross domestic product should expand 1.2 percent this year and 3.5 percent in 2010, Uruguay's Economy Minister said.

Likewise, García also stated that he would like President Barack Obama's support for a bill introduced last month by Uruguayan Senator Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, to extend unilateral trade benefits to Uruguay.