The Uruguay banking crisis was a major banking crisis that hit Uruguay in July 2002. In this, a massive run on banks by depositors (most of them from neighboring Argentina) caused the government to freeze banking operations. The crisis was caused by a considerable contraction in Uruguay's economy and by over-dependence on Argentina (tourism, and construction boom), which experienced a strong phase of an economic meltdown itself in late 2001. In total, approximately 1/3 of the country's deposits were withdrawn and five financial institutions were left insolvent.