• Orsi promises modern left agenda balancing welfare and growth
• Uruguay faces pressure from US on Chinese investments
• Orsi’s Broad Front holds Senate majority, lacks lower house control

MONTEVIDEO, March 1 (Reuters) - Uruguay is set for a political shift to the center-left as Yamandu Orsi took office on Saturday as the country’s next president.

Orsi, a 57-year-old former mayor backed by leftist ex-President Jose “Pepe” Mujica, narrowly won the November election against the ruling center-right coalition.

As a moderate, Orsi has promised to strike a different balance between social welfare and economic growth by ushering in what he described as a “modern left” agenda.

In his inaugural address at Montevideo’s Legislative Palace, Orsi said that “a time of re-foundation is not starting, but one of new proposals and permanent construction”, in a room that broke into cheers and applause after he credited iconic leftist Mujica.