Argentine Rural Society (large landowners' association); business organizations; General Confederation of Labor or CGT (Peronist-leaning umbrella labor organization); Peronist-dominated labor movement; Roman Catholic Church; students
International organization participation: AfDB, Australia Group, BCIE,
BIS, CCC, ECLAC, FAO, G-6, G-15, G-19, G-24, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO,
ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol,
IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur, MINURSO, MIPONUH, MTCR, NSG,
OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO,
UNIKOM, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOP, UNMOVIC, UNTSO, UNU, UPU, WCL,
WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador
Diego Ramiro GUELAR chancery: 1600 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington,
DC 20009 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles,
Miami, New York FAX: [1] (202) 332-3171 telephone: [1] (202) 238-6400
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador James
D. WALSH embassy: Avenida Colombia 4300, C1425GMN Buenos Aires mailing
address: international mail: use street address; APO address: Unit 4334,
APO AA 34034 telephone: [54] (11) 5777-4533 FAX: [54] (11) 5511-4240
Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of light blue (top), white, and light blue; centered in the white band is a radiant yellow sun with a human face known as the Sun of May
Economy Argentina
Economy - overview: Argentina benefits from rich natural resources, a highly literate population, an export-oriented agricultural sector, and a diversified industrial base. However, when President Carlos MENEM took office in 1989, the country had piled up huge external debts, inflation had reached 200% per month, and output was plummeting. To combat the economic crisis, the government embarked on a path of trade liberalization, deregulation, and privatization. In 1991, it implemented radical monetary reforms which pegged the peso to the US dollar and limited the growth in the monetary base by law to the growth in reserves. Inflation fell sharply in subsequent years. In 1995, the Mexican peso crisis produced capital flight, the loss of banking system deposits, and a severe, but short-lived, recession; a series of reforms to bolster the domestic banking system followed. Real GDP growth recovered strongly, reaching 8% in 1997. In 1998, international financial turmoil caused by Russia's problems and increasing investor anxiety over Brazil produced the highest domestic interest rates in more than three years, halving the growth rate of the economy. Conditions worsened in 1999 with GDP falling by 3%. President Fernando DE LA RUA, who took office in December 1999, sponsored tax increases and spending cuts to reduce the deficit, which had ballooned to 2.5% of GDP in 1999. Growth in 2000 was a negative 0.5%, as both domestic and foreign investors remained skeptical of the government's ability to pay debts and maintain the peso's fixed exchange rate with the US dollar. The economic situation worsened still further in 2001 with the widening of spreads on Argentine bonds, massive withdrawals from the banks, and a further decline in consumer and investor confidence. Government efforts to achieve a "zero deficit", to stabilize the banking system, and to restore economic growth proved inadequate in the face of the mounting economic problems. At the start of 2002, newly elected president Eduardo DUHALDE met with IMF officials to secure an additional $20 billion loan, but immediate action seemed unlikely. The peso's peg to the dollar was abandoned in January 2002, and the peso was floated from the dollar in February; inflation picked up rapidly.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $453 billion (2001 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: -4.6% (2001 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $12,000 (2001 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 6% industry: 28% services: 66% (2001 est.)
Population below poverty line: 37% (2001 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4% (2001 est.)
Labor force: 15 million (1999)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA%
Unemployment rate: 25% (yearend 2001)
Budget: revenues: $44 billion expenditures: $48 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)
Industries: food processing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, textiles, chemicals and petrochemicals, printing, metallurgy, steel
Industrial production growth rate: 1% (2000 est.)
Electricity - production: 82.802 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 51.81% hydro: 40.67% other: 0.29% (2000) nuclear: 7.23%
Electricity - consumption: 80.806 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity - exports: 3.7 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity - imports: 7.5 billion kWh (2000)
Agriculture - products: sunflower seeds, lemons, soybeans, grapes, corn, tobacco, peanuts, tea, wheat; livestock
Exports: $26.5 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Exports - commodities: edible oils, fuels and energy, cereals, feed, motor vehicles
Exports - partners: Brazil 26.5%, US 11.8%, Chile 10.6%, Spain 3.5% (2000)
Imports: $23.8 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, metal manufactures, plastics
Imports - partners: Brazil 25.1%, US 18.7%, Germany 5%, China 4.6% (2000)
Debt - external: $155 billion (2001 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $10 billion (2001 est.)
Currency: Argentine peso (ARS)
Currency code: ARS
Exchange rates: Argentine pesos per US dollar - 1.33325 (January 2002), 1.000 (1997-2001); note - fixed rate pegged to the US dollar was abandoned in January 2002; peso now floats
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications Argentina
Telephones - main lines in use: 7.5 million (1998)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 3 million (December 1999)
Telephone system: general assessment: by opening the telecommunications market to competition and foreign investment with the "Telecommunications Liberalization Plan of 1998", Argentina encouraged the growth of modern telecommunication technology; fiber-optic cable trunk lines are being installed between all major cities; the major networks are entirely digital and
