Argentina

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Country summary

Capital

Buenos Aires

Borders

Bolivia 832 km, Brazil 1,261 km, Chile 5,308 km, Paraguay 1,880 km, Uruguay 580 km

Government type

republic

Population

40,913,584 (July 2010 est.)[1]

Population growth %

1.053 (2010 est.)[1]

Life expectancy

76.56 years[1]

Unemployment

8.7% (2009 est.)[1]

Index of Economic Freedom

135[2]

Corruption Perceptions Index

106[3]

Doing Business ranking

118[4]


In 1816, the United Provinces of the Rio Plata declared their independence from Spain. After Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay went their separate ways, the area that remained became Argentina. The country's population and culture were heavily shaped by immigrants from throughout Europe, but most particularly Italy and Spain, which provided the largest percentage of newcomers from 1860 to 1930. Up until about the mid-20th century, much of Argentina's history was dominated by periods of internal political conflict between Federalists and Unitarians and between civilian and military factions. After World War II, an era of Peronist populism and direct and indirect military interference in subsequent governments was followed by a military junta that took power in 1976. Democracy returned in 1983 after a failed bid to seize the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands by force, and has persisted despite numerous challenges, the most formidable of which was a severe economic crisis in 2001-02 that led to violent public protests and the successive resignations of several presidents.[1]

See also: Latin American debt crisis

Economical characteristics

  • Currency: Peso (ISO code: ARS)
  • Central bank discount rate: NA%[1]
  • Commercial banks lending rate: 19.47% (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Stock of money (M1): $32.57 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $46.18 billion (31 December 2008)[1]

Notable events:

  • Banking crisis: January 1885, 1890-1891, 1914, 1931, 1934, 1980-1982, May 1985, 1989-1990, 1995, March 2001[5]
  • Hyperinflation: 1984-1985, 1989-1990
  • Years in inflation: 24.7% (share of years 1816-2009 with annual inflation above 20 per cent per annum)
  • Public default: 1827-1857, 1890-1893, 1951, 1956-1965, 1982-1993, 1989, 2001-2005(external), 1890-1893, 1982, 1989-1990, 2001-2005, 2007-2009(domestic)[6]

Inflation in Argentina

Argentina was through most of the 19th century subject to a permanent paper money inflation. In 1881 were in circulation 882 million paper pesos in a country with a population of little over 3 million. 100 golden pesos were exchanged for 2405 paper pesos. The money was turned into a gold currency by exchanging at a rate of 25:1 and fixing it to gold. But this had to be given up in 1885 due to the growing government debt - and another round of inflation followed. The paper peso reached its low in 1891, with an agio of 287% to the golden peso. A reform was suggested by Ernesto Tornquist and in 1899 became law. The paper peso was fixed at 0.44 of the golden peso and each could be converted into the other at this rate by government sponsored cash-desks. Despite a permanent deficit in state finances, the backing of the currency by gold was upheld and Argentina could prosper.[7]

Statistics

Statistic / Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GDP (million USD)[8] 283 523 284 204 268 697 102 040 129 597 153 129 183 193 214 066 262 421 328 465
Govt. debt (% of GDP)[9]
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[10] 14.056 17.200 18.136
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[11] 19.677 19.837 18.289
Debt to revenue (years)

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Argentina", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-09-28.
  2. ↑ Heritage Foundation. "Argentina", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-28.
  3. ↑ Transparency International. "Argentina", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-09-28.
  4. ↑ Doing Business. "Argentina", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-28.
  5. ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "This Time is Different", Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 348-350. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-19.
  6. ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart. "This Time is Different Chartbook: Country Histories on Debt, Default, and Financial Crises" (pdf), March 3, 2010, p. 16. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-19.
  7. ↑ Richard Gaettens. Geschichte der Inflationen Von Altertum bis zum Gegenwart (German: History of Inflations from Old Ages to the Present), Argentinien, p. 230-236. ISBN: ISBN 3-87045-211-0. Referenced 2010-11-18.
  8. ↑ World Bank. "Argentina: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.
  9. ↑ World Bank. "Argentina: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.
  10. ↑ World Bank. "Argentina: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.
  11. ↑ World Bank. "Argentina: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.

Links

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