Country Facts - Argentina

The People

Nationality
Argentine(s)

Ethnic Composition

Caucasian	97%
Mestizo, Amerindian, and other	3%

Religious Composition

Roman Catholic-nominal	92%
Protestant	2%
Jewish	2%
Other	4%

Languages Spoken

Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, and French.

Education and Literacy

Seven years of schooling is compulsory and the adult literacy rate stands at 96.2 percent.

Labor Force

Total: 15 million

By occupation:

Services	57%
Industry	31%
Agriculture	12%

Geography

Land Mass Total

2,766,890 sq km

Land

2,736,690 sq km

Water

30,200 sq km

Land Boundaries

Total: 9,665 km

Border countries:
Bolivia 832 km
Brazil 1,224 km
Chile 5,150 km
Paraguay 1,880 km
Uruguay 579 km

Coastline

4,989 km

Maritime claim

Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate/Weather

Mostly temperate; arid in southeast; sub-Antarctic in southwest.

Terrain

Rich plains of the Pampas in northern half, flat to rolling plateau of Patagonia in south, rugged Andes along western border.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Salinas Chicas -40 m (located on Peninsula Valdés)
Highest: Cerro Aconcagua 6,960 m

Natural Resources

Fertile plains of the Pampas, lead, zinc, tin, copper, iron ore, manganese, petroleum, uranium.

Land use

Arable land	9%
Permanent crops	1%
Permanent pastures	N/A%
Forests and woodland	N/A%
Other	90%

(1998)

Natural hazards

San Miguel de Tucumán and Mendoza areas in the Andes subject to earthquakes; pamperos are violent windstorms that can strike the Pampas and northeast; heavy flooding.

Environment - current issues

Environmental problems (urban and rural) typical of an industrializing economy--soil degradation, desertification, air pollution, and water pollution.

Geography Note

Argentina is the second-largest country in South America (after Brazil). The country occupies a strategic location relative to sea lanes between the South Atlantic and the South Pacific Oceans (Strait of Magellan, Beagle Channel, Drake Passage); Cerro Aconcagua is South America's tallest mountain, while the Valdes Peninsula is the lowest point on the continent.

Demographics

Population

37,812,817 (July 2002)

Age structure

0-14 years:	26.3%	Male: 5,090,046	Female: 4,854,761
15-64 years:	63.2%	Male: 11,968,135	Female: 11,937,709
65 years and over:	10.5%	Male: 1,636,332	Female: 2,325,834

Growth Rate

1.13% (2002)

Life Expectancy

75.48 years

Female: 79.03 years
Male: 72.1 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
$12,000 (2001)

Infant Mortality

17.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	1 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.7 male(s)/female
Total population:	0.98 male(s)/female

Net migration rate

0.63 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

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 percent 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 U.S. 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 percent 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 percent. 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 percent of GDP in 1999.
Growth in 2000 was a negative 0.5 percent, 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 U.S. 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.
Throughout 2002, the Argentine economy went from bad to worse. Negotiations with the IMF for a bailout package sputtered along without much hope in the aftermath of Argentina's default on portions of its US$141 billion sovereign debt at the end of 2001. Though such a move is usually a death knell for an economy's chances in the international debt markets, Argentina managed to negotiate a deal with the IMF in January 2003. Under the contract, Argentina would receive a US$2.98 billion loan to pay off its current debts to multilateral organizations along with a postponement of US$3.8 billion of back debt to the IMF. This latter move was meant to give the economy some breathing room until the April 2003 elections.

Unemployment

25% (yearend 2001)

Inflation Rate

4% (2001)

Industries

Food processing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, textiles, chemicals and petrochemicals, printing, metallurgy, steel.

Exports

US$26.5 billion (f.o.b., 2000)

Imports

US$23.8 billion (f.o.b., 2000)

Total Trade

GDP US$453 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

Brazil 26.5%, US 11.8%, Chile 10.6%, Spain 3.5% (2000)

Top Import Partners

Brazil 25.1%, US 18.7%, Germany 5%, China 4.6% (2000)

Top Exports

Edible oils, fuels and energy, cereals, feed, motor vehicles.

Top Imports

Machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, metal manufactures, plastics.

Industries

Food processing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, textiles, chemicals and petrochemicals, printing, metallurgy, steel

Debt - external

US$155 billion (2001)

Economic aid

US$10 billion (2001)

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	8a.m. to 6p.m.	Closed
Retail	9a.m. to 8p.m. In the north, shops often close at noon for siesta.	Saturday 9a.m. to 1p.m.
Banks	10a.m. to 3p.m. Hours vary according to city and season.	Closed
Government	9a.m. to 8p.m. In the north, shops often close at noon for siesta.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Holy Thursday¹	April 17	April 8	March 24
Good Friday	April 18	April 9	March 25
Easter²	April 20	April 11	March 27
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Anniversary of the May Revolution	May 25	May 25	May 25
Malvinas Day³	June 10	June 10	June 10
Flag Day*¹	June 20	June 20	June 20
Independence Day	July 9	July 9	July 9
Death of General Jose de San Martin	August 17	August 17	August 17
Columbus Day*²	October 8	October 8	October 8
Immaculate Conception	December 8	December 8	December 8
Christmas Day*³	December 25	December 25	December 25
Bank Holiday	December 31	December 31	December 31

¹	Observed the Thursday before Easter. This feast commemorates the institution of the Eucharist, and is one of the oldest rituals of Christian Holy Week. Maundy, or Holy Thursday also marks the beginning of Passover.
²	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21). In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
³	Celebrated on the Monday closest to June 10
*¹	Celebrated on the Monday closest to June 20.
*²	Traditionally celebrated on October 12 in honor of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas; was changed in Argentina due to elections the following week.
*³	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press