Economy Overview:

    Argentina, rich in natural resources, benefits also from a highly literate
    population, an export-oriented agricultural sector, and a diversified
    industrial base. Nevertheless, following decades of mismanagement and
    statist policies, the economy in the late 1980s was plagued with huge
    external debts and recurring bouts of hyperinflation. Elected in 1989, in
    the depths of recession, President MENEM has implemented a comprehensive
    economic restructuring program that shows signs of putting Argentina on a
    path of stable, sustainable growth. Argentina's currency has traded at par
    with the US dollar since April 1991, and inflation has fallen to its lowest
    level in 20 years. 
    Argentines have responded to the relative price stability
    by repatriating flight capital and investing in domestic industry. The
    economy registered an impressive 6% advance in 1994, fueled largely by
    inflows of foreign capital and strong domestic consumption spending. The
    government's major short term objective is encouraging exports, e.g., by
    reducing domestic costs of production. At the start of 1995, the government
    had to deal with the spillover from international financial movements
    associated with the devaluation of the Mexican peso. In addition,
    unemployment had become a serious issue for the government. Despite average
    annual 7% growth in 1991-94, unemployment surprisingly has doubled - due
    mostly to layoffs in government bureaus and in privatized industrial firms
    and utilities and, to a lesser degree, to illegal immigration. Much remains
    to be done in the 1990s in dismantling the old statist barriers to growth,
    extending the recent economic gains, and bringing down the rate of
    unemployment.


National product:
    GDP - purchasing power parity - $270.8 billion (1994 est.)
National product real growth rate:
    6% (1994 est.)
National product per capita:
    $7,990 (1994 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
    3.9% (1994 est.)
Unemployment rate:
    12% (1994 est.)
Budget:
  revenues:
    $48.46 billion
  expenditures:
    $46.5 billion, including capital expenditures of $3.5 billion (1994 est.)


Industrial production:

    growth rate 12.5% accounts for 31% of GDP (1994 est.)


Electricity:
  capacity:
    17,330,000 kW
  production:
    54.8 billion kWh
  consumption per capita:
    1,610 kWh (1993)


Economic Activity

Industries:

    food processing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, textiles, chemicals and
    petrochemicals, printing, metallurgy, steel
Agriculture:
    accounts for 8% of GDP (including fishing); produces abundant food for both
    domestic consumption and exports; among world's top five exporters of grain
    and beef; principal crops - wheat, corn, sorghum, soybeans, sugar beets

Exports:

    $15.7 billion (f.o.b., 1994 est.)
  Commodities:
    meat, wheat, corn, oilseed, manufactures
   Major Trade Partners::
    US 12%, Brazil, Italy, Japan, Netherlands


Imports:

    $21.4 billion (c.i.f., 1994 est.)
  Commodities:
    machinery and equipment, chemicals, metals, fuels and lubricants,
    agricultural products
   Major Trade Partners::
    US 22%, Brazil, Germany, Bolivia, Japan, Italy, Netherlands
External debt:
    $73 billion (April 1994)