sive 6% advance, 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. Much remains
to be done in the 1990s in dismantling the old statist barriers to
growth and in solidifying the recent economic gains.
National product:
GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $185 billion (1993 est.)
National product real growth rate:
6% (1993 est.)
National product per capita:
$5,500 (1993 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
7.4% (1993 est.)
Unemployment rate:
10% (1993)
Budget:
revenues:
$33.1 billion
expenditures:
$35.8 billion, including capital expenditures of $3.5 billion (1992)
Exports:
$12.7 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities:
meat, wheat, corn, oilseed, hides, wool
partners:
US 12%, Brazil, Italy, Japan, Netherlands
Imports:
$16 billion (c.i.f., 1993 est.)
commodities:
machinery and equipment, chemicals, metals, fuels and lubricants,
agricultural products
partners:
US 22%, Brazil, Germany, Bolivia, Japan, Italy, Netherlands
External debt:
$73 billion (April 1994)
Industrial production:
growth rate 10% (1992 est.); accounts for 31% of GDP
Electricity:
capacity:
17,911,000 kW
production:
51.305 billion kWh
consumption per capita:
1,559 kWh (1992)
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
Illicit drugs:
increasing use as a transshipment country for cocaine headed for the
US and Europe
Economic aid:
recipient:
US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $1 billion; Western
(non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $4.4
billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $718 million
Currency:
1 nuevo peso argentino = 100 centavos
Exchange rates:
pesos per US$1 - 0.99850 (January 1994), 0.99895 (1993), 0.99064
(1992), 0.95355 (1991), 0.48759 (1990), 0.04233 (1989)
Fiscal year:
calendar year

@Argentina, Communications

Railroads:
34,172 km total (includes 209 km electrified); includes a mixture of
1.435-meter standard gauge, 1.676-me