ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
POPULATION: 34 millon
CONTINENTAL AREA: 1.9 millon sq. miles
GDO (1996): U$S 295 billon
GDP PER CAPITA: U$S 8,700 millon
EXPORTS (F.O.B.): U$S 23,700 millon
IMPORTS (C:i.F.): U$S 23,400 millon
LITERACY RATE: 96.3%
INHABITANTS P/ PHYSICIAN: 370
LIFE EXPENTANCY: 71 years
URBAN POPULATION: 87%
GEOGRAPHY & CLIMATE: Argentina is the 8th. largest country in the World. Its topography is highly varied, ranking from fertile plains in the central region to mountains in the west and a semi-arid zone in the south. The cimate varies from the subtropical to the subantartic. Between these two extremes lies a wide temperate belt well suited to agriculture & agronomy.
SOCIAL CONFIGURATION: The population of Argentina is mainly of Spanish an Italian descent, although it also includes people of many other national regions (central europe, middle and far east etc.) Different ethnic and religious groups coexist peacefully. Most of the population belongs to the middle class. The literacy rate is high, as well as the enrollment rate in elementary, secondary and higher education. Labor is comparable in skills and apptitudes with that of most developed countries, especially at technical and proffesional levels.
POLITICAL SYSTEM: Argentina is a federal republic organized under a Constitution (1994) similar to that of the United States of America. It enjoys a democratic political sistem (since 1983) in which different parties activly compete. Moderate parties are dominant as the population provides steady to sound economic policies (Most popular national parties are: Justicialista and Alianza).
ECONOMIC SYSTEM: Argentina has a free market economic system. Due to the privatization program initiated a decade ago, the State now has a very limited role in the economy. The 1994 Report of the World Economic Forum classifies Argentina as the most open, least protectionist country in the world. Its currency is convertible to USD and there is total freedom for moving capital internationally.
CONVERTIBILITY: The exchange rate is fixed at 1 Argentine Peso = 1 US Dollar and can be modified only by a new Congressional Law. The existing "Convertibility Law" requieres that the Central Bank sell USD at this rate as demmanded by the market and fully back the money in circulation with gold and foreign currency. There are no exchange controls and there is total freedom for capital movements either coming in or leaving the country.
PRIVATIZATIONS: Argentina has conducted one of the most intensive privatizations programs in the world. The telephone company, airlines, most railroads, subways, electric power production companies (including hydroelectric power plants), the Argentine oil company (YPF), steel mills, ports, TV stations & radios and most public services were transferred to the private sector in the early´s 1990´s. The combined value of privatizated firms amounted to U$S 27,1 billon by the end of 1995. Many foreign firms hava participated in this large scale privatization program.
MERCOSUR: Is the common market formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (effective January 1, 1995), with Bolivia and Chile as associated countries (negotiations are under way to progressively include other neighboring countries). The combined population of the four countries is 200 millon and the total GDP is approximately U$S 1 trillon. Since January, 1995 a common external tariff has been established, and most products enjoy unrestricted circulation.
FOREIGN INVERSTORS: Foreign investors do not need to seek any kind of prior approval and are free to repatriate the full amount of their capital and earnings at any time. Foreignd and domestic companies are trated equally.
GROWTH
LOW INFLATION
INVESTMENT
TRADE****EXPORTS****IMPORTS
GEOGRAPHY: Comprising the southern half of South América, Argentina is the worlds´s eighth largest country, covering a concentrate area of 1.9 millon sq. miles. Argentina possesses some of the world' s talles mountains after the Himalayas, expansive deserts and impressive waterfalls, with thw diversity of the land ranging from wild, remote areas in the sothern Patagonia to deep and tropical forrest in te Mesopotamia and the bustling metrópolis of Buenos Aires in the middle of the Pampa. Its six major regions are as follows:
Cuyo & the Andean Northwest
This area surrounding the Andes was a colony of the Inca Empire, but today only a few miners and herders occupy this unforgiving region of volcanic peaks and salt lakes. Very little rain falls in Cuyo, through to the east are found the fertile river valleys and subtropical lowlands of the Gran Chaco.
Mesopotamia & the Northeast
Mesopotamia, a broad, flat plain between the Paraná and Uruguay Rivers in northern Argentina, is wet, swampy and extremly hot during the summer. The northern province of Misiones, a more mountanious region nearly enclosed by Brazil and Paraguay, is densely forested and contains a section of the majestic Iguazú Falls.
The Chaco
This parched area in the west is part of the enormous Gran Chaco, a region that Argentina shares with Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil. The Chaco contains both grassland and thorny forrests.
The Pampas
These fertile plains are Argentina´s breadbasket. They consist of the Humid Pampas along the seaboard and the Dry Pampas in the west and south. The region includes the capital Buenos Aires, as well as the world-class beaches of its surrounding area.
Patagonia
Much of Patagonia, and almost all of the area south of the Colorado River, experiences a desert climate, altrough temperatures range from mild to subzero and terrain varies from bucolic river valleys to the gigantic, ice-caped southern Andes. Its cool grazing grounds support enormous flocks of sheep, and numerous fruit and vegetable farms can be found in the valleys. Patagonia also hlds vast reserves of natural gas and coal.
Tierra del Fuego & Islas Malvinas
The Land of Fire is actually an archipiélago including the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (wich Argentina shares with neighbouring Chile) an numerous smaller islands. Northern Isla Gande is similar in terrain to Patagonia´s plains, while the south is filled with forrest and glaciers. The archipiélago of Malvinas is still (after 150 years) under International claim against British ocupation.
FM 98.3 NEWS -
Buenos Aires - Argentina
