The 2008 CIA World Factbook, United States. Central Intelligence Agency [primary phonics books .TXT] 📗

10, PJ 10, PRO 6, CC 16, FJ 2, other 31; note - Senate and Chamber of Deputies seating reflect the number of replaced senators and deputies, rather than the whole Senate and Chamber of Deputies

Judicial branch:

Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (the nine Supreme Court judges are appointed by the president with approval of the Senate) note: the Supreme Court currently has two unfilled vacancies, and the Argentine Congress is considering a bill to reduce the number of Supreme Court judges to five

Political parties and leaders:

Coalicion Civica (a broad coalition loosely affiliated with Elisa CARRIO); Front for Victory or FV (a broad coalition, including elements of the UCR and numerous provincial parties) [Cristina FERNANDEZ DE KIRCHNER]; Interbloque Federal or IF (a broad coalition of approximately 12 parties including PRO); Justicialist Front or FJ; Justicialist Party or PJ (Peronist umbrella political organization); Radical Civic Union or UCR [Gerardo MORALES]; Republican Proposal or PRO (including Federal Recreate Movement or RECREAR [Ricardo LOPEZ MURPHY] and Commitment for Change or CPC [Mauricio MACRI]); Socialist Party or PS [Ruben GIUSTINIANI]; Union For All [Patricia BULLRICH]; several provincial parties

Political pressure groups and leaders:

Argentine Association of Pharmaceutical Labs (CILFA); Argentine Industrial Union (manufacturers' association); Argentine Rural Confederation or CRA (small to medium landowners' association); Argentine Rural Society (large landowners' association); Central of Argentine Workers or CTA (a radical union for employed and unemployed workers); General Confederation of Labor or CGT (Peronist-leaning umbrella labor organization); Roman Catholic Church other: business organizations; Peronist-dominated labor movement; Piquetero groups (popular protest organizations that can be either pro or anti-government); students

International organization participation:

AfDB (nonregional members), Australia Group, BCIE, BIS, CAN
(associate), FAO, G-15, G-24, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC,
ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO,
Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur,
MIGA, MINURSO, MINUSTAH, NSG, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN,
UNASUR, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, Union Latina
(observer), UNTSO, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO,
ZC

Diplomatic representation in the US:

chief of mission: Ambassador Hector Marcos TIMERMAN chancery: 1600 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009 telephone: [1] (202) 238-6400 FAX: [1] (202) 332-3171 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York

Diplomatic representation from the US:

chief of mission: Ambassador Earl Anthony WAYNE embassy: Avenida Colombia 4300, C1425GMN Buenos Aires mailing address: international mail: use embassy street address; APO address: US Embassy Buenos Aires, Unit 4334, APO AA 34034 telephone: [54] (11) 5777-4533 FAX: [54] (11) 5777-4240

Flag description:

three equal horizontal bands of light blue (top), white, and light blue; centered in the white band is a radiant yellow sun with a human face known as the Sun of May

Economy
Argentina

Economy - overview:

Argentina benefits from rich natural resources, a highly literate population, an export-oriented agricultural sector, and a diversified industrial base. Although one of the world's wealthiest countries 100 years ago, Argentina suffered during most of the 20th century from recurring economic crises, persistent fiscal and current account deficits, high inflation, mounting external debt, and capital flight. A severe depression, growing public and external indebtedness, and a bank run culminated in 2001 in the most serious economic, social, and political crisis in the country's turbulent history. Interim President Adolfo RODRIGUEZ SAA declared a default - the largest in history - on the government's foreign debt in December of that year, and abruptly resigned only a few days after taking office. His successor, Eduardo DUHALDE, announced an end to the peso's decade-long 1-to-1 peg to the US dollar in early 2002. The economy bottomed out that year, with real GDP 18% smaller than in 1998 and almost 60% of Argentines under the poverty line. Real GDP rebounded to grow by an average 9% annually over the subsequent five years, taking advantage of previously idled industrial capacity and labor, an audacious debt restructuring and reduced debt burden, excellent international financial conditions, and expansionary monetary and fiscal policies. Inflation, however, reached double-digit levels in 2006 and the government of President Nestor KIRCHNER responded with "voluntary" price agreements with businesses, as well as export taxes and restraints. Multi-year price freezes on electricity and natural gas rates for residential users stoked consumption and kept private investment away, leading to restrictions on industrial use and blackouts in 2007.

GDP (purchasing power parity):

$526.4 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

$260 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

8.7% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

$13,100 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 9.5% industry: 34% services: 56.5% (2007 est.)

Labor force:

16.03 million note: urban areas only (2007 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 1% industry: 23% services: 76% (2007 est.)

Unemployment rate:

8.5% (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line:

23.4% (January-June 2007)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:

lowest 10%: 1% highest 10%: 35% (January-March 2007)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:

49 (2006)

Investment (gross fixed):

24.2% of GDP (2007 est.)

Budget:

revenues: $48.99 billion expenditures: $61.23 billion (2007 est.)

Fiscal year:

calendar year

Public debt:

56.1% of GDP (2007 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

8.8% official rate; actual rate may be double the official rate (2007 est.)

Central bank discount rate:

NA

Commercial bank prime lending rate:

11.05% (31 December 2007)

Stock of money:

$33.93 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of quasi money:

$45.92 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of domestic credit:

$72.55 billion (31 December 2007)

Agriculture - products:

sunflower seeds, lemons, soybeans, grapes, corn, tobacco, peanuts, tea, wheat; livestock

Industries:

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

Industrial production growth rate:

7.5% (2007 est.)

Electricity - production:

109.4 billion kWh (2006 est.)

Electricity - consumption:

97.72 billion kWh (2006 est.)

Electricity - exports:

2.628 billion kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - imports:

10.27 billion kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - production by source:

fossil fuel: 52.2% hydro: 40.8% nuclear: 6.7% other: 0.2% (2001)

Oil - production:

790,800 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - consumption:

525,100 bbl/day (2006 est.)

Oil - exports:

339,900 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - imports:

23,380 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - proved reserves:

2.587 billion bbl (1 January 2008 est.)

Natural gas - production:

44.8 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:

44.1 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - exports:

2.6 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - imports:

1.9 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:

446 billion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)

Current account balance:

$7.438 billion (2007 est.)

Exports:

$55.78 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities:

soybeans and derivatives, petroleum and gas, vehicles, corn, wheat

Exports - partners:

Brazil 19.1%, China 9.4%, US 7.9%, Chile 7.6% (2007)

Imports:

$42.53 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities:

machinery, motor vehicles, petroleum and natural gas, organic chemicals, plastics

Imports - partners:

Brazil 34.6%, US 12.6%, China 12%, Germany 5% (2007)

Economic aid - recipient:

$99.66 million (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:

$46.12 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt - external:

$135.8 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:

$65.31 billion (2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:

$26.26 billion (2007 est.)

Market value of publicly traded shares:

$79.73 billion (2006)

Currency (code):

Argentine peso (ARS)

Currency code:

ARS

Exchange rates:

Argentine pesos (ARS) per US dollar - 3.1105 (2007), 3.0543 (2006), 2.9037 (2005), 2.9233 (2004), 2.9006 (2003)

Communications
Argentina

Telephones - main lines in use:

9.5 million (2007)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

40.402 million (2007)

Telephone system:

general assessment: by opening the telecommunications market to competition and foreign investment with the "Telecommunications Liberalization Plan of 1998," Argentina encouraged the growth of modern telecommunications technology; fiber-optic cable trunk lines are being installed between all major cities; major networks are entirely digital and the availability of telephone service is improving; fixed-line telephone density is gradually increasing reaching nearly 25 lines per 100 people in 2007; mobile telephone subscribership has been increasing rapidly and has reached a level of 100 telephones per 100 persons domestic: microwave radio relay, fiber-optic cable, and a domestic satellite system with 40 earth stations serve the trunk network; more than 110,000 pay telephones are installed and mobile telephone use is rapidly expanding; broadband services are gaining ground international: country code - 54; landing point for the Atlantis-2, UNISUR, and South America-1 optical submarine cable systems that provide links to Europe, Africa, South and Central America, and US; satellite earth stations - 112; 2 international gateways near Buenos Aires (2007)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 260 (includes 10 inactive stations), FM (probably more than 1,000, mostly unlicensed), shortwave 6 (1998)

Radios:

24.3 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations:

42 (plus 444 repeaters) (1997)

Televisions:

7.95 million (1997)

Internet country code:

.ar

Internet hosts:

3.813 million (2008)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

33 (2000)

Internet users:

9.309 million (2007)

Transportation
Argentina

Airports:

1,272 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 154 over 3,047 m: 4 2,438 to 3,047 m: 26 1,524 to 2,437 m: 65 914 to 1,523 m: 50 under 914 m: 9 (2007)

Airports - with unpaved runways:

total: 1,118 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 44 914 to 1,523 m: 515 under 914 m: 556 (2007)

Heliports:

1 (2007)

Pipelines:

gas 28,657 km; liquid petroleum gas 41 km; oil 5,607 km; refined products 3,052 km; unknown (oil/water) 13 km (2007)

Railways:

total: 31,902 km broad gauge: 20,858 km 1.676-m gauge (141 km electrified) standard gauge: 2,885 km 1.435-m gauge (26 km electrified) narrow gauge: 7,922 km 1.000-m gauge; 237 km 0.750-m gauge (2006)

Roadways:

total: 231,374 km paved: 69,412 km (includes 734 km of expressways) unpaved: 161,962 km (2004)

Waterways:

11,000 km (2006)

Merchant marine:

total: 46 by type: bulk carrier 3, cargo 9, chemical tanker 2, container 1, passenger 1, passenger/cargo 3, petroleum tanker 24, refrigerated cargo 2, roll on/roll off 1 foreign-owned: 14 (Brazil 1, Chile 7, Spain 2, UK 4) registered in other countries: 19 (Liberia 3, Panama 8, Paraguay 5, Uruguay 3) (2008)

Ports and terminals:

Arroyo Seco, Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires, La Plata, Punta Colorada,
Rosario, San Lorenzo-San Martin

Military
Argentina

Military branches:

Argentine Army (Ejercito Argentino), Navy of the Argentine Republic
(Armada Republica; includes naval aviation and naval infantry),
Argentine Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Argentina, FAA) (2008)

Military service age and obligation:

18-24 years of age for voluntary military service (18-21 requires parental permission); no conscription (2001)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 10,029,488 females age 16-49: 9,889,002 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16-49: 8,352,147 females age 16-49: 8,366,781 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 348,310 female: 332,944 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

1.3% of GDP (2005 est.)

Military - note:

the Argentine military is a well-organized force constrained by the country's prolonged economic hardship; the country has recently experienced a strong recovery, and the military is implementing a modernization plan aimed at making the ground forces lighter and more responsive (2008)

Transnational Issues
Argentina

Disputes - international:

Argentina continues to assert its claims to the UK-administered Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia, and the South Sandwich Islands in its constitution, forcibly occupying the Falklands in 1982, but in 1995 agreed no longer to seek settlement by force; territorial claim in Antarctica partially overlaps UK and Chilean claims; unruly region at convergence of Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay borders is locus of money laundering, smuggling, arms and illegal narcotics trafficking, and fundraising for extremist organizations; uncontested dispute between Brazil and Uruguay over Braziliera/Brasiliera Island in the Quarai/Cuareim River leaves the tripoint with Argentina in question; in 2006, Argentina went to the ICJ to protest, on environmental grounds, the construction of two pulp mills in Uruguay on the Uruguay River, which forms the boundary; both parties