Global IssuesArgentina On the Path to Sustainable Development?
This year will be the ninth straight year of impressive economic growth for Argentina. Some analysts say the international context is the key to the high rates of growth since 2003, while others stress that there are also internal factors behind the expansion.
The latest report by the Association of Automobile Manufacturers (ADEFA) points to a record year last year, with over 724,000 cars produced, 41 percent more than in 2009, when the industry was already one of the stars of the national economy. The main destination for automobile exports is Brazil, Argentina's partner -- along with the much smaller Paraguay and Uruguay -- in the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) trade bloc. This year, ADEFA projects more moderate growth, of 12 percent from 2010.
Significant growth was also seen in other areas. Sales of electronics climbed 67 percent and sales in shopping centres grew nearly 40 percent, while the rise in construction was 10 percent and the grain harvest hit a record of 95 million tonnes. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reported that South America grew 6.6 percent in 2010, while growth in Argentina reached 8.4 percent.
The Argentine government of Cristina Fernández put growth for 2010 at 8.9 percent. From 2003 to 2008, Argentina's economy grew an average 8.5 percent per year. And despite the impact of the global economic crisis, the national economy even managed to grow in 2009 -- 0.9 percent, compared to -1.9 percent for Latin America as a whole, according to ECLAC.
In 2010, investment rose 17 percent, exports went up 24 percent and imports expanded by 45 percent, according to figures from the Secretariat of Economic Policy exclusively published by the Página 12 newspaper. In addition, unemployment fell to 7.3 percent, while poverty continues to decline, although at a slower rate than in previous years.
Experts agree that the main challenges facing the centre-left Fernández administration this year are reducing precarious employment and extreme poverty, and controlling inflation, which stands at around 25 percent a year according to private-sector forecasters, who are sceptical of the much lower figures reported by the National Statistics and Census Institute.
'For 2011, we estimate that growth will be between six and 6.5 percent, because the situation in the world, with low interest rates and a weak dollar, makes a continued high level of consumption possible,' economist Marina Dal Poggetto told IPS.
© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service