Argentina: The Soy Dollar Experience
A shrewd policy move helped turn Argentina's soybean surplus into hard currency reserves for the government.
Argentina GDP and Economic Data
Includes Argentina real Gross Domestic Product growth rate, with latest forecasts and historical data, GDP per capita, GDP composition and breakdown by sector.
Browse additional economic indicators and data sets, selected by Global Finance editors, to learn more about Argentina economic outlook, debt to GDP ratio, international trade performance and population trends. Rankings of Argentina best banks and safest banks are also available.
Advertisement
Source
International Reserves
USD 39.40 billion (2020)
World Bank, last updated 12/16/2021
Gross Domestic Product - GDP
USD 455.17 billion (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
Source
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity)
USD 1,049.40 billion (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
Source
Real GDP growth
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019* | 2020* | 2021* |
| 2.8% | -2.6% | -2.1% | –9.9% | 7.5% |
*Estimate
Source
GDP per capita - current prices
USD 9,929.15 (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
Source
GDP per capita - PPP
USD 22,891.70 (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
Source
GDP (PPP) - share of world total
0.73% (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
Source
Advertisement
Source
GDP - composition by sector
- agriculture: 6.8%
- industry: 22.5%
- services: 54.3%
(2020 estimate)
Gross domestic expenditure on R&D; (% of GDP)
0.5% (2019)
OECD, retrieved January 2022
Inflation
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019* | 2020* | 2021 |
| 25.7% | 34.3% | 53.5% | 42% | N/A |
*Estimate
Source
Unemployment rate
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019* | 2020* | 2021* |
| 8.4% | 9.2% | 9.8% | 11.6% | 10.0% |
*Estimate
Source
Public debt (General government gross debt as a % of GDP)
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019* | 2020* | 2021 |
| 57% | 85.2% | 88.7% | 102.8% | N/A |
*Estimate
Source
Public deficit (General government net lending/borrowing as a % of GDP)
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019* | 2020* | 2021 |
| -4.2% | -2.2% | -0.4% | –6.2% | N/A |
*Estimate
Source
Government bond ratings
Standard & Poor's: CCC+
Moody's rating: Ca
Standard & Poor's / Moody's
Source
Market value of publicly traded shares
USD 39.4 billion (2019)
World Bank / Market capitalization
Source
Current account balance
USD 4.5 billion (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
Source
Current account balance by percentage of GDP
0.99% (2021 estimate)
IMF - World Economic Outlook, October 2021
Source
Exports as percent of GDP (Exports of goods and services)
16.6% (2020) 29.8% (2020)
World Bank - World Development Indicators (updated Feb 2022) World Bank - World Development Indicators (updated Feb 2022)
Shares in world total merchandising export
0.31% (2020)
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Shares in world total commercial services export
0.2% (2020)
Compiled by GFMag - Based on World Bank - World Development Indicators
Total exports
USD 64.2 billion (2020 estimate)
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Export commodities
Soybean products, corn, delivery trucks, wheat, frozen meat, gold (2019)
Total imports
USD 52.1 billion (2020 estimate)
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Advertisement
Source
Import commodities
Cars, refined petroleum, vehicle parts, natural gas, soybeans (2019)
Exports - major partners
Brazil 16%, China 11%, United States 7%, Chile 5% (2019)
Imports - major partners
Brazil 21%, China 18%, US 14%, Germany 6% (2019)
FDI inflows
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| USD 11.9 billion | USD 6.7 billion | USD 4.1 billion |
FDI outflows
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| USD 1.8 billion | USD 1.5 billion | USD 1.2 billion |
Value of cross-border M&A, by country of purchaser
| 2017 | 2018 | 2018 | 2020 |
| USD 540 million | USD -270 million | USD 419 million | USD 109 million |
Cross-border M&A deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2014
N/A
Cross-border M&A deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2015
N/A
Best countries for doing business
Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm.
Overall ranking:
126 out of 190 countries
Subcategories:
Starting a Business: 141 out of 190 countries
Dealing with Construction Permits: 155 out of 190 countries
Getting Electricity: 111 out of 190 countries
Registering Property: 123 out of 190 countries
Getting Credit: 104 out of 190 countries
Protecting Minority Investors: 61 out of 190 countries
Paying Taxes: 170 out of 190 countries
Trading across Borders: 119 out of 190 countries
Enforcing Contracts: 97 out of 190 countries
Resolving Insolvency: 111 out of 190 countries
World Bank - Doing Business 2020
Source
Global competitiveness ranking
83 out of 141 countries
(2019)
Index of Economic Freedom
Ranking: 144 / Score: 50.1 (Mostly Unfree)
(100=totally free 0=totally repressed)
The Heritage Foundation - 2022 Index of Economic Freedom
Source
Source
Languages
Spanish (official), Italian, English, German, French, indigenous (Mapudungun, Quechua)
Religions
Nominally Roman Catholic 92% (less than 20% practicing), Protestant 2%, Jewish 2%, other 4%
Total population
| 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020* |
| 32.53 million | 36.78 million | 40.79 million | 43.13 million | 45.55 million |
*Estimate
Source
Advertisement
Source
Urban population as % of total population
| 1960 | 1980 | 2000 | 2018 |
| 73.6% | 82.9% | 89.1% | 91.9% |
Literacy
Total population: 99.1%
Male: 99.1%
Female: 99.1%
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2016 est.)
% of population living on less than $3.10 a day
2.4% (last available estimate, 2017)
Inequality of wealth distribution (Gini index)
41.2 (last available estimate, 2017)
(0=perfect equality, 100=absolute inequality)
Source
Freedom House rating
Free
Political Rights: 2
Civil Liberties: 2 (2019)
(1 represents the most free, 7 the least free rating)
Source
Total telephone subscribers as % of population
Fixed: 21.9%
Mobile: 132.1%
(2018)
(fixed-telephone subscribers and mobile-cellular subscribers)