$25.3 billion f.o.b. (2002)
Exports - commodities:
edible oils, fuels and energy, cereals, feed, motor vehicles
Exports - partners:
Brazil 23.6%, US 10.9%, Chile 9.7%, Spain 4.3% (2002)
Imports:
$9 billion f.o.b. (2002)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, metal
manufactures, plastics
Imports - partners:
Brazil 42%, US 12.8%, Germany 4.4% (2002)
Debt - external:
$155 billion (2001 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$10 billion (2001 est.)
Currency:
Argentine peso (ARS)
Currency code:
ARS
Exchange rates:
Argentine pesos per US dollar - 3.06 (2002), 1 (2001), 1 (2000), 1
(1999), 1 (1998)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
Communications Argentina
Telephones - main lines in use:
7.5 million (1998)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
3 million (December 1999)
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 telecommunication technology; fiber-optic cable trunk lines
are being installed between all major cities; the major networks are
entirely digital and the availability of telephone service is being
improved; however, telephone density is presently minimal, and
making telephone service universally available will take time
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
international: satellite earth stations - 8 Intelsat (Atlantic
Ocean); Atlantis II and Unisur submarine cables; two international
gateways near Buenos Aires (1999)
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 260 (including 10 inactive stations), FM NA (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 Service Providers (ISPs):
33 (2000)
Internet users:
3.88 million (2001)
Transportation Argentina
Railways:
total: 34,463 km (168 km electrified)
broad gauge: 20,736 km 1.676-m gauge (142 km electrified)
standard gauge: 3,115 km 1.435-m gauge (26 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 10,375 km 1.000-m gauge; 237 km 0.750-m gauge (2002)
Highways:
total: 215,471 km
paved: 63,348 km (including 734 km of expressways)
unpaved: 152,123 km (1999)
Waterways:
10,950 km
Pipelines:
gas 26,797 km; liquid petroleum gas 41 km; oil 3,668 km; refined
products 2,945 km; unknown (oil/water) 13 km (2003)
Ports and harbors:
Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires, Comodoro Rivadavia, Concepcion del
Uruguay, La Plata, Mar del Plata, Necochea, Rio Gallegos, Rosario,
Santa Fe, Ushuaia
Merchant marine:
total: 23 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 141,851 GRT/208,821 DWT
ships by type: cargo 9, petroleum tanker 8, railcar carrier 1,
refrigerated cargo 2, roll on/roll off 1, short-sea passenger 1,
specialized tanker 1, includes some foreign-owned ships registered
here as a flag of convenience: United Arab Emirates 1, Uruguay 1
(2002 est.)
Airports:
1,342 (2002)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 145
over 3,047 m: 4
2,438 to 3,047 m: 26
1,524 to 2,437 m: 62
914 to 1,523 m: 44
under 914 m: 9 (2002)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 1,197
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 50
914 to 1,523 m: 572
under 914 m: 571 (2002)
Military Argentina
Military branches:
Argentine Army, Navy of the Argentine Republic (includes naval
aviation and Marines), Coast Guard, Argentine Air Force, National
Gendarmerie, National Aeronautical Police Force
Military manpower - military age:
20 years of age (2003 est.)
Military manpower - availability:
males age 15–49: 9,780,063 (2003 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15–49: 7,942,837 (2003 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 331,011 (2003 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$4.3 billion (FY99)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.3% (FY00)
Transnational Issues Argentina
Disputes - international:
claims UK-administered Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and South
Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in its constitution, but in
1995 ceded the right to settle the dispute by force; Beagle Channel
islands dispute resolved through Papal mediation in 1984, but