page_title: Economy of Argentina
section_title: Infrastructure
hierarchical_section_title: Economy of Argentina / Infrastructure
caption_attribution_description: English: Railway workers laying new track on the General Belgrano Railway.
context_page_description: Argentina is a developing country. It is the second-largest in South America behind Brazil.
  Argentina benefits from rich natural resources, a highly literate population, an export-oriented agricultural sector, and a diversified industrial base. Argentina's economic performance has historically been very uneven, with high economic growth alternating with severe recessions, particularly since the late twentieth century, since when income maldistribution and poverty have increased. Early in the twentieth century Argentina had one of the ten highest per capita GDP levels in the world, on par with Canada and Australia and surpassing both France and Italy.
  Argentina's currency declined by about 50% in 2018 to more than 38 Argentine pesos per U.S. Dollar and as of in that year is under a stand-by program from the International Monetary Fund. In 2019, it fell further by 25%.
  Argentina is considered an emerging market by the FTSE Global Equity Index, and is one of the G-20 major economies.
context_section_description: Argentina's transport infrastructure is relatively advanced, and at a higher standard than the rest of Latin America. There are over 230,000 km (144,000 mi) of roads (not including private rural roads) of which 72,000 km (45,000 mi) are paved, and 2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi) are expressways, many of which are privatized tollways. Having tripled in length in the last decade, multilane expressways now connect several major cities with more under construction. Expressways are, however, currently inadequate to deal with local traffic, as over 12 million motor vehicles were registered nationally as of 2012 (the highest, proportionately, in the region).
  The railway network has a total length of 37,856 kilometres (23,523 mi), though at the network's peak this figure was 47,000 km (29,204 mi). After decades of declining service and inadequate maintenance, most intercity passenger services shut down in 1992 following the privatization of the country's railways and the breaking up of the state rail company, while thousands of kilometers fell into disuse. Outside Greater Buenos Aires most rail lines still in operation are freight related, carrying around 23 million tons a year. The metropolitan rail lines in and around Buenos Aires remained in great demand owing in part to their easy access to the Buenos Aires Underground, and the commuter rail network with its 833 kilometres (518 mi) length carries around 1.4 million passengers daily.
  In April 2015, by overwhelming majority the Argentine Senate passed a law which re-created Ferrocarriles Argentinos as Nuevos Ferrocarriles Argentinos, effectively re-nationalising the country's railways. In the years leading up to this move, the country's railways had seen significant investment from the state, purchasing new rolling stock, re-opening lines closed under privatization and re-nationalising companies such as the Belgrano Cargas freight operator. Some of these re-opened services include the General Roca Railway service to Mar del Plata, the Tren a las Nubes tourist train and the General Mitre Railway service from Buenos Aires to Córdoba. while brand new services include the Posadas-Encarnación International Train.
  Inaugurated in 1913, the Buenos Aires Underground was the first underground rail system built in Latin America, the Spanish speaking world and the Southern Hemisphere. No longer the most extensive in South America, its 60 kilometres (37 mi) of track carry a million passengers daily.
  Argentina has around 11,000 km (6,835 mi) of navigable waterways, and these carry more cargo than do the country's freight railways. This includes an extensive network of canals, though Argentina is blessed with ample natural waterways as well, the most significant among these being the Río de la Plata, Paraná, Uruguay, Río Negro, and Paraguay rivers. The Port of Buenos Aires, inaugurated in 1925, is the nation's largest; it handled 11 million tons of freight and transported 1.8 million passengers in 2013.
  Aerolíneas Argentinas is the country's main airline, providing both extensive domestic and international service. Austral Líneas Aéreas is Aerolíneas Argentinas' subsidiary, with a route system that covers almost all of the country. LADE is a military-run commercial airline that flies extensive domestic services. The nation's 33 airports handled air travel totalling 25.8 million passengers in 2013, of which domestic flights carried over 14.5 million; the nation's two busiest airports, Jorge Newbery and Ministro Pistarini International Airports, boarded around 9 million flights each.
caption: Railway workers laying track on the Belgrano Railway, following state investment.
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