Argentina

In 1816, the United Provinces of the Rio Plata declared their independence from Spain. After Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay went their separate ways, the area that remained became Argentina. The country's population and culture were heavily shaped by immigrants from throughout Europe, but most particularly Italy and Spain, which provided the largest percentage of newcomers from 1860 to 1930. Up until about the mid-20th century, much of Argentina's history was dominated by periods of internal political conflict between Federalists and Unitarians and between civilian and military factions. After World War II, an era of Peronist populism and direct and indirect military interference in subsequent governments was followed by a military junta that took power in 1976. Democracy returned in 1983 after a failed bid to seize the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands by force, and has persisted despite numerous challenges, the most formidable of which was a severe economic crisis in 2001-02 that led to violent public protests and the successive resignations of several presidents.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Peso (ISO code: ARS)
* Central bank discount rate: NA%
* Commercial banks lending rate: 19.47% (31 December 2008)
* Stock of money (M1): $32.57 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $46.18 billion (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Argentina: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28. 	283 523	284 204	268 697	102 040	129 597	153 129	183 193	214 066	262 421	328 465
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Argentina: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Argentina: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28. 	 	 	 	14.056 	17.200 	18.136 	 	 	 	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Argentina: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.	 	 	 	19.677 	19.837 	18.289 	 	 	 	
Debt to revenue (years) 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
==References==
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
==External links==
* Argentina on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Argentina
* Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
* BBC country profile
* Constitutional Showdown in Argentina by Mary Anastasia O'Grady, January 2010
* For Argentina's Sizzling Economy, a Cap on Steak Prices by Larry Rohter, April 2006
Category:Countries