PESTEL ANALYSIS OF ARGENTINA

Efforts By: Naman Jain

INTRODUCTION
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic is a federal republic located in southeastern South America. Covering most of the Southern Cone, it is bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, Brazil to the northeast, Uruguay and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Chile to the west and the waters of the Drake Passage to the south. It is the world's eighth largest country, covering an area of 2.8 million square km. Argentina possesses some of the world's tallest mountains, expansive deserts, and impressive waterfalls, with the diversity of the land ranging from wild, remote areas in southern Patagonia to the bustling metropolis of Buenos Aires in the north.

INDUSTRY
Manufacturing is the largest single sector in the nation's economy (19% of GDP), and is well-integrated into Argentine agriculture, with half the nation's industrial exports being agricultural in nature. Based on food processing and textiles during its early development in the first half of the 20th century, industrial production has become highly diversified in Argentina. Leading sectors by production value are: Food processing and beverages; motor vehicles and auto parts; refinery products, and biodiesel; chemicals and pharmaceuticals; steel and aluminum; and industrial and farm machinery; electronics and home appliances.

POLITICAL ENVIROMENT
Type: Republic. Constitution: 1853; revised 1994. Independence: 1816. Argentina is bidding to re-enter the worldwide personal debt markets, a precondition to increase foreign direct and portfolio funding. The country's publicly traded banks, attractively valued compared with lenders in neighboring nations, are an investment opportunity.

ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
GDP (2008): $326.7 billion. Annual real growth rate (2008): +6.8%. Per capita GDP (2008 estimate): $8,219. GDP (2008): $326.7 billion. Annual real growth rate (2008): +6.8%. Per capita GDP (2008 estimate): $8,219.

ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
Traditionally, the countrys economy was based on the production of agricultural goods, and now Argentina remains among the worlds leading exporters of such products as corn, wool, wheat, sunflower seeds, fruit, meat, tobacco, food processing and other related products. Besides, the country has numerous natural reserves of important minerals, including coal, iron ore, copper, zinc and tin, as well as vast resources of natural gas and oil, which make the country self-sufficient in its needs for energy.

ECONOMIC CRISIS
The 19982002 Argentine great depression was a major economic depression that began in the third quarter of 1998 and lasted till the second quarter of 2002. The depression, which began due to the Russian and Brazilian financial crises and worsened after the dot-com bubble burst, caused widespread unemployment, riots, the fall of the government, a default on the countrys foreign debt, the rise of alternative currencies and the end of the pesos fixed exchange rate to the US dollar. The economy shrank by 28 percent. Over 50 percent of Argentines were poor, and the indigents amounted 25 percent; seven out of ten Argentine children were poor. By 2002 GDP growth had returned, surprising economists and the business media,and the economy began to grow at an average 9% per year.

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
Family ties are considerably stronger in Argentina than they are in North America or in many northern European nations The genders are more clearly differentiated in Argentina than in the United States. Argentina has a comparatively egalitarian distribution of wealth, especially among Latin American nations. With 96.2 percent able to read, Argentina has one of the highest literacy rates in the world, and the second highest (after Uruguay) in the Spanish-speaking world Argentina is officially a Catholic country

TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIROMENT

Argentina has enjoyed an international respect since the turn of the 1900's, when Dr. Luis Agote devised the first safe and effective means of blood transfusion as well as Ren Favaloro who has been a pioneer in the improvement of the bypass surgery. Argentina has since then had three Nobel Prize winners in the sciences.

Argentine scientists are still on the cutting edge in fields such as nanotechnology, physics, sciences and cardiology. Argentina has its own satellite programme, nuclear power station designs (4th generation) and public nuclear energy company INVAP, which provides several countries with nuclear reactors.

LEGAL ENVIROMENT

The Court System of Argentina consists of Federal and Provincial court systems. Federal courts include the Supreme Court, 17 appellate courts, and district and territorial courts on the local levels. The Federal Court System hears cases concerning the National Government or any of its agencies, conflicts involving two or more provinces, matters involving foreign people or companies, and certain alleged violations of individual Constitutional rights. There are certain district courts that have judges that handle administrative matters. Each province has its own judicial court system. The provincial court system consists of supreme, appellate, and lower courts. There are three main types of courts in the provincial system- civil, criminal, and labor courts.

ENVIROMENTAL SCENARIO
Population growth rate (avg. annual %) 2005-2010 1 % Urban population (%) 2007 91.8 % Population aged 0-14 years (%) 2009 25.1% Population aged 60+ years (%) 2009 29.1% Sex ratio (men per 100 women) 2009 96.3 Life expectancy at birth (women and men, years) 2005-2010 79.1/71.6 Infant mortality rate (per 1 000 live births) 2005-2010 13.4 Fertility rate, total (live births per woman) 2005-2010 2.3