Come Back Beloved Argentina
by Melissa Cosmopolis
Translated by Eugenia Kuri Alamillo
Argentina with its tracks (clues?) and its monuments… the Argentina of a beloved Buenos Aires that said Gardel many times and of an eternal tango that characterizes it is the one we will speak of today. Speak of how, being one of the most stable economies before 1998, it fell into economic depression in 2001; a year that surely reminded many Argentineans of their economic history and of all the problems they’ve had.
Up to the year 1997, Argentina had an economic stability that was envied by many South American countries, having experienced significant economic growth which exploded thanks to the technology of railroads and freezer ships that made the export of meat and wheat possible. However, Argentina would be darkened by grave political mistakes that would lead to an economic crisis that surprised the entirety of Latin America.
But… what was it that led this country into recession and afterwards depression? Well; taking Kart Schuler, economist and special assistant to the vice president, as a source, one of the causes was the external factors that affected Brazil as well as Argentina, the only difference being that Brazil decided not to follow a policy of tying the local currency to the value of the dollar.
Another cause was the mistakes of an imposing and monetary policy that only made the situation worse in 2001. At this stage the Argentinean government preferred to simply, if that adjective can even be applied to such a situation, diminish government spending. It was decided that salaries would be cut; however, this generated discontent among various government ministers who abandoned their posts in symbolic protest. Also, to enumerate a few other problems and not overextend ourselves, Argentina had problems with the “debt trap” and with the private sectors that we affected by policies implemented by the government.
Today, this Argentina beaten by the mistakes of past political decisions find itself at the outset of an important economic recovery. According to data extracted from the newspaper “La Nación” (Argentinean newspaper) de Argentinean currency, after its devaluation, reached on August 20th an exchange rate (seller) of $2.92. This recovery, however, has not been brought about due to government efforts but rather by the financial world that dollarized their portfolios before the United States interest rates affected them. The Argentinean recovery can also be seen in the industrial sector which has grown by 6.7%. Even though downturns are expected, a positive attitude continues to be maintained.
After having presented the aforementioned information
and of giving some data, I am conscious that, even if this is not a
deep and detailed analysis of the Argentinean evolution in terms of
its economy and its recovery, we can still say that the beloved Argentina
is recovering economically.
