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1 [1] (July 29, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/goveimc0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service inforni the legislative debate sine 01914 Updated July 29, 2022 Argentina: An Overview Situated on the Atlantic coast of South America's Southern Cone, Argentina has a vibrant democratic tradition and Latin America's third-largest economy. U.S.-Argentine relations have been strong in recent years, and Congress maintains several areas of interest in bilateral relations. Figure I. Map of Argentina Source: CRS. Political and Economic Environment Current President Alberto Fernandez of the center-left Peronist-led Frente de Todos (FdT, Front for All) coalition won the October 2019 presidential election and was inaugurated to a four-year term in December 2019. He defeated incumbent President Mauricio Macri of the center- right Juntos por el Cambio (JC, Together for Change) coalition by a margin of 48.1% to 40.4%. The election also returned to government former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, from the leftist wing of the Peronist party, who ran on the FdT ticket as vice president. A unified Peronist ticket and Argentina's economic deterioration, marked by high inflation and increasing poverty, were major factors in Macri's defeat. In November 2021 midterm legislative elections (for a third of the seats in the Senate and half of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies), the FdT lost its Senate majority but remained the largest bloc in the Chamber of Deputies, albeit without a majority. The economic impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and rising inflation were key factors in the legislative race. Argentina's next presidential and legislative elections are scheduled for October 2023. Upon taking office in 2019, President Fernandez faced an economic recession, high poverty, and unsustainable public debt. Fernandez pledged to restructure Argentina's debt and opened talks with bondholders and other creditors. He also rolled out several measures, including a food program and price controls on basic goods, aimed at helping low-income Argentines cope with inflation. Negotiations with bondholders led to two debt-restructuring agreements with private creditors in 2020 for over $100 billion in bonds. Argentina at a Glance Population: 45.8 million (2021, IMF est.). Area: 1.1 million square miles, about the size of the United States east of the Mississippi. GDP: $489 billion (2021, current prices, IMF est.). Real GDP Growth (constant prices): -2.0% (2019); -9.9% (2020); 10.2% (2021, est.); 4.0% (2022 projected). (IMF) Per Capita GDP: $10,658 (2021, current prices, IMF est.). Key Trading Partners: Exports-Brazil (15.1%), China (7.9%), United States (6.3%); Imports-China (21.4%), Brazil (19.7%), United States (9.3%). (2021, EIU) Legislature: Bicameral Congress, with 72-member Senate and 257-member Chamber of Deputies. Sources: IMF, World Economic Outlook Database, April 2022; and Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The Fernandez government also sought a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement to replace the $57 billion program entered into by the previous Macri government in 2018. In March 2022, the IMF approved a new $44 billion, 30-month arrangement that, according to the IMF, sets pragmatic objectives along with policies to improve public finances and reduce inflation. In June 2022, the IMF approved the first review of Argentina's progress on economic reforms under the program. In July 2022, Argentina's economic situation deteriorated further, with accelerating inflation and the peso rapidly losing its value. Political infighting within the Peronist government led to the resignation of Minister of Economy Martin Guzmin, considered the architect of Argentina's recent IMF agreement, which was strongly criticized by the leftist wing of the FdT. Guzmin initially was replaced by Silvina Batakis, considered to the left of Guzmin, but on July 28 President Fernandez appointed the more moderate Sergio Massa, the leader of Argentina's lower house, as head of a more powerful economy ministry that also oversees manufacturing and agricultural policy. Argentina was hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with several surges of infections, most recently in February 2022, but deaths have declined significantly because of the country's high vaccination rate. As of late July 2022, the country reported over 129,000 COVID-19-related deaths since the pandemic began (with a mortality rate of 286 per

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