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Recent trends
In the past decades, Argentina has made improvements in education and extreme poverty reduction. The country is the best performer in terms of net secondary enrolment rate (89.5%). Argentina has also one of the lowest shares of population living on less than USD 5.5 a day (2011 PPP) of the region (7.8%) and of population living on USD 5.5-13 a day (2011 PPP) (28.6%).
Argentina’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is well above the regional average and almost doubled between 1990 and 2017. However, both total factor productivity growth and labour productivity are lower than their 2011 level. Argentina has mixed performance in terms of institutional, environmental and personal security outcomes. Citizens’ satisfaction with institutions is low and 78% of the population thinks corruption is widespread throughout government. The mean annual exposure to PM2.5 air pollution stands below the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) and OECD averages. However, the decrease in forest area between 2000 and 2015 was more than twelve times higher than the LAC average. Finally, while the homicide rate is below the LAC average, it remains higher than the OECD average. Only 40% of the population reports feeling safe when walking alone at night, relative to 46.2% in LAC and 72% in the OECD.
National strategies and international co-operation for development
The Argentinian government builds the concept of development through the plan “Comenzar a transformar la Argentina” 2015-19 [Starting to Transform Argentina]. The plan relies on three pillars: tax reform, employment generation and institutional quality. Moreover, the plan demonstrates strong links with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) and SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) (ECLAC, 2018). The second objective on a national productive agreement provides the ground to enhance productivity and competitiveness. The Regional Development Plan, tax reform, National Tourism Plan and development of the single window of foreign trade address the national concerns of its productive sectors. The implementation of the Belgrano plan and of the Patagonia project (both regional development strategies) should influence the country’s trajectory for employment and industrial growth policies.
Poverty and vulnerability are key elements of the National Development Plan. The latter includes a national strategy for vulnerable adolescents and young people, a national social protection plan and gender policies, as well as investments in infrastructure in remote areas. It also aims to improve the transparency and performance of public institutions, as well as anti-corruption and management reform plans to overcome the institutional trap.
In terms of public financing capacities, Argentina’s total tax revenues were 31.3% of GDP in 2016 (vs. 22.7% in LAC and 34.3% in the OECD). The country has made e-invoicing mandatory for all corporate taxpayers by April 2019. E-invoicing in Argentina has also facilitated the introduction of an electronic payroll system that allows more immediate access to information on social security contributions and personal income tax, which should detect tax evasion. Argentina is a signatory of the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Exchange of Country-by-Country Reports and of the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information to fight tax evasion.
Argentina’s international co-operation priorities include inter-institutional co-ordination, impact assessment of South-South and Triangular Co-operation and alignment of the project portfolio with the 2030 Agenda. At the regional level, priority is given to fostering multilateral frameworks for South-South co-operation; building robust information-gathering systems to strengthen management, planning and resource orientation processes; and developing a gender mainstreaming strategy across the international co-operation agenda. At the global level, it includes promoting the transfer of new technologies, multi-actor partnerships, and country-led and country-driven inclusive reports of the contribution of South-South and Triangular Co-operation to implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
International co-operation projects are prevalent in agribusiness, public innovation management and health sectors. Over one-third of projects involve the LAC region. Among them, the Regional Programme for Management of the South American locust between Argentina, the Plurinational State of Bolivia (hereafter “Bolivia”) and Paraguay. In addition, the organisation that drives, regulates, co-ordinates and supervises the donation and transplant activities of organs, tissues and cells (INCUCAI in Spanish) assembled a regional training course. The donation and transplant agencies of Bolivia, Costa Rica, Paraguay and Peru addressed legislation, professional training, and ethical and social aspects related to their work. These collaborative projects were supported by the Argentine Fund for South-South and Triangular Co-operation (Argentine Fund for International Cooperation - FO.AR). FO.AR was created in 2017 to promote the participation of Argentine subnational governments in the development of international cooperation projects. Since then, 15 provinces and 7 Argentine cities have participated in 20 projects with Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Paraguay. At the same time, Argentina and France have started a cooperation project of 15 subnational governments of both countries.
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https://doi.org/10.1787/g2g9ff18-en
© OECD/UNITED NATIONS/CAF/EU 2019
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