The internal situation in slected countries

Abstract

Side by side with the basic problem of stagnation which the Argentine economy has been facing for years past, three other phenomena are observable, all closely inter-related. These are (a) the relative inadequacy of the capacity to import and the consequent external vulnerability; (b) the backwardness of certain basic sectors; and (c) price inflation. Although this whole set of factors accounts for the essential features of the structural crisis through which the country is passing, the most outstanding among them is the capacity to import, which has long constituted the fundamental obstacle to economic development and to stability. One of the principal aims of the policy of economic reconstruction shaped at the end of 1955 was the elimination of this external bottleneck. The fact that this objective has not yet been attained largely serves to confirm how critical is the balance-of-payments situation and how long it will take for the difficulties to be completely overcome. In 1958, the policy referred to tackled the balance-of-payments problem on three different fronts, namely, (a) agricultural production for export, (b) petroleum production and (c) import substitution in respect of industrial goods.