Argentina

The Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for Argentina aims to seek opportunities to build a medium-term investment partnership to support the transition from crisis recovery... Show More + to sustained growth with continued poverty reduction and improved equity. In this context, the interventions are designed to advance the three pillars established under the 2004 CAS: (1) sustained growth with equity, (2) social inclusion, and (3) improved governance. To provide the kind of cross-cutting and mutually reinforcing support necessary to achieve progress in these pillars, the Bank's interventions are designed around three core principles which help anchor each proposed activity under the CAS to selected focus areas where it is expected that the Bank can make significant contributions. Show Less -

The strategic objective of the CAS is to assist Argentina to consolidate its economic recovery and establish a solid foundation for sustained growth and poverty reduction.... Show More + This will require action on three fronts. First, there must be sustained economic growth with equity if the government is to reduce unemployment and poverty. Argentina will need to significantly improve the investment climate in order to restore investors and creditors' confidence and attract much needed investment to support sustained long-term growth - in particular infrastructure. For this, Argentina needs to concentrate in ensuring that all restructuring processes (debt, concessions, etc.) be conducted in a manner that is perceived as fair and transparent, and respect a fair burden sharing among all parties. However, growth alone is not enough. I n the past, it has often been accompanied by an increasingly skewed income distribution. I n order that it may effectively reduce poverty, growth must be both sustainable and pro-poor. Second, there must be greater efforts to foster social inclusion if the poor are to improve their situation. Reaching the most vulnerable groups - the indigent poor, the elderly, indigenous populations and the large number of youth who are neither employed nor in school -poses special challenges. Third, there must be determined efforts to improve governance, accompanied by institutional and structural reforms to ensure their sustainability over time. The base case assistance strategy calls for a lending program of up to US$5 billion for the period mid-FY04 through end-FY08 which will enable the Bank to support the country's development priorities effectively. Base-case lending would be predicated on: the maintenance of a satisfactory macroeconomic framework; improved performance, particularly with structural reforms; the steady implementation of social reform to foster social inclusion; stepping up efforts to improve governance; and improved portfolio management and implementation. Show Less -

This Country Assistance Strategy, outlining the World Bank Group's strategy and objectives, will continue to focus on supporting government efforts to: (1) enhance social... Show More + development by (a) ensuring adequate funding of safety nets and improving efficiency in social spending, (b) targeting delivery of basic maternal and child health services, (c) increasing the role of the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, and CBOs in service delivery, (d) increasing resources to improve secondary school and higher education quality and efficiency, (e) converting public hospitals into independent trusts, and (f) privatizing and/or regulating water and sanitation; (2) improve provincial government performance and institutional capacity to deliver key social, infrastructure, and environmental services through regulatory reform, restructuring, and privatization; and (3) consolidate successful structural reforms, including deficit reduction through social security reform, labor market liberalization, and banking sector restructuring to ensure successful implementation of the assistance program, and to enhance governance through institution building. Show Less -

Argentina's ongoing economic program generated price stability and 5 percent growth in 1991. Increased confidence, at home and abroad, led to massive capital inflows.... Show More + The program addresses the root cause of Argentina's instability and economic decline: the overextended state. The program has improved tax structure and administration, greatly improved tax collections, privatized public enterprises and petroleum concessions, reformed public administration and reduced public employment by 20 percent, all of which are likely to endure. Trade liberalization and domestic deregulation have improved efficiency. The Bank will continue to support the strengthening of macroeconomic management and the completion of the reform program, focusing on fiscal stability, the modernization of the state, and further market deregulation. The focus will be shifted to three objectives: the improvement of resource mobilization and intermediation; the restoration and development of public productive services and physical infrastructure; and the restoration and improvement of basic social services for the poor and natural resource management. Show Less -