Some Notes on Economic Growth in Argentina and Brazil during 2003–2015

The present paper critically discusses the main features of the economic growth processes during 2003–2015 in Argentina and Brazil, two Latin American countries that witnessed a remarkably positive economic performance during the 2000s decade, except for the 2009 international slowdown. More specifically, for the 2003–2008 period Argentina grew at a yearly average rate of 7.8 per cent, while during 2006–2010 the same rate for Brazil was 4.5 per cent. One of the arguments usually put forward by economic studies to explain the boom in Latin America is the extraordinarily substantial improvement in the external conditions facing these economies, which allowed them to cope with the rising requirements for international currency during the growth processes in those years (Amico, 2010; Crespo and De Lucchi, 2012; Serrano and Summa, 2012).