Argentina's Per Capita GDP Exceeds China! 6.9% Growth in 2025, No Longer Needs Aid from Beijing?

According to the latest annual report released by the National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina, Argentina's nominal GDP reached 681.2 billion USD in 2025, with a growth of 6.9% year-on-year; at the official average exchange rate, its per capita GDP reached 14,686 USD. This figure not only surpassed China's per capita GDP during the same period (approximately 13,953 USD), but also placed Argentina alongside emerging economies such as Russia and Turkey in the "high-income" category on paper.

This data was first reported by Argentina's La Nación newspaper in early March 2026 and was quickly picked up and interpreted by international media outlets such as Reuters and Bloomberg. However, Dao Ge believes that behind this seemingly prosperous number lies profound statistical distortion and structural contradictions.

Without mentioning anything else, Argentina has long been plagued by hyperinflation. In 2025, its annualized inflation rate still reached 31%, although it decreased from 45% in 2024, it is still far from a healthy range. In an environment of high inflation, the GDP value denominated in local currency will be artificially inflated due to soaring prices, and if the exchange rate does not depreciate significantly at the same time, the nominal GDP converted into USD will be significantly increased.

This phenomenon is not unique to Argentina - Turkey had an inflation rate of 34% in 2025, with a per capita GDP of 18,529 USD; Russia, despite keeping inflation under control at 5.6%, also had a per capita GDP of 17,445 USD, both higher than China's. This reflects a clear "exchange rate-inflation disconnection" problem in the current international GDP statistics system when dealing with high-inflation economies.

Data from the World Bank shows that Argentina's poverty rate remained above 40% in 2025, with a high Gini coefficient, and the actual living standards of ordinary people have not improved in tandem with the "per capita GDP exceeding" figure. The core reason for Argentina's high nominal GDP lies in the "money illusion" - inflation pushes up nominal values, while exchange rate controls delay the depreciation of the local currency.

Now that Argentina is so wealthy, why did China stop supporting the Santa Cruz River hydroelectric project? This project received a 4.7 billion USD loan from China, and the Belgrano freight railway renovation also relied on several hundred million USD in equipment financing from China. These collaborations were strong support from China to ensure Argentina's energy and food supply chain security.

Or maybe Argentina should repay these loans early? Actually, it's just that Milei flattered well, and the US gave some false numerical rewards.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1860418547228684/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.