Argentina - Mineral rents (% of GDP)

Mineral rents (% of GDP) in Argentina was 0.053 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 49 years was 0.551 in 2006, while its lowest value was 0.001 in 2001.

Definition: Mineral rents are the difference between the value of production for a stock of minerals at world prices and their total costs of production. Minerals included in the calculation are tin, gold, lead, zinc, iron, copper, nickel, silver, bauxite, and phosphate.

Source: Estimates based on sources and methods described in "The Changing Wealth of Nations: Measuring Sustainable Development in the New Millennium" (World Bank, 2011).

See also:

Year Value
1970 0.026
1971 0.017
1972 0.026
1973 0.056
1974 0.067
1975 0.030
1976 0.039
1977 0.043
1978 0.031
1979 0.059
1980 0.066
1981 0.030
1982 0.019
1983 0.022
1984 0.028
1985 0.023
1986 0.011
1987 0.012
1988 0.188
1989 0.297
1990 0.060
1991 0.013
1992 0.008
1993 0.003
1994 0.005
1995 0.006
1996 0.006
1997 0.005
1998 0.014
1999 0.022
2000 0.002
2001 0.001
2002 0.200
2003 0.190
2004 0.227
2005 0.209
2006 0.551
2007 0.431
2008 0.308
2009 0.299
2010 0.523
2011 0.516
2012 0.432
2013 0.230
2014 0.238
2015 0.077
2016 0.146
2017 0.102
2018 0.185
2019 0.053

Development Relevance: Accounting for the contribution of natural resources to economic output is important in building an analytical framework for sustainable development. In some countries earnings from natural resources, especially from fossil fuels and minerals, account for a sizable share of GDP, and much of these earnings come in the form of economic rents - revenues above the cost of extracting the resources. Natural resources give rise to economic rents because they are not produced. For produced goods and services competitive forces expand supply until economic profits are driven to zero, but natural resources in fixed supply often command returns well in excess of their cost of production. Rents from nonrenewable resources - fossil fuels and minerals - as well as rents from overharvesting of forests indicate the liquidation of a country's capital stock. When countries use such rents to support current consumption rather than to invest in new capital to replace what is being used up, they are, in effect, borrowing against their future.

Limitations and Exceptions: This definition of economic rent differs from that used in the System of National Accounts, where rents are a form of property income, consisting of payments to landowners by a tenant for the use of the land or payments to the owners of subsoil assets by institutional units permitting them to extract subsoil deposits.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The estimates of natural resources rents are calculated as the difference between the price of a commodity and the average cost of producing it. This is done by estimating the world price of units of specific commodities and subtracting estimates of average unit costs of extraction or harvesting costs (including a normal return on capital). These unit rents are then multiplied by the physical quantities countries extract or harvest to determine the rents for each commodity as a share of gross domestic product (GDP).

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Natural resources contribution to GDP