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New country classifications by income level: 2019-2020

The World Bank classifies world economies according to the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita into four income groups: high, upper-middle, lower-middle, and low. This classification is updated on July 1st each year, since there are different factors which may alter the GNI, such as income growth, inflation or demographic changes. Moreover, the thresholds in dollars are adjusted for inflation annually.

During the 2017-2018 period, Argentina was classified into the upper-middle income category. In the following period of 2018-2019, Argentina rose to the high income category.  However, it was announced this July that Argentina has returned to its previous classification of upper-middle income in the period 2019-2020.

Ever since last year, the high-income threshold became a determining factor for lending rates, since surcharges are applied for lending rates of countries which have been categorized as high income for two consecutive years. Furthermore, this classification is decisive for other cooperation opportunities, as several of the calls take the World Bank’s classification as a reference to accept institutions or individuals from one country or another.

For more information, visit http://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/new-country-classifications-income-level-2019-2020.