At least we haven't got an economy like Argentina's; City Slickers; 16% JOBLESS AND ONLY pounds 106 A MONTH PAY.

CHEER up, England. Argentina's fans may be celebrating their team's victory, but back home they have precious little else to shout about.

As the City slowly comes back to life after England's World Cup exit, Slicker can reveal that in Buenos Aires the economy is again threatening to spiral into chaos.

New figures released by the International Monetary Fund show that unemployment is running at a staggering 16 per cent, and poverty is sweeping many regions.

Although its 0.7 per cent inflation rate is one of the lowest in the world, the figure masks the reality on the streets where mass employment and mass poverty are becoming the norm.

While their superstar soccer players earn over pounds 1 million a year playing abroad, the average wage is just pounds 106 per month - a mere 58p per hour.

Many economists in Argentina lay the blame squarely on President Carlos Menem, who they say has botched the chances of economic recovery, and fudged the figures to hide the mess.

In the Eighties, the government employed millions of workers in state companies, but Menem's economic reforms led to mass privatisation, putting hundreds of thousands on the dole.

But in Menem's own home town of La Roija where 9,000 people are unemployed, the President has created 5,100 temporary jobs, paying a meagre pounds 120 a month. "It keeps them off the unemployment lists, and gets the critics off his back in his home town," says one Argentine analyst.

"They say our unemployment is 16 per cent, which is pretty high anyway. But if you discount these temporary jobs, the figure could be closer to 30 per cent."

In the capital city, Buenos Aires - where the nation's most famous soccer son Maradona started his career - 170,000 people are officially out of work, with only 303 jobs available.

But the worst is yet to come. Recent floods have hit the agriculture sector, drastically pushing up food prices.

Industrial production is down ten per cent on the previous year, caused by low wages and even lower morale.

Exports in energy and oil - which account for 12 per cent of the country's total - have slumped by a third because of the collapse in world oil prices.

Mercedes Marco de Pont, senior director of FIDE Consulting, which monitors the country's economy, told Slicker: "On the face of it, Argentina is experiencing economic growth. But the reality is a process of deterioration of conditions, especially in the labour market."

Ironically, the biggest threat to Argentina - both in the World Cup and the economy - is Brazil, their main trading partner.

Brazil is likely to devalue its own currency later this year - throwing the Argentinian export industry into chaos.

Oil found in Falklands

WHEN they can tear their eyes away from the World Cup, the Argies may soon be casting envious glances once more at the nearby Falkland Islands.

After just three weeks of drilling, American company Hess has found traces of oil in one of the licensed tranches just 200 miles to the north.

Experts suggest it could yield as much as 500 million barrels, worth pounds 1 billion.

Split between the islands' 2,100 inhabitants, it would make every man, woman and child among the richest in the world. Roger Spink, director of the Falkland Islands Company which holds a dominant position in property, shipping and retail in Port Stanley, told Slicker: "We hope it means a rosy future for our economy."

Sensing a bonanza, the first wave of oil workers from Britain has already booked in at Port Stanley.

Spink said: "Even if there isn't that much oil, the excitement caused by the discovery is giving our economy a huge boost."

FRENCH CALL FOUL OVER ARGIES' SUBSTITUTE WINE

FRANCE is showing Argentina the red card over a little sleight of hand over its wine industry.

Wine watchdogs are clamping down on the South Americans' method of illegally selling off their plonk as quality French produce.

Every year shipments of cheap and nasty wine are bought because they have been sold with the labels of top French brands on them.

It is believed that tens of thousands of bottles are imported into Europe labelled as Argentinian wine then have Burgundy or other labels put on them in France.

Drinkers stock up on quality wines such as Bordeaux and Cotes du Rhone only to find they have invested in nothing more than "Chateau d'Argentine".

The counterfeiting operations cost French grape growers and wine sellers millions of pounds each year, says France's Interprofessional Wine Producers' Association.

"We have already found two supermarkets in France selling fake white burgundy and red bordeaux wines," a spokesman for the association told Slicker.

Last year wine fraud inspectors carried out 15,000 checks on wine being sold in France to make sure it was the genuine article. And they claim to be winning the war against the counterfeiters because the cheap wine can be spotted - or even sniffed - a mile away.

"Our officers can detect a fake French wine after just one sip, or by smelling it," the spokesman added.

"When we find a counterfeit bottle or shipment the police and trade descriptions officers are also informed so they can start tracing where the wine came from.

"This kind of activity seriously undermines our national industry as well as the important image of French wine and we won't stand for it any longer."

of

the

TIP DAY

AS YOU can see from our stories, there is only one tip today from the Slickers:

Don't go to Argentina. They may be in the quarter finals, but their unemployment's rising, currency weakening and economy collapsing.

(Normal service resumes tommorrow).

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