阿根廷小鎮銀根緊 抽籤發工資

阿根廷科爾多瓦省的一個小鎮因爲資金不足無法按時給全鎮公務員發放工資，於是採用抽籤的方式發工資，抽到者先發，沒抽到的只能等下一撥。在第一撥抽籤結束後，該鎮92名公務員中已有23名中籤拿到工資。該鎮鎮長表示，抽籤發工資的做法是經過上級管理部門批准的。他指出，此番資金短缺主要是由省政府撥款減少引發的。由於國家經濟增速放緩，阿根廷多省都面臨經濟困境。自2003年以來，阿根廷的國內生產總值年平均增長率都達8%，但分析人士預測其2012年的增長率可能不及4%。

A raffle will determine which civil servants in a small Argentine town will receive their pay first, due to insufficient funds, its mayor announced Monday.

"We will draw lots to decide the (order) of payment," said mayor of Bialet Masse, Gustavo Pueyo, in a broadcast from Buenos Aires private radio station Radio Mitre.

Pueyo said the raffle was approved by national mayoral authorities and the first draw took place Friday, with 23 of the town's 92 employees receiving their pay. A second raffle is slated for Monday.

Home to 5,000 inhabitants, Bialet Masse is a tourist destination in Cordoba Province, 750 kilometers (466 miles) northwest of Buenos Aires.

Pueyo attributed the city's insufficient funds to a drop in the funding usually received from the provincial government.

Several Argentine provinces have faced economic difficulties due to the nation's slowed economic growth.

Growth slowed by half of one percent in May compared with the same period last year, marking the first downturn since 2009, according to official figures.

Argentina's GDP has grown by an average eight percent per year since 2003, but analysts expect the economy will grow by less than half that in 2012.