BUENOS AIRES - ARGENTINA announced on Saturday it would make US$9 billion (S$13.7 billion) available to finance car purchases in an attempt to slow job losses in one of the industries hardest hit by the global credit crunch.

Under the plan, first-time car buyers can get their vehicle financed, and demand could be boosted by some 100,000 units a year, Manufacturing Minister Debora Giorgi said at Government House.

'We are aiming to reorient where funds are going so that they stop being used for financial speculation and start helping bolster the economy and maintain jobs' in a vital industry for the local economy, she said.

There are some rules: the plan covers 12 lower-priced vehicles, two at each of the main automakers in the country. And the car's value cannot top 31,000 pesos (S$13,900). It can be financed up to 60 months.

Some 150,000 people work in Argentina's auto industry which exports vehicles worth some US$8 billion annually - about 36 per cent of manufactured exports.

The funds will be taken from the state-held retirement and pension system. -- AFP