my @countries = (
                 'Algeria',
                 'Argentina',
                 'Zaire',
                 );
##</code><code>##

my %HoH;
open INFILE, '< /path/to/datafile.txt' or die $!;
##</code><code>##

while (<INFILE>) {
    ( my $quarter, $_) = split ':';
    @{$HoH{$quarter}}{@countries} = split " "; # repaired typo, ++petral
}
##</code><code>##

close INFILE or die $!;