{
  "id": "RL31582",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL31582",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 101386,
      "date": "2003-06-05",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-08T14:43:38.959544",
      "title": "The Argentine Financial Crisis: A Chronology of Events",
      "summary": "In December 2001, after four years of recession and escalating social unrest, Argentina's\neconomy\ncollapsed, forcing the resignation of President Fernando de la Rua. After a period of short-term\npresidential successions, on January 1, 2002, the Argentine Congress selected Eduardo Duhalde to\ncomplete de la Rua's December 2003 term. Duhalde then struggled to resolve Argentina's\ndeep-seated economic and political problems. The seeds of Argentina's financial and political crisis\nwere planted in 1991 with adoption of a currency board to fight hyperinflation, a plan that rested on\nthe guaranteed convertibility of peso currency to dollars at a one-to-one fixed rate. Argentina,\nhowever, proved unable to enforce the economic policies needed to support the convertibility plan\nand when beset by numerous external shocks, went from prolonged recession to financial crisis,\nincluding defaulting on $151 billion of debt, despite repeated financial assistance from the\nInternational Monetary Fund (IMF).\n  Argentina's economy resumed growth in late 2002, quicker than many had predicted. By 2003,\nhowever, it was clear that many problems persisted, most notably high rates of unemployment and\npoverty. The country's financial problems also remain unresolved. Argentina faces a large debt\nworkout with private creditors and has been unable to come to terms with the IMF over a\nmedium-term financial assistance package. On January 16, 2003 the IMF agreed, with some\nreservations, to a new transitional $6.8 billion arrangement, supported by the United States and other\nG-7 countries as necessary for Argentina to avoid defaulting on the IMF. The IMF arrangement had\nfew new conditions and provided sufficient financial resources only to \"roll over\" Argentina's IMF\nrepayments through August 2003. The program's designers assumed that a medium-term IMF\narrangement could be put in place by September 2003, when a nearly $3 billion payment comes due.\n  On May 25, 2003, Governor N\u00e9stor Kirchner was inaugurated President of Argentina\n in what\nwas widely considered a fair election with high voter turnout. His administration faces daunting\nlong-term problems as well as dealing with short-term needs, such as negotiating a new IMF\nagreement. To meet its multiple obligations, Argentina will have to face calls from the IMF and\nothers to impose strict fiscal measures, redefine its federal/provincial fiscal relationship, reassess its\ntax structure, restructure its banking system and utility rate contracts, and face head on debt\nrestructuring, among other painful policy choices. Under these conditions, it remains to be seen if\nArgentina is on a true path to political and economic recovery, or merely biding time. This is the\nfinal version of this report, which provides a summary of events from before Argentina's adoption\nof the currency board in 1991 to the May 25, 2003 inauguration of President Kirchner.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "Industry and Trade"
  ]
}