Economic Stabilisation in Argentina: the Austral Plan

The relative prosperity which Argentina enjoyed at the beginning of the century made it a candidate to be a major economic power. Despite its abundant natural resources and skilled manpower, Argentina has consistently failed to live up to its potential. Periods of growth have either been too sporadic or political upheavals too frequent for coherent economic policies to be effective. In recent decades the Argentine economy has been characterised by a deterioration in current account,1 exchange rate,2 gross domestic product (GDP) growth,3 investment,4 and has seen inflation become an endemic phenomenon.5 These factors have exacerbated the economy's inability to tackle its mounting foreign debt.