Since the transition to democracy in the early 1980s, the Argentine economic system has seen economic prosperity and unexpectedly been thrown into several recessions. Over the past ten years, “domestic and foreign investors remained skeptical of the government’s ability to pay debts and maintain the peso’s fixed exchange rate with the US dollar,” while an exceedingly high public debt of 65.7 percent of the GDP plagued the country. (Argentina, World Factbook) Argentina desperately needed liberalizing economic reforms. When Nestor Kirchner took office as democratically-elected President in 2001, “more than half the population [was] living in poverty… [and] critics cited his lack of national political experience.” (Country Profile: Argentina, BBC News) President Kirchner had never held national office and people were worried that he would not be able to effectively deal with the IMF, which led to civilian dissent against IMF practices. Despite President Kirchner’s best efforts to avoid default on loans, the citizens of Argentina do not trust IMF officials and are pessimistic about international intervention. IMF managing director, Rodrigo Rato encouraged Argentina to focus on paying off public debt by setting aside funds, but “Many in Argentina blame the IMF for their country’s economic collapse in 2001 and 2002.” (Protests at IMF Argentina Talks, BBC News) Facing a pressing economic crisis, the people of Argentina saw the IMF as the most direct cause of economic collapse. Purportedly, the economic crisis was “exacerbated by IMF-backed economic policies and lending programmes during the 1990s...[and] Relations between Argentina and the IMF have been strained since the international lender cut off support to the country in late 2001, forcing it to default on its foreign debts.” (Ibid) Angered by the ineffective IMF policies and lack of support in 2001, Argentine citizens were clearly unsatisfied with the international lender.
