Argentina is facing a bleak economic future according to Jubilee International Debt Research.

Argentina’s top banker has resigned as mounting anger over draconian savings curbs pushed thousands of Argentines into fresh street protests and the value of the peso slumped to new lows.

The value of the Argentine peso fell by more than 39% in its first day as a free-floating currency.

Argentina’s economy minister announced a sharp devaluation of the peso, overriding foreign investors’ concerns and ending a decade-long policy pegging the currency one-to-one with the US dollar.

The Argentine government has announced a huge $11bn budget deficit for 2001.

Argentines today braced themselves for a painful devaluation of their Peso, after President Duhalde asked congress for emergency powers to rebuild the economy’s shattered foundations.

Eduardo Duhalde, Argentina’s fifth president in two weeks, was greeted by thousands of jeering, pot-banging demonstrators who swarmed the streets of the capital early this morning.

Eduardo Duhalde, an old-style populist from the Peronist party, was sworn in as Argentina’s fifth president in two weeks today - and immediately lashed out at the unbridled free market policies he blames for the country’s economic chaos.