1998–2002 Argentine great depression

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The 1998–2002 Argentine great depression was an economic depression in Argentina, which began in the third quarter of 1998 and lasted until the second quarter of 2002. It followed fifteen years of stagnation and a brief period of free-market reforms. The depression, which began after the Russian and Brazilian financial crises, caused widespread unemployment, riots, the fall of the government, a default on the country's foreign debt, the rise of alternative currencies and the end of the peso's fixed exchange rate to the US dollar. The economy shrank by 28 per cent from 1998 to 2002. In terms of income, over 50 per cent of Argentines lived below the official poverty line and 25 per cent were indigent (their basic needs were unmet); seven out of ten Argentine children were poor at the depth of the crisis in 2002. By the first half of 2003, GDP growth had returned, surprising economists and the business media, and the economy grew by an average of 9% for five years. Argentina's GDP exceeded...

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