Argentina's economic collapse and default

Argentina's decade-long currency board, which had pegged the peso one-to-one with the US dollar since 1991, became increasingly unsustainable as the overvalued currency crushed export competitiveness and public debt mounted through the late 1990s. In December 2001 the government froze bank withdrawals (the 'corralito') to stop a run on the banks, triggering violent street protests that forced out President Fernando de la Rúa within days, and Argentina went through five presidents in two weeks. The government defaulted on roughly $100 billion of debt, the largest sovereign default to that point in history, and abandoned the dollar peg in early 2002, causing the peso to lose about 75% of its value. By the time output stabilized in 2002, unemployment exceeded 20% and poverty affected more than half the population, though the economy rebounded strongly from 2003 onward.