Detractors labeled the moves empty gestures meant largely to calm jittery nerves and bolster government coffers in advance of next year's midterm elections, in which her ruling Peronist party faces serious challenges.
"I don't think things are going to get much better in the next year," said Andres Telesca, who runs a small Argentine publisher of religious texts that has laid off employees because of plunging sales and tight credit. "The damage has already been done, and it will take years to get back to where we were."
Six consecutive years of rapid growth -- spurred in large part by a boom in prices for soybeans and other exported foodstuffs -- failed to uproot a deep distrust of government among Argentines scarred by their nation's long history of economic and political turmoil.
Even during the recent boom, many citizens believed the government was manipulating numbers to make annual inflation rates appear below 10% -- less than half what economists said was the actual level.
"I have little faith in this government," said Roberto Lisandro Lopez, a restaurant worker in Buenos Aires, where about 300 eateries have reportedly closed since the financial crisis struck in October. "I seriously doubt the things they are announcing will do much to help the local economy."
McDonnell and Kraul are Times staff writers. Contributing to this report were Andres D'Alessandro of The Times' Buenos Aires Bureau, Cecilia Sanchez of The Times' Mexico City Bureau and special correspondents Marcelo Soares in Sao Paulo and Mery Mogollon in Caracas, Venezuela.
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patrick.mcdonnell@ latimes.com
chris.kraul@latimes.com
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Patrick J. McDonnell
reporting from Buenos Aires
Chris Kraul
reporting from Bogota, Colombia
