Argentina’s record-breaking numbers are hard to take in, including, as they do, a $57bn bailout package, the largest ever handed out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF); a 60% benchmark interest rate, the highest in the world; and a planned fiscal adjustment of nearly 4% of gross domestic product (GDP) in just over two years, the steepest in the country's recent history.
Experts warn, however, that the depth of the country’s troubles, as well as the bitter remedy prescribed by the IMF, will be felt sharply by Argentines well into next year. And as voters will choose their next president in October 2019, there is a risk that the country will take a step back towards the protectionist leadership of the past.
