Argentina is grappling with a serious economic crisis. Its currency, the peso, has lost two-thirds of its value since 2018; inflation is hovering around 30%; and since 2015 the economy has contracted by about 4% and its external debt has increased by 60%. In June 2018, the Argentine government turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for support and currently has a $57 billion IMF program, the largest program (in dollar terms) in IMF history. Despite these resources, the government in late August and early September 2019 postponed payments on some of its debts and imposed currency controls. In the October 2019 general election, the center-right incumbent President Mauricio Macri lost to the center-left Peronist ticket of Alberto Fernández for president and former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner for vice president. The Fernández-Fernández ticket campaigned on a reorientation of Argentine economic policies, which could
have implications for Argentina’s recovery from the crisis and its IMF program.