President Eduardo Duhalde, who is the countrys fifth president in two weeks, met on 8 January with leaders of the trade unions and the popular protests that turned into riots and brought down the previous administration shortly before Christmas. The streets are quiet again, though Argentines were queuing up at banks before the weekend to withdraw their savings. The government has imposed a two-day bank holiday from 8 January.

Following the devaluation on Sunday, the IMF chief and other international financial leaders have expressed support for Argentinas new course but stressed the country must solve its own problems. "What Argentina needs now is growth and growth requires savings, investment, and a working banking system," said Koehler, who was in the Swiss city of Basle for a meeting of the Bank for International Settlements.

"But one also must recognise that without pain, it wont get out of this crisis, and the crisis at its root is home-made," Koehler told Reuters news agency. An IMF technical mission is already in Buenos Aires.

The Bank of Englands governor, Sir Eddie George, who was chairing the Basle meeting, said: "It is not going to be a quick fix for Argentina. The good news is that Argentina's economic problems do not appear to have spread to the rest of South America.

The current chair of the European Union's finance ministers was similarly non-committal, saying Argentina was "on the right path" but needs to find "maximum consensus with national and international investors." Rodrigo Rato of Spain said he was sure European finance ministers will have "a positive role to play... in the light of Argentinas problem at the moment."

Spain is the European country whose firms have most exposure to Argentina. Spanish firms such as oil company Repsol could bear the brunt of the Argentine governments attempts to pass the costs of devaluation on to banks and private firms while cushioning consumers.

Argentinas economy minister plans to tax petrol exports to cover the $15-billion cost to banks of converting the dollar-denominated debts of ordinary Argentines into pesos. Economy minister Jorge Remes Lenicov is expected to meet with foreign investors soon.

To protect consumers and stave off further unrest, the economy minister is now grappling with the threat of inflation and has urged local firms not to hike prices in the wake of the devaluation. "We spoke with supermarkets and they promised to only mark up imported goods," he said.

Although the protests have calmed down, one fear for the government now is that many middle class Argentines will start to quit the country. Some financial analysts warned the devaluation could make the country's economic problems worse. "We have to be very cautious considering the long recession and peoples lack of cash, we could be provoking more recession and inflation, the opposite of what the plan aims to achieve," said stock broker Alfredo Ferrarini.

One risk is that international investors will quit the country. French auto-parts firm Valeo said it will close its Argentine plant at Carmen de Areco and switch production to Brazil to improve its competitiveness in South America. The plant employs 90 people, according to a BBC report.