As Argentina's economy lost access to credit in late 2001, the government resorted to desperate measures in a vain attempt to avert disaster. Privatized pension funds--created in 1994 as a result of a Social Security reform based on individual accounts vested in bonds and equities--were one casualty. The government forcibly rescheduled the public debt holdings of these funds, known locally as AFJP. It also "pesofied" these holdings, which in mid-2001 amounted to more than 60% of the pension funds' portfolios, in effect converting dollar-denominated assets into local pesos overnight.
As Argentina's economy lost access to credit in late 2001, the government resorted to desperate measures in a vain attempt to avert disaster. Privatized pension funds--created in 1994 as a result of a Social Security reform based on individual accounts vested in bonds and equities--were one casualty. The government forcibly rescheduled the public debt holdings of these funds, known locally as AFJP. It also "pesofied" these holdings, which in mid-2001 amounted to more than 60% of the pension funds' portfolios, in effect converting dollar-denominated assets into local pesos overnight.