91.   Shortly before the IMF announcement in Washington, Argentine Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo denied that the IMF was pressuring the country to devalue the peso.

92.   Some officials of the new government have blamed former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, saying Zedillo tried to persuade Salinas to devalue the peso before he left office.

93.   The crisis was triggered in December when Mexico devalued its peso.

94.   The drop came after a decision by Argentina Friday to effectively devalue the peso for foreign trade transactions.

95.   The government has repeatedly rejected dollarizing the economy or devaluing the peso as possible responses to the crisis.

96.   The government has now devalued the peso amid an economic tailspin following four years of recession.

97.   The violence has battered investor confidence, helping to prolong an economic crisis that began when the peso was abruptly devalued last month.

98.   Then the peso was devalued in December, losing half its value against the dollar.

99.   They could dollarize the economy, devalue the peso or introduce a combination of the two.

100.   This month, Duhalde sharply devalued the peso after a decade of parity with the U.S. dollar.