It is five years since Argentina devalued its currency and defaulted on its debt, bringing to a shattering end a decade during which the country had often been viewed as a poster child of International Monetary Fund-backed market reform.

By early 2002, with the economy sinking and the country wracked by political crisis, it was widely assumed that it would take many years for an isolated and impoverished Argentina to recover. But already, Argentina is prospering again. Néstor Kirchner, its popular centre-left leader, has presided over four successive years of expansion above 8 per cent and is expected to win a second term at elections due this year.