Analysis
by Andrew Walker BBC economics correspondent

Argentine President Eduardo Duhalde is meeting governors from the country's regions to discuss the economic crisis.

Argentina has been trying to negotiate a new loan form the International Monetary Fund since early in the year, and Finance Minister Roberto Lavagna was in Washington for further talks last week.

Relations between the federal and provincial governments have been a constant issue in the talks with the IMF.

Economists at the IMF believe the root cause of Argentina's current problem is several years of failure to control government spending.

So they will not support a new loan unless they are confident that public spending will be well controlled.

Argentina's federal constitution means that both federal and regional authorities have to co-operate if total spending is to be kept within any limits agreed with the IMF.

Wrangling

In its most recent statement on the talks last week, the IMF said there had been progress.

But it also said there were still issues to be resolved in the federal and provincial financial framework.

The IMF has long held concerns over whether Argentina's provinces would implement any measures agreed with the federal government.

The IMF statement also referred to measure for fighting inflation - a huge concern in Argentina, which had a history of severe inflation problems before the 1990s.

The provinces matter because some of them have been funding their spending by issuing what are in effect separate currencies.

That in turn makes it impossible for Argentina's central bank to control the amount of cash in circulation.