By Andrew Walker BBC economics correspondent

The International Monetary Fund has moved to provide financial help to Uruguay and Brazil, both affected by the crisis in Argentina.

The organisation has agreed to make $10bn available to Brazil immediately, under a loan already agreed in principle, while IMF staff have proposed to triple the financial help that Uruguay can draw on.

There are fears that if Lula da Silva wins the elections Brazil's debt could rise

Although Argentina's economic crisis has not brought the havoc to global financial markets that some feared - and that did follow the crises in Asia and Russia in the late 1990s - its immediate neighbours have been affected quite badly.

The collapse in value of the Argentine peso has made other countries in the region less competitive.

And as international investment funds became worried about what is called contagion, the interest rates on these countries debt rose, and their currencies came under pressure.

Political factors

Brazil and the IMF had already agreed in principle a stand-by loan of nearly $16bn as a defence against the effects of the Argentine crisis.

The IMF has now agreed that Brazil can have immediate access to a total of $10bn of that.

And IMF staff have proposed that the loan available to Uruguay should be increased by $1.5bn, tripling the total amount.

The final decision on that proposal will be taken by the IMF's Executive Board, probably next week.

Although Brazil's financial problems owe much to the contagion from Argentina there is also a significant element of domestic politics.

Many investors are looking ahead to the presidential elections later this year.

The Workers' Party candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is performing strongly in opinion polls, and there are concerns in the financial markets that victory for him would lead to further sharp increases in Brazil's government debt.