Argentina's many years of military dictatorship (alternating with weak, short-lived democratic governments) had already caused significant economic problems prior to the 2001 crisis, particularly during the self-styled National Reorganization Process in power from 1976 to 1983. A right-wing executive, José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz, was appointed Economy Minister at the outset of the dictatorship, and a Neoliberal economic platform centered around anti-labor, monetarist policies of financial liberalization was introduced. Budget deficits jumped to 15% of GDP as the country went into debt for the state takeover of over $15 billion in private debts, for never-finished projects, higher defense spending, and the Falklands War. By the end of the military government in 1983 the foreign debt had ballooned from $8 billion to $45 billion, interest charges alone exceeded trade surpluses, industrial production had fallen by 20%, real wages had lost 36% of their purchasing power, and unemployment - calculated at 18% (though official figures claimed 5%) - was at its highest point since the Great Depression.
Democracy was restored in 1983 with the election of President Raúl Alfonsín. The new government intended to stabilize the economy and in 1985 introduced austerity measures and a new currency, the austral (the first of its kind without peso in its name). Fresh loans were required to service the $5 billion in annual interest charges, however, and when commodity prices collapsed in 1986 the state became unable to service this debt. During the Alfonsin administration, unemployment did not substantially increase, but real wages fell by almost half (to the lowest level in fifty years). Prices for state-run utilities, telephone service, and gas increased substantially. Confidence in the Austral Plan, however, collapsed in late 1987, and inflation, which already averaged 10% per month (220% a year) from 1975 to 1988, spiraled out of control. Inflation reached 200% for the month in July 1989, peaking at 5,000% for the year. Amid riots, President Alfonsín resigned five months before the end of his term and President-elect Carlos Menem took office in July.