Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions, which decreased the number of Argentine banks from nearly 300 in 1990 to fewer than 100 at the end of 1999, were expected to continue and lead to improvements in management and efficiency. The foreign currency reserves of the Central Bank stood at nearly $25,000 million in December 1999, or over 9 months of imports. However, these reserves were used to back the monetary liabilities of the Central Bank and were not available for conducting monetary policy; by the terms of the Convertibility Law, each Argentine peso in circulation was to be matched by one American dollar in the reserves.