Analysis-IMF's Argentina predicament: Seek reforms and tango on or kill the music

FILE PHOTO: Argentine presidential candidate Javier Milei for La Libertad Avanza coalition holds a placard depicting a dollar bill with his face, during a campaign rally in La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 12, 2023. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - Argentina and the International Monetary Fund share a rocky history spanning seven decades - and it looks as if things could get worse.

Just five years ago, Argentina became the Washington-based global lender's biggest single debtor, receiving a $57 billion bailout to help then-President Mauricio Macri's market-friendly government steer out of an economic crisis marked by high inflation and a gaping budget deficit. But that programme failed to put South America's second-largest economy back on its feet.