President Eduardo Duhalde warns that democracy in Argentina is threatened by the nation's severe economic crisis.

On Thursday, President Duhalde said Pope John Paul was correct when he said recently that democracy in Argentina is in danger. On Tuesday, the pontiff condemned the deadly rioting that swept through Argentina in December. The Roman Catholic leader also said mismanagement and corruption is to blame for the crisis.

But President Duhalde says he is optimistic, and he says a public work plan should be announced by the end of February. Argentina suffers from an unemployment rate in excess of 18 percent -- and its national currency has been plummeting in value.

Argentine officials say they have had positive meetings this week in Washington with the International Monetary Fund and U.S. Treasury Department. Argentina wants to borrow up to 23-billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund to prop up its currency value. The I-M-F says it is too early to discuss specific loan amounts.

This week's meetings were aimed at restarting loan negotiations with the I-M-F. Earlier talks broke down in December after the institution refused to clear a loan payment to Argentina, saying the government failed to control spending.

I-M-F Managing Director Horst Koehler described this week's talks as positive, saying there was broad agreement on the analysis of the economic and social situation in Argentina.

Last week, President Duhalde introduced a national budget that drastically reduced the cost of government. Officials also freely floated the Argentine peso, a move seen as a key element for obtaining I-M-F aid.

Argentina is in the midst of a four-year recession and recently defaulted on a 141-billion-dollar debt. More than 18 percent of the Argentine workforce is unemployed.

(la nacion, afp, reuters, prev)

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