A bit more from AP, along the same lines:

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina –– A banking holiday shut down equity and foreign exchange markets again Monday as small protests flared around Argentina over a deep economic crisis.

The country's Central Bank imposed the banking holiday last Friday as the government of President Eduardo Duhalde wrestled with ways to shore up the tottering banking system.

All foreign exchange and banking transactions remain indefinitely halted as the government draws up an economic plan to stem the outflow of around $100 million a day from the banks.

The program aims to end thousands of successful lawsuits contesting a partial banking freeze imposed on Dec. 1 by the government of former President Fernando De la Rua.

Those restrictions still remain and limit cash withdrawals to around $500 a month, but judges have consistently upheld the right of savers, who have challenged the decision in the courts.

But Duhalde on Monday repeated warnings that steps must be taken to avoid the collapse of the financial system, now weighed down by a four-year-old recession.

"We all know the situation: there are many more people who want to withdraw money than there is money in the banks," Duhalde told reporters.

Late Sunday, his government sent a legislative proposal to Congress aimed at reorganizing the government-run banks, a move seen as an attempt to rescue the country's tottering financial system.

It calls for creating the Banco Federal Nacional. The bank would be a merger of Argentina's largest bank, Banco de La Nacion, and the investment bank, Banco de Inversion y Comercio Extranjero.

Separately the government has sent Congress a proposal to oblige most Argentines who win lawsuits to withdraw money from the banks to accept long-term bonds instead of cash.

Some $60 million remain trapped in deposits because of the banking freeze. But opponents in Congress said they were reluctant to hastily endorse any such plan, demanding to see the details.

Sen. Rodolfo Terragno told the local news agency Diarios y Noticias it would be impossible to act within the 12 or 24 hours that Duhalde's administration would like. "This is extortion," he complained.

Meanwhile, depositors wanting their money back returned to the streets of Buenos Aires on Monday. But the protests were small: one group demanding money back from the banks numbered only about 100 in the rainswept streets.

Protests were reported elsewhere, including San Juan province in western Argentina.

Around Buenos Aires, meanwhile, many who tried to make ordinary withdrawals from bank machines complained the banks weren't restocking the machines during the banking holiday.

Last week, the Central Bank suspended the activities of Scotiabank Quilmes for 30 days, the country's 11th largest bank, because of its low level of operating capital and reserves.

Private analysts say many of Argentina's banks face similar problems, in particular the smaller provincial banks, many of which have been privatized over the past decade.

Argentina is suffering its worst downturn in memory. Argentina defaulted on its dlrs 141 billion debt in December and began a sharp devaluation of the currency in January.

© 2002 The Associated Press