Bank interest rates on short-term deposits fell from 400 percent a year to 260 percent, and the market for dollar-denominated bonds rallied.

He acknowledged that the American loan guarantees might have produced enough investor confidence to make replacing the dollar-denominated bonds less urgent.

The long-term option would be for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to make dollar-denominated bonds and other investments more attractive to foreign investors.

The government also said that Argentines can leave up to $30,000 of their savings in dollar-denominated bonds.

Having raised $766m last year from dollar-denominated bonds, it aims for $1 billion this year.

Where are transactions in and holdings of dollar-denominated foreign bonds reported?

And with investors' confidence growing, the Government filed this week for permission in the United States to sell up to $3.75 billion of dollar-denominated bonds.

The World Bank priced its largest dollar-denominated global bond issue ever, $4 billion, and it was oversubscribed.

The Government fulfilled its obligations on virtually all the $29.2 billion in dollar-denominated bonds known as tesobonos.

The rise in interest rates during the late spring has also helped strengthen the dollar because foreign investors buy more dollar-denominated bonds when rates are higher.