opportunity to act to curb inflation when the economy was expanding at its fastest, with inflation expected to reach 12% in 2006, up from 7.7% in 2005 and 4.4% in 2004." Price controls helped keep inflation that year to 9.8%, though the public's perception of it was higher due to the sample composition used to measure the index; differences between official and private inflation estimates widened dramatically from 2007 onward. The BCRA, however, obtained exceptionally high returns on investment funded by its reserves, for a total of US$1.4 billion (a yearly rate of 5.7%) in 2006, and continued to do so in subsequent years. Fallout from the 2008 financial crisis later forced President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's administration to seek domestic financing for growing public spending, as well as for foreign debt service obligations; her administration, like many of her predecessors, has used the nominally independent Central Bank to prop up government finances and to support political goals. The president ordered a US$6.7 billion account opened at the Central Bank for the latter purpose in December 2009, implying the use of the Central Bank's foreign exchange reserves, and drawing direct opposition from Redrado. He was dismissed by presidential decree on January 7, 2010, prior to which Economy Minister Amado Boudou had announced that Mario Blejer (who had expressed support for the measure) would be appointed in his stead. Following an impasse, Redrado was ultimately replaced by Mercedes Marcó del Pont, President of the National Bank of Argentina, on February 3. Redrado's removal triggered a vocal rebuke from opposition figures in Congress, who, citing the need to preserve the Central Bank's nominal autarky, expressed doubts as to the decree's legality. A court injunction blocked Kirchner's planned use of reserves for the retirement of high-interest bonds, a move that could have provided numerous vulture funds (holdouts from the 2005 debt restructuring who had resorted to the courts in a bid for higher returns on their defaulted bonds) a legal argument against the central bank's autarky, and thus make judgement liens against the central bank's overseas accounts possible. The BCRA acquired a greater role as a commercial lender subsequently. The Bicentennial Fund, established in January 2010 as the vehicle for the controversial refinancing plan that led to Redrado's removal, financed fixed investment projects totaling US$2.4 billion in its first two years; a change proposed by President Fernández de Kirchner to the bank's governing