BUENOS AIRES , Argentina ( CNN ) -- President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner announced Thursday a `` contingency plan '' to confront the problems affecting Argentina 's economy , which has been rocked by the international financial crisis . Farmers in Argentina went on strike in October to demand the government lower export taxes . Fernandez said her goal was to increase domestic consumption -- in the face of a drop in demand for exports -- in order to sustain Argentina 's economic growth and avoid a rise in unemployment . `` The restrictions come from outside the country , not from inside , and we are backing this contingency plan precisely because of those restrictions , because of those policies that are devastating the world as we know it , '' she said . She said the government would set aside about $ 4 billion as an incentive to be used for consumption -- loans to buy household appliances and credits to maintain activity in the auto industry -- though she did not say where those funds would come from . In addition , the central bank will offer financing at 11 percent to companies that promise not to lay off employees , the government announced . One economist welcomed the moves . `` The measures tend , on the one hand , to reactivate the levels of consumption that have been beaten back , especially in the last month , particularly in durable goods , the auto industry and household appliances , '' economist Dante Sica said . `` Second is a program that tends , in its line of financing , to inject liquidity into the business sector , especially the industrial and farm sectors that are paying interest rates above 35 percent . '' The government also announced a 5 percent decrease in withholding tax for the export of wheat and corn -- taxes that had stirred fierce debate in the country -- -and the launch of two plans , Wheat Plus and Corn Plus , which will result in another 1 percentage point drop in the withholding tax when production increases . Representatives of the business sector applauded the announcements , saying they underscore the importance of restoring credit in the country and making efforts to keep people employed . But the reaction of the rural sector was mixed , with the Farming Intercooperative Federation calling the measures good but insufficient and the Argentine Agrarian Federation saying they wo n't solve farmers ' problems . Ricardo Haussman , an economics professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University , predicted the economic crisis would cause much of Latin America to grapple with difficulties in the coming months . `` The effect is going to be big , '' he said . `` 2009 is going to be very difficult for Latin America , in part , because obviously there is a very important fall in the price of Latin American commodity exports and , in part , because the drop in industrial activity will affect the manufacturing sectors of Mexico and Central American , which are connected to the economic activity in the United States . '' More importantly , he said , was the freezing of the international financial system and a general lack of access to financing . `` This translates into difficulties in maintaining lines of credit for export and difficulties for countries with external debt to find refinancing . '' He called on the U.S. government , `` which has access to financing that nobody else has , '' to use it to redirect resources so that Latin American countries can find financing . Haussman , who is Venezuelan , said the situation in his home country was particularly fragile , `` because the president has been spending thinking that the price of petroleum would be somewhere else . ''
NEW : Much of Latin America to struggle in economic crisis , professor predicts . Argentine leader wants to step up domestic consumption amid fall in export demand . Government would set aside about $ 4 billion in funds for consumption . Government also will trim withholding tax for the export of wheat and corn .