Argentina's nine-year economic expansion is slowing sharply, according to analysts, who predict growth of 2.5 percent to 3 percent this year, half the 5.1 percent projected by the government's 2012 budget and far below last year's 8.9 percent rise.

Some economists are even predicting recession before year's end, saying recently imposed currency and trade restrictions, high inflation, price controls and capital flight are making it tougher to protect Argentina from the global slowdown.

"The tail wind has ended and there are storm clouds gathering. Argentina is more exposed," said Ramiro Castineira, an economist with the Econometrica consultancy. He estimates 2.5 percent growth this year and worries the government's economic interventions have left it too weak to respond to global pressures.

Argentina's GDP averaged annual growth of 7.1 percent from 2003 to 2011 as President Cristina Fernandez and her late husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, guided the country out of an economic abyss created by its world-record loan default and currency devaluation in 2002.