BUENOS AIRES -- Visiting IMF officials told crisis-rocked Argentina's President Eduardo Duhalde the country's wildly unpopular banking restrictions must go, a senior government source said privately Monday, AFP reported.

Duhalde listened to the suggestions from the team of four European bankers but the president left detailed consideration to his Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna.

Over the weekend, Lavagna warned that ending the restrictions on withdrawals from private accounts, in place since December in a desperate bid to limit capital flight, would trigger hyperinflation.

The restrictions have a clamp on the equivalent of some $15 billion, according to unofficial estimates.

Argentines whose life savings have withered away with the devaluation of the peso and who cannot access their accounts have taken to the streets in massive demonstrations since then.

Lavagna wants to reimburse account holders in dollar-denominated five or ten year bonds to try to avoid a run on dollars and further banking industry collapses.

Argentina is asking the IMF to help it reschedule all of its debt to multilateral institutions.

Buenos Aires lost access to private financing in December 2001 when it defaulted on some $100,000 in sovereign debt.

Duhalde was appointed January 1 by Congress to replace Fernando de la Rua, who stepped down December 20 amid violent protests over the worsening economic situation that left nearly 30 dead.

The president has sought to strengthen his position as leader by pushing forward the next election by six months to March 30.

Argentina has been mired in recession for four years, and its economy slipped 16 percent in the first quarter of 2002. Half of all Argentines now live below the poverty line.