Former President of Argentina, Carlos Menem, died at the age of 90 years old in a Buenos Aires clinic.

The death was reported on Sunday by the Telam news agency and other media outlets.

Menem had been hospitalised several times in recent months for pneumonia.

Menem as President from 1989-99 pursued an aggressive privatization policy.

He identified ideologically as a follower of Peronism, a movement based on the policies and legacy of former president Juan Peron. Menem had been a member of the Senate since 2005.

As president, he fixed the exchange rate of the peso at one US dollar, which ultimately led to the country's worst economic crisis in 2001.

The former president had three children from two marriages, the first with Zulema Yoma and the second with former Chilean Miss Universe Cecilia Bolocco.

He had been investigated in various corruption cases, but was never convicted.

In 2001 he was ordered held in pre-trial detention at home for a case involving arms smuggling to Croatia and Ecuador, but he was freed weeks later under a Supreme Court ruling and ultimately cleared.