In mid-February Argentina’s MerVal index of leading stocks closed at previously unsurpassed levels, with much of the activity involving the shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia. The conglomerate told the Buenos Aires stock exchange that its banking operation, Banco Galicia, suffered a net loss of Ps126 million ($40 million) in 2006 as a result of a debt compensation programme with the central bank dating back to the country’s 2001 financial crisis.
Galicia...
