Argentine banks made record profits last year on the back of a booming economy but face great uncertainty as runaway inflation is endangering economic growth, according to local experts.
The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by about 9% last year and banks made a total net profit of more than 11bn pesos ($2.73bn), according to the Argentine Banking Association (ABA) – the best result in more than a decade. The ABA data refers to the 12 months to November 2010. An appreciation in government debt paper – which accounts for a high proportion of the portfolio of many banks – was key and explained almost 40% of the profits.
