Bad debts could become more of a headache for Turkish banks when credit expansion slows, which threatens to reverse a decline in the ratio of souring loans, according to European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Bloomberg News reported. “The NPL issue is an elephant-in-the-room,” Roger Kelly, EBRD’s Istanbul-based lead regional economist, said in an interview. A boom in credit extension increases the risk of taking on riskier customers, and means many of the loans are still relatively young, he said.

A consensus is emerging among G20 nations to extend a debt-payment freeze next week for poor countries for an additional six months, a French finance ministry source said on Friday, Reuters reported. Members of the Group of 20 economic powers and the Paris Club of creditor nations agreed in April to suspend until the end of the year debt payments owed to them by poor countries to free up resources for tackling the coronavirus outbreak. G20 finance ministers are due to take a decision on what to do after the end of the year when they hold an online meeting next Wednesday, the source said.

Shares in AirAsia’s long-haul unit skidded after the Malaysian carrier launched a last-ditch plan to save the business, blaming “severe liquidity constraints” caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Financial Times reported. AirAsia X’s Kuala Lumpur-traded stock fell 10 per cent on Wednesday a day after the company warned of “an imminent default of contractual commitments [that] will precipitate a potential liquidation of the airline”. The proposed restructuring comes as the future of AirAsia, owned by Malaysian tycoon Tony Fernandes, hangs in the balance.

China Evergrande Group shares fell after the embattled developer completed about 71% of its sales target in the two months through October, offering its steepest discount in history that could squeeze margins, Bloomberg News reported. The shares fell as much as 2.7% after it said contracted sales were 142 billion yuan ($21 billion) between Sept. 1 and Oct. 8, according to an exchange filing Friday. It generated 173 billion yuan for the two months through October last year.

The parent of Malaysia Airlines has warned leasing companies that state fund Khazanah will stop funding the group and force it into a winding down process if restructuring talks with lessors are unsuccessful, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The warning from Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), the holding company for the state carrier, raises the stakes in negotiations for a financial shake-up known as “Plan A” and sets out an alternative plan to divert funds to a sister airline unit called Firefly, Reuters reported.

Countries could face years of negotiations to rework their debt with China as a growing number of loans run into trouble following decades of aggressive lending by the world’s largest official creditor, Bloomberg News reported. Chinese lenders at times lack coordination and don’t follow standard relief terms to renegotiate debt, adding uncertainty to the outcome of talks to overhaul $28 billion in loans in a number of countries, according to research by Rhodium Group, a New York-based economic and policy consultancy.

The global economy is in “less dire” shape than it was in June but risks crashing again if governments end fiscal and monetary support too soon, fail to control the coronavirus and ignore emerging market debt problems, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

The owner of the Nusr-Et steakhouse, known by its founder chef’s meme Salt Bae, is negotiating with lenders to delay repayments on 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) of debt that was restructured last year, Bloomberg News reported. Turkish billionaire Ferit Sahenk’s Dogus Holding AS is in preliminary talks with a group of banks after its cash flows took a knock because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to people familiar with the matter. They asked not to be identified as the talks are confidential.

The long-haul arm of Malaysia's flagship budget airline, AirAsia X Bhd (AAX), has proposed restructuring its debt and reducing its issued share capital to avoid liquidation and pave way for fresh capital, it said in a late bourse filing on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Micro and small companies that require support to restructure their debts or wind up their businesses may soon be able to do so in a quicker and lower-cost manner, The Straits Times reoprted. A Simplified Insolvency Programme, which would provide such support to companies, is part of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution (Amendment) Bill that was introduced in Parliament on Monday (Oct 5). Singapore's current insolvency laws generally provide processes for companies with substantial assets, which may not be well-suited for distressed smaller companies.