Kazakhstan is considering a 2.1 trillion-tenge ($6.5 billion) plan this year to restore banks to health, widening its budget deficit and tapping its oil wealth fund to cover the costs, Bloomberg News reported. Finance Minister Bakhyt Sultanov proposed the additional spending Monday in a presentation to the cabinet, according to a website statement.

Investors expecting a deal this year in Tata Steel's talks to merge its European assets with Germany's Thyssenkrupp risk disappointment, given complications associated with the Indian-owned firm's British pension scheme. Tata and Thyssenkrupp shares have firmed on hopes a merger would trigger European steel capacity cuts, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

The woes of Singaporean energy-services provider Ezra Holdings Ltd. are a stark reminder to the city’s biggest banks of the threat souring oil and gas loans pose to their earnings. A writedown flagged by Ezra recently has refocused attention on the debt-repayment problems marine-services firms are facing, fueling concerns that lenders may have to set aside more money to cover loan losses, Bloomberg News reported. Fourth-quarter results due this week from DBS Group Holdings Ltd.

Nowhere are China’s rusted-out industries worse than in Liaoning, a province that’s slumped into outright recession and where officials have admitted to years of inflating fiscal revenue data, Bloomberg News reported. Liaoning is also a showcase for how long a road China faces to create a world-class bond market. For all its problems, the district pays little more than its peers to borrow. On the corporate side, authorities’ reluctance to let more insolvent enterprises go under means a limited role for the market, with financiers willing to restructure their debts on the sidelines.

Investors expecting a deal this year in Tata Steel's talks to merge its European assets with Germany's Thyssenkrupp risk disappointment, given complications associated with the Indian-owned firm's British pension scheme. Tata and Thyssenkrupp shares have firmed on hopes a merger would trigger European steel capacity cuts, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

India's central bank deputy governor on Wednesday joined the debate over creating a so-called "bad bank" to handle record sour assets in the nation's banks, saying it could help if "designed properly". Banks in India had record stressed loans of $133 billion, or 12.34 percent of their total loans, as of last September, Reuters reported. About two dozen state-owned lenders, which own nearly 70 percent of India's banking assets, have an even higher stressed-loan ratio of 15.88 percent, according to data compiled by India's central bank. In its economic survey released on Jan.

Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., South Korea’s biggest sea carrier, said it will post losses through the first half of 2018 as the container-shipping industry attempts to recover from Hanjin Shipping Co.’s bankruptcy and years of excess capacity, Bloomberg News reported. As a hedge against adverse conditions plaguing shipping, Hyundai Merchant has initiated talks to invest in box terminals in Southeast Asia, Chief Executive Officer Yoo Chang-keun, 64, said in an interview Monday.

The Reserve Bank of Australia frequently seeks feedback on the health of the economy. It might want to call the debt counselors soon. Homeowners, consumers and property investors around Australia are making more calls to financial helplines as three warning signs back up the spike in demand: mortgage arrears are creeping up, lenders’ bad debt provisions have increased and personal insolvencies are near an all-time high, Bloomberg News reported.

Investors in Takata have begun to price in the growing risk of a court-led bankruptcy after Chinese-owned Key Safety Systems emerged as the leading bidder for the Japanese automotive supplier mired in a global recall crisis over exploding airbags, the Financial Times reported. In a statement, Takata said a steering committee of outside experts, commissioned by the company, had recommended KSS, a US airbag manufacturer owned by China’s Ningbo Joyson Electronic, as the preferred financial sponsor, although a final decision has yet to be made.

A year ago, Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp. would have been an unlikely name on a shortlist of candidates to rescue Takata Corp., the Japanese air-bag maker that’s behind the biggest safety recall in automotive history. The Chinese components supplier, founded by a former TRW Automotive Inc. executive, made less than a quarter of Takata’s annual revenue, employed a workforce that’s less than half the size of its peer, and was about 70 years younger, Bloomberg News reported.