Asia Pacific

The receivers of Pike River Coal say unsecured creditors owed more than $31 million - including $15 million to tradesmen and almost $3 million to employees - are "unlikely" to be paid, the Otago Daily Times reported. The company was placed in voluntary receivership by its board in December, just weeks after 29 men died in an explosion at its underground mine near Greymouth on November 19. PricewaterhouseCoopers' first report on the receivership outlines a total debt owed to creditors of $110.4 million.

In a blow to the Australian banking industry, ratings firm Moody's Investors Service unexpectedly placed the country's four largest banks on review for a possible downgrade, citing their dependence on global lending markets, The Wall Street Journal reported. A downgrade from their current investment grade rating of Aa1—one notch below Moody's top rating—could increase their costs even as they worry that Australia's rising interest rates will crimp profitability.

The International Monetary Fund has recommended that Afghanistan's largest and most troubled bank be placed in receivership and then sold off to recover from reckless lending that brought it to the brink of collapse last year, The Washington Post reported. After a visit to Kabul this month, the IMF recommended that the Afghan government implement several "immediate measures" to deal with Kabul Bank, including prosecuting fraud and placing it under receivership.

The tough times afflicting the fashion and retail industry have claimed a high-profile scalp, ABC News reported. Covers, founded by the design duo Marilyn Said and Barry Taffs in 1978, has gone into voluntary administration. The editor of Ragtrader magazine, Assia Benmedjdoub, says it is a sign of the times. Management at Covers did not respond to interview requests from the ABC. But it is clear they are not the only ones struggling. Benmedjdoub says even businesses that survived the global financial crisis are still trimming their margins in order to make ends meet.

Korea Line Corp said it has started restructuring after a local court approved placing the financially-strapped dry bulk group in receivership, Reuters reported. South Korea's second-biggest dry bulk shipping line filed for bankruptcy protection in late January, struggling with high-cost charter contracts amid a sharp drop in freight rates since the economic turmoil of 2008. This had rocked confidence in the shipping industry and provoked fears that other bulk shippers may be exposed to Korea Line, weighing on their shares.

China has required some small- and medium-sized banks to deposit more reserves at the central bank to rein in inflation and aggressive loan growth, the state-run China Securities Journal reported today, citing unnamed sources. The report said the punitive increase in banks' reserve requirement ratio, which took effect earlier this week, was mainly targeted at China's regional banks. But the report didn't name any banks. Though China has yet to announce an official lending target for this year, it has used various monetary tools to tame credit growth and inflation.

Now that it has passed Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy after the United States, China is considering the next step as a world power: making its money a global currency, the International Herald Tribune reported. No one expects that to happen immediately. And even the Chinese government is wary of making some of the free-market moves that would enable the renminbi to take its place alongside the dollar, euro and Japanese yen as a fully convertible reserve currency. Still, over the last year Beijing has begun to gradually loosen its tight currency controls.

The economy may have suffered a double dip recession, Finance Minister Bill English said, The National Business Review reported. He was speaking at Parliament's finance and expenditure committee, where he also announced that he would deliver the 2011 government budget on Thursday May 19. Following questions from Labour finance spokesman David Cunliffe, Mr English said it was possible the fourth quarter of last year saw an economic contraction.

Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the Japanese economy is likely to emerge soon from its recent lull, but he warned of the long-term risks of the nation's deteriorating fiscal health, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Shirakawa said the International Monetary Fund forecast Japan's economy will grow by 4.3% in 2010—the highest rate of growth among the Group of Seven leading industrial countries.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, on a visit Monday to Latin America's biggest economy, urged Brazilian officials to help the U.S. pressure China to allow its currency to appreciate, The Wall Street Journal reported. Though officials in public shied away from specifics of any plan to coordinate calls for a stronger yuan, a person familiar with the discussions said Brazil and the U.S. may speak with a common voice on the issue in a coming meeting of the Group of 20 major economies.