Kazakh lender BTA Bank said it will push ahead with talks to restructure its debt for the second time in as many years even after a shareholder meeting today failed to gain enough votes to begin the process. The results of the meeting in Almaty are “certainly not an impediment to achieving restructuring and the bank will continue to take all the necessary steps,” BTA said in a statement. Majority owner Samruk-Kazyna, the Kazakh sovereign-wealth fund, couldn’t back any resolutions on the agenda as an insufficient number of depositary-receipt holders voted, it said.

The International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday that global growth prospects had dimmed as the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone entered a “perilous new phase,” the International Herald Tribune reported. Releasing quarterly updates of three reports on the outlooks for the economy, debt and global financial stability, the fund cut its estimates of global growth this year to 3.25 percent, from the 4 percent it forecast in September, on “sharply escalated” risks emanating from Europe.

Joe Hockey has called on Australians to embrace a new spirit of austerity, saying families and businesses should pay off debt to prepare for up to two decades of economic turmoil, The Australian reported. The opposition treasury spokesman said it critical for the government to pay off debt, but similar policies should be pursued in households and boardrooms. "The bottom line is that we are going to have a very volatile period, economic period, for the next 10-20 years, " he told ABC radio.

Kingfisher Airlines said it is in talks with Hong Kong-based SC Lowy and some other investors to raise funds, as the financially beleaguered airline expedites steps to stay afloat. The discussions come at a time when Kingfisher, controlled by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, is struggling with depleting cash flow, high debt and unpaid bills. The financial troubles have forced the airline to cut dozens of flights, ground several planes, stop its low-fare operations and seek government help to sustain its business.

Lenders to Air India on Thursday were unable to reach a decision on the ailing national carrier's $4 billion debt restructuring, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, further delaying the airline's long-pending proposal, Reuters reported. Last week, the lenders -- a consortium of 13 banks led by State Bank of India -- deferred Air India's debt restructuring proposal, seeking a revision as they were reluctant to accept equity in the airline. One of the options discussed by the banks on Thursday was to convert the airline's debt into a government-backed bond, the sources said.

Chinese group Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile could make a fresh bid for failed Swedish carmaker Saab next week, sources with knowledge of the situation said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Saab was declared bankrupt by a Swedish court in December after protracted rescue efforts by owner Swedish Automobile. A key stumbling block was the refusal of former owner General Motors to allow its technology, which underpins Saab cars, to fall into Youngman's hands.

China’s banking regulator is weighing a plan to relax capital requirements for lenders after the world’s second-largest economy expanded at the slowest pace in 10 quarters, four people with knowledge of the matter said, Bloomberg reported. The China Banking Regulatory Commission is delaying implementing the most stringent capital adequacy ratios and may lower risk weightings for loans to small businessmen and companies, the people said, declining to be identified as the matter is confidential.

Walk softly. Global growth looks to be smoothly downshifting as China slows, the U.S. economy firms, and troubled Europe, at least for now, avoids a messy crash, Reuters reported. Ratings downgrades on nine euro zone countries by Standard & Poor's late Friday - including France, Italy and Spain - sent a shiver through financial markets. But the move was long telegraphed, likely limiting any spillover. A global economy slowing only gently would be an immense relief after a fraught end to 2011, but it is far from guaranteed.

Argentine supermarket chain Eki is in talks to sell about 25 of its large format stores to China's Yonghui Superstores Co., according to a person familiar with the matter, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported. "They already export wine and other [Argentine] products to China and are interested in expanding outside of China," said an Eki executive, who asked not to be named because of the confidential nature of the talks.

China's banking regulator took new steps to clamp down on risks in the financial sector, even as a report from Standard & Poor's said political considerations might force authorities to grant banks some leeway on loans to local governments, The Wall Street Journal reported. The China Banking Regulatory Commission on Thursday said it has told trust companies, which are lightly regulated investment vehicles, to stop selling investment products backed by commercial paper held by banks.