A legal change in the bonds that will emerge from a debt restructuring in the South Asian island of Sri Lanka could set a precedent for sovereign debt contracts, Bloomberg News reported. The country’s officials and its international bondholders have agreed to keep New York as the governing law of new notes to be issued under a $12.6 billion rework, but are introducing a mechanism that allows creditors to request a change to English or Delaware law, according to a government statement on Thursday.

The Centre could soon put in place a creditor-led insolvency resolution mechanism, largely involving out-of-court arrangements for even big loan defaulting firms, to ease the bankruptcy court burden and quicken recoveries for lenders, people aware of the development told the Economic Times of India. The new mechanism will stipulate a shorter deadline for resolution, likely 150 days, compared with the 270 days (including a 90-day extension) currently stipulated under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Sri Lanka said that has reached an agreement in principle with bondholders to restructure about $12.6 billion in bonds, just two days before the country heads to elections that have rattled investors, Bloomberg News reported. The government and bondholders agreed on terms including a “27% haircut on the nominal amount of existing bonds,” according to a statement released Thursday at the conclusion of a third round of talks. A previous statement in July referred to a 28% haircut.

The administrator for Fiat Chrysler’s bankrupt Chinese venture failed to sell a jointly run auto factory in Southern China for a third time at auction, despite slashing the price by more than a third, indicating the lack of demand for internal combustion engines in the world’s largest car market, Bloomberg News reported. The equipment, buildings and other assets at the Changsha-based plant previously operated by Fiat Chrysler, now part of Stellantis NV., and partner Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. went under the gavel online starting on Tuesday, priced at 1.23 billion yuan ($174 million).

Taiwan’s central bank held interest rates steady with a watchful eye on inflation, declining to join the U.S. Federal Reserve and a growing number of its Asian counterparts in starting to ease monetary policy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) kept its benchmark discount rate at 2.000% on Thursday, as expected in a poll of six analysts by The Wall Street Journal. It maintained its secured loan rate and unsecured loan rate at 2.375% and 4.250%, respectively.

Turkey’s central bank indicated it’s in no hurry to start cutting interest rates after leaving borrowing costs on hold for a sixth straight month, though suggested such a move is getting closer after dropping a reference to potential tightening, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Committee, led by Governor Fatih Karahan, kept the one-week repo rate at 50% on Thursday. “Monetary policy tools will be used effectively in case a significant and persistent deterioration in inflation is foreseen,” the MPC said in a statement accompanying the decision.

Australia’s latest attempts to solve its housing crisis are stuck in political gridlock as the amount of available rental space in the nation hovers near a record low, Bloomberg News reported. A key piece of the center-left Labor government’s housing program is in limbo after opposition parties on Wednesday voted to defer for two months legislation that aims to help first home owners break into the market. The bill is for a shared equity scheme which would allow citizens to buy houses with a smaller deposit.

Japan’s exports rose at a slower-than-expected pace in August, adding to concerns about the outlook for the global economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. Exports rose ​5.6% in August from a year earlier, Finance Ministry data showed Wednesday. That was much slower than the 10.2% increase in July and the 10.6% rise forecast by economists polled by data provider FactSet. Overseas demand for cars and machinery for construction and mining declined, while shipments of chip-making machines and electronic parts increased, the data showed.

Indonesia's central bank surprised markets by delivering its first rate cut in more than three years on Wednesday, moving to bolster growth in Southeast Asia's largest economy ahead of the start of an expected easing cycle in the United States, Reuters reported. Bank Indonesia (BI) unexpectedly trimmed the benchmark rate, opens new tab by 25 basis points to 6.00%, its first rate cut since February 2021.

Entertainment giant Sony Group Corp. is the latest company to jump onto a bandwagon of Japanese businesses seeking to tap blockchain technology, a trend that poses challenges for the nation’s government, Bloomberg News reported. Sony last month officially unveiled a digital ledger, Soneium, anticipating that developers will use it to create applications to enhance the firm’s offerings. Precisely how is a work in progress, but the broad idea is that intersecting Soneium with gaming, music and movies could yield opportunities.