Germany’s government has selected banks to arrange a potential selldown of power company Uniper SE, which could rank among the country’s biggest share sales in recent years, Bloomberg News reported. Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and UBS Group AG have been appointed as joint global coordinators on the potential offering, the people said, declining to be identified because the information is private. More banks could be added to the lineup ahead of the share sale in the first quarter of next year.

Mexico wants to reduce its dependence on imports from China and is asking some of the world’s biggest manufacturers and tech firms operating in the country to identify Chinese products and parts that could be made locally, the Wall Street Journal reported. The administration of leftist President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office last week, wants U.S.

Colombia’s central bank cut borrowing costs to a two-year low while ignoring President Gustavo Petro’s calls for an even bigger reduction. The board also elected Governor Leonardo Villar for a second four-year term, Bloomberg News reported. The board split once more as it lowered its benchmark rate by half a percentage point to 10.25%, Villar told reporters on Monday. The move was correctly forecast by 20 of 27 economists in a Bloomberg survey, while the others expected a deeper cut, to 10%.

Chile’s economic activity unexpectedly contracted in August on a decline in services, corroborating the central bank’s message that more interest rate cuts are on the way, Bloomberg News reported. The Imacec index, a proxy for gross domestic product, fell 0.2% on the month, matching the worst estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts that had a median forecast of 0.3% growth. From the year earlier, activity gained 2.3%, the central bank reported on Tuesday.

The eurozone economy slowed sharply as the third quarter draws to a close, contrasting still-dynamic growth in the U.S., according to a series of business surveys released on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The eurozone surveys suggest that a soft landing from the surge in inflation that accompanied Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine could be in doubt.

Sweden’s Northvolt AB will shed 20% of its global workforce and pause its expansion plans to slow cash outflows as the battery-making firm confronts a burgeoning financial crisis, Bloomberg News reported. The company, which has struggled in its mission to stand up a home-grown supply of electric-vehicle batteries in Europe, said it will reduce its Swedish workforce by 1,600 positions as part of a strategic review that was announced this month. The money-saving move comes as Northvolt continues to negotiate a new financing pact with its creditors and investors.

The International Monetary Fund is focusing on a set of options to ease the additional debt burden it imposes on nations looking to escape financial distress, as it seeks to address complaints that its current system is overly punitive, Bloomberg News reported. The IMF’s executive board had a meeting this week to consider three potential changes to the so-called surcharges system, according to people familiar with the plan who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

Applications for bankruptcy rose in the first half of 2024, as did the number of people declared eventually bankrupt, the Straits Times reported. Recent Law Ministry (MinLaw) data shows that 2,334 people filed for bankruptcy in the six months to June 30, up 25 per cent on the same period in 2023, while 594 were later declared bankrupt, an increase of 11 percent. Read more. (Subscription required.)

The Czech central bank is in the process of easing its monetary policy but interest rates will stay higher than what they used to be over the past 10 years, according to Governor Ales Michl, Bloomberg News reported. Rate setters in Prague need to keep borrowing costs elevated for a longer period of time and avoid making rushed, ad-hoc monetary policy steps and experiments, Michl wrote in remarks about his trip to the annual gathering of policymakers and academics in Jackson Hole. “It’s better to have a more consistent, but overall more restrictive policy,” he said.

The International Monetary Fund on Monday named Jamaican Finance Minister Nigel Clarke to a top post at the agency, after the official spearheaded fiscal reforms in the Caribbean nation, Reuters reported. Clarke, nominated by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, is set to replace Antoinette Sayeh as one of the IMF's three deputy managing directors at the end of October.