The German government said Europe's largest economy was in “troubled waters” and slashed its growth forecast for this year as it struggles with a lack of skilled labor, excessive bureaucracy, high interest rates and lagging investment in new projects — while a relatively modest set of tax breaks for business remains blocked in the legislature, the Associated Press reported. The growth forecast was lowered to 0.2% from the previous forecast from last fall of 1.3%. That would follow a shrinking of the economy by 0.3% for all of last year.

A city council has warned it is being forced into “tough” decisions to avoid following others into effective bankruptcy, BBC.com reported. Although Newcastle City is not at imminent risk of going under, proposals to cut spending by another £15m over the next year have been signed off by the Labour-run authority's cabinet.

Russia failed to overturn a ruling in the Netherlands that ordered Moscow to pay around $50 billion in the bankruptcy case of Yukos Oil Co., once the largest Russian oil and gas company, Bloomberg News reported. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal dismissed Russia’s latest legal challenge in a saga that has dragged on for nearly two decades. The latest verdict is unlikely to result in an immediate payment to the former shareholders of Yukos. Russia has previously said it isn’t bound to pay the largest arbitration payout ever.

Serbia's state bankruptcy supervision agency announced on Tuesday the sale of bankrupt Belgrade-based company Danube Riverside, including its assets such as the historic Hotel Jugoslavija, with a starting price of 3.18 billion dinars ($27.7 million/25.6 million euro), SeeNews.com reported. Apart from Hotel Jugoslavija, Danube Riverside assets include 45,613 square metres of land which it owns jointly with local financial firm MV Investment, the agency said in a tender invitation.

Private credit funds for professional investors are facing their first set of stricter rules under a European Union proposal slated for approval this week, as their growth has fueled questions about potential risks, Bloomberg News reported. EU governments are set to sign off on a regulatory update for managers of alternative investments such as direct lenders. It includes caps on leverage — the use of borrowed money to juice returns — for private credit funds and other restrictions that the industry warns will be onerous.

Two of the most high-ranking executives of Oscar Properties Holding AB are leaving the beleaguered Swedish property developer as it struggles for survival amid a dramatic financing crunch in the Swedish real estate sector, Bloomberg News reported. Chief Executive Officer Carl Janglin and Chief Financial Officer Magnus Thimgren said Monday they will leave their respective positions after less than a year. Janglin will remain with Oscar Properties until a successor is in place. Oscar Properties has been hit with two separate bankruptcy claims from creditors in recent weeks.

Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill said on Friday that so far he had seen only "quite modest and tentative evidence" that inflation would fall back to and stay at the central bank's 2% target, due to strong underlying domestic price pressures, Reuters reported. "I do think that we will have to wait several more months before we can be convinced that the squeezing out of the persistent component of inflation is there," Pill said at a panel discussion hosted by the United States' National Association for Business Economics.

British retail sales jumped by the most in almost three years in January as consumers recovered their appetite for spending, suggesting the economy could emerge quickly from its recession in the second half of last year, Reuters reported. Sales volumes increased by 3.4% from December, much stronger than the median forecast of a 1.5% increase in a Reuters poll of economists. anuary's jump was the biggest since April 2021 and followed a 3.3% fall in December.

A unit of Israel Shipyards Industries is among the potential bidders for Croatian shipbuilder Uljanik Brodogradnja 1856, Jutarnji List reported, citing Eytan Zucker, chief executive officer of the Haifa-based company, Bloomberg News reported. An auction for Uljanik is expected on March 4, following previous, failed attempts to divest the debt-laden company, according to the Zagreb-based newspaper. Other potential bidders include Slovenia’s Eko Bor, Croatia-registered Adria Mont, Romania’s GSP Offshore, Italy’s Micoperi based in Ravenna, and La Maison from Cyprus.

Britain's economy fell into a recession in the second half of 2023, a tough backdrop ahead of this year's expected election for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who has promised to boost growth, Reuters reported. Gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.3% in the three months to December, having shrunk by 0.1% between July and September, official data showed. Sterling weakened against the dollar and the euro. Investors added to their bets on the Bank of England (BoE) cutting interest rates this year and businesses called for more help from the government in a budget plan due on March 6.