The German government said Wednesday that it plans to make plastic manufacturers contribute to the cost of cleaning up litter in streets and parks, the Associated Press reported. The Cabinet agreed on a bill that makers of products containing single-use plastic will need to pay into a central fund managed by the government, starting in 2025. The fund is estimated to collect about 450 million euros ($446 million) in the first year, based on the companies’ past production of single-use plastic. Affected items include cigarette filters, drink containers and packaging for takeout food.

Bankruptcies for Swedish companies rose to their highest level since the start of the pandemic as prices are soaring and the country’s central bank is raising borrowing costs to quell inflation, Bloomberg News reported. In September, 635 companies in the largest Nordic nation went bankrupt -- the highest level since May 2020 --increasing by 38% from a year earlier, according to data from credit reference agency UC. The data adds to the gloomy picture for the Swedish economy that’s seen contracting the most in the Nordic region next year.

Made.com Group Plc plans to file for insolvency after the British online furniture store failed to find a rescue buyer and ran out of cash, Bloomberg News reported. The company said Tuesday it intends to appoint PwC as administrator putting potentially as many as 500 jobs at risk. Shares of Made.com have been suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange. News of Made.com’s collapse marks a steep decline for a company which only listed last year with a valuation of £775 million ($893 million) and was hailed as a millennial favorite.

The Bank of England on Tuesday is set to become the first major central bank to sell off assets accumulated during a 13-year-old stimulus program, providing a test case for how quickly markets can shift away from easy-money policies, Bloomberg News reported. The UK central bank, which was buying gilts as recently as a few weeks ago to soothe market stress, plans an auction of the first £750 million in short-maturity securities it wants to unload. Results of the operation are due about 3 p.m. in London.

Inflation hit a new record in the 19 countries that use the euro currency, fueled by out-of-control prices for natural gas and electricity due to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Economic growth also slowed ahead of what economists fear is a looming recession, largely as a result of those higher prices sapping Europeans’ ability to spend, the Associated Press reported. Annual inflation reached 10.7% in October, the European Union’s statistics agency, Eurostat, reported Monday. That is up from 9.9% in September and the highest since statistics began to be compiled for the eurozone in 1997.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said the peak of the current cycle of interest-rate increases must ensure that inflation returns to the 2% target over the medium term, Bloomberg News reported. Without specifying a level for the so-called terminal rate, Lagarde said borrowing costs have further to rise following last week’s second straight 75 basis-point hike. “The destination is clear, and we haven’t reached it yet,” she told the Latvian website Delfi Bizness in an interview published Tuesday.

U.K. house prices fell the most since the start of the pandemic in October as political and market turmoil sent shock waves through the property market, Bloomberg News reported. The figures add to evidence that the property market is now in the grip of a downturn, with experts predicting values could fall by more than 10%. That would erase some of the gains made over the last two years. “The market has undoubtedly been impacted by the turmoil following the mini-budget, which led to a sharp rise in market interest rates,” said Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide.

Argo Blockchain's (ARB) said a deal to raise 24 million British pounds ($27 million) from a strategic investor has fallen through, sending the bitcoin mining company's shares tumbling as much as 72%, CoinDesk.com reported. The London-based firm, which earlier this month signed a letter of intent to sell 87 million shares to the investor as it looked to ease liquidity pressures, didn't say why the agreement had been called off. It is working to secure other deals to provide working capital for the next 12 months.

The annual rate of consumer-price inflation in the eurozone increased to double digits in October, reaching a record and highlighting the challenges facing the European Central Bank after it signaled a coming slowdown in the pace of its rate increases, the Wall Street Journal reported. The broad measure of consumer prices has risen sharply since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Moscow’s decision to throttle natural gas supplies to Europe to undermine Western support for Kyiv. By mid-September, Russia had cut its supplies by 80% of their year-earlier total.

Some euro zone countries have eased rules for the banks that manage the trading of their government debt to help them cope with some of the most challenging market conditions in years, officials told Reuters. Out of 11 major euro area debt agencies Reuters contacted, officials in the Netherlands and Belgium told Reuters they have loosened various market-making obligations dictating how actively these banks should trade their debt. France, Spain and Finland said their rules are already structured to automatically take account of market tensions.