Denmark's central bank raised its key interest rate by 0.75 percentage points to 0.65% on Thursday, ending a nearly decade-long experiment of negative interest rates, Reuters reported. "The interest rate increase is a consequence of the increase by the European Central Bank of its main monetary policy rate" the central bank said in a statement. Earlier on Thursday, the ECB raised its benchmark deposit rate by 75 basis points to 0.75% and signaled further hikes.

Surging energy costs are increasing the number of Europe's small and medium sized businesses at risk of collapse and European Union action to cap prices would to help them survive, top officials from the EU's SME association said yesterday, Reuters reported. Russia has cut energy supplies to Europe in retaliation for Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, sending prices skyrocketing. Russia blames those sanctions for causing the gas supply problems, which it puts down to pipeline faults.

Romanian discount carrier Blue Air Aviation SA canceled all flights through Monday after its bank accounts were frozen by the state amid concerns over unpaid debt, Bloomberg News reported. The sudden intervention left Blue Air unable to pay daily operating costs, the carrier said, with the grounding leaving thousands of passengers stranded at airports across Europe and beyond. The government said the halt to services was unjustified and urged the company to discuss a rescheduling of the debt.

Cineworld Group Plc filed for bankruptcy in Texas in an effort to tame its $5 billion debt pile, Bloomberg News reported. The UK-based movie theater chain, which draws most of its revenues from the U.S. after the acquisition of Regal Cinemas in 2018, yesterday filed for chapter 11 protection. Cineworld has commitments for $1.94 billion of bankruptcy financing lined up from existing secured lenders, the company said in a statement. The company’s management and board of directors will remain in control of the business.

Icelandic equipment manufacturer Marel announced on Tuesday that the decision by Norwegian salmon processing equipment supplier Stranda Prolog to file for bankruptcy will ending up costing Marel €7 million ($6.9 million), Intrafish.com reported. Stranda Prolog, which is partly owned by Icelandic processing equipment giant Marel, said on Monday it was entering bankruptcy, citing low orders, cost increases, lack of raw material and staff shortages for its misfortune.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey and other top officials from the British central bank spoke to lawmakers on Wednesday about last month's decision to raise interest rates to their highest since 2008 in the face of double-digit inflation, Reuters reported. "The inflation target ... has proved to be very successful," Bailey said. "In 25 years since this regime came into existence ... inflation has averaged pretty much exactly on target." He said that increasing effects from energy prices, "and as the actuality and the expectation of headline inflation have gone up so much ...

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy yesterday thanked the European Union for confirming 5 billion euros ($4.97 billion) in macro-financial aid but said the country needed a "full-fledged" program of financing from the International Monetary Fund, Reuters reported. Zelenskiy made the comments in a Twitter post following a conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who he said discussed plans to further strengthen Ukraine's defence capabilities. It was not immediately clear what Zelenskiy meant by a "full-fledged" program.

European energy companies need at least 1.5 trillion euros ($1.5 trillion) to cover the cost of their exposure to soaring gas prices, Norwegian energy group Equinor has estimated, and that does not include firms in Britain, Reuters reported. Several European countries are providing billions of euros in support to power suppliers caught out by extra collateral payments on their trades - known as margin calls - but Equinor's estimate suggests such support is a fraction of the overall bill.

Finland and Sweden on Sunday announced plans to offer billions of dollars in liquidity guarantees to power companies in their countries after Russia's Gazprom shut the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, deepening Europe's energy crisis, Reuters reported. Finland is aiming to offer 10 billion euros ($9.95 billion) and Sweden plans to offer 250 billion Swedish crowns ($23.2 billion) in liquidity guarantees. "This has had the ingredients for a kind of a Lehman Brothers of energy industry," Finnish Economic Affairs Minister Mika Lintila said on Sunday. When Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest U.S.

Europe’s weaker airlines face a heightened risk of collapse this winter as nations that rescued carriers during the Covid crisis focus support elsewhere amid rising inflation, according to analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein, Bloomberg News reported. While the pandemic brought few airline failures in the region amid a deluge of aid payments, carriers now face a squeeze from higher fuel and labor costs combined with a seasonal decline in travel, Bernstein said in an investor note Monday. That’s just as governments struggle to respond to soaring household bills.