Ireland could face a sharp rise in company insolvencies as government pandemic supports are wound down, and a higher rate of company failure could persist for some time, according to a new paper from the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC), the Irish Times reported. It says that the Government faces a difficult balancing act as the pandemic supports are wound down, with the risk that moving too quickly could push some viable companies to the wall.

OneWeb to $ 49.3 million to bankers, lawyers and other advisors acting on behalf of former shareholders as part of a $ 1 billion transaction between the U.K, government and India’s Bharti Global rescued a satellite internet company from bankruptcy last year, CaliforniaNewsTimes.com reported. The disclosure was made on an audited account published on Tuesday. The sale agreement “required the company to bear the cost of selling the former shareholder of One Web Communications,” the account said.

Europe's third largest harbour, the German Port of Hamburg, reported a 2.9% hike in sea cargo in the first nine months of 2021 on Tuesday but warned that global transport chains would remain volatile for the rest of the year, Reuters reported. Global trade has been marred by logjams in container ports caused by disruptions from unexpected demand spurts, labour shortages and traffic snarl-ups amid the coronavirus pandemic. The crisis has weighed particularly heavily on Germany, which is Europe's largest economy and a keystone of international trade where one in four jobs depend on exports.

Britain continues to face severe labor market shortages despite the end of the furlough program because 465,000 people have disappeared from the workforce since the start of the pandemic, according to Bank of America, Bloomberg News reported. Ending the benefit on Sept. 30 for those out of work during lockdowns was expected to bring people who had given up on job hunting back into employment. “That has not happened yet,” Bank of America economist Rob Wood said in a note on Tuesday. U.K.

Germany's inflation rate will drop noticeably at the start of next year when the effects of one-off factors peter out, the economy ministry said on Monday, Reuters reported. A base effect resulting from last year's cut in value-added tax, part of the government's COVID-19 relief measures, has contributed to the current inflation rate of 4.5% - the highest since 1993. Its impact has been compounded by a sharp rise in prices for raw materials and a rise in energy prices.

In early September, the Ukraine Parliament passed a law legalizing and regulating Bitcoin, step one in an ambitious campaign to both mainstream the nation’s thriving trade in crypto and to rebrand the entire country, the New York Times reported. “The big idea is to become one of the top jurisdictions in the world for crypto companies,” said Alexander Bornyakov, deputy minister at the two-year old Ministry of Digital Transformation.

Boom-era property player Bernard McNamara’s multi-million euro pension pot is protected from his creditors following an EU court ruling, the Irish Times reported. The British high court declared Mr McNamara bankrupt in 2012 on his own application. He was one of many Irish developers who opted to bankrupt themselves in the UK, where the bankruptcy period was one year, rather than in the Republic, where it was 12 years at the time. The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that creditors cannot get access to an insurance policy that was part of his Irish-registered pension.

Tightening monetary policy now to rein in inflation could choke off the euro zone's recovery, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Monday, pushing back on calls and market bets for tighter policy, Reuters reported. With inflation already twice its 2% target and likely rising further later this year, the ECB is coming under increased pressure to abandon its ultra easy monetary policy and tackle price growth that is eroding households' purchasing power.

Dutch cooperative Rabobank said on Monday it had been ordered by the Dutch central bank to fix its customer due diligence practices and that it is facing a "punitive enforcement procedure," Reuters reported. In a statement, Rabobank said it had received an instruction from De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) on Oct. 12 to remedy deficiencies in its compliance with laws against money laundering. It said it was too early to say whether the procedure would result in a fine.