Iceland‘s central bank raised borrowing costs for the third time this year, citing a continued housing price rally and concerns of growing inflation expectations, Bloomberg News reported. Policy makers lifted the seven-day term deposit rate by a quarter-point to 1.5%, the highest level since March 2020. In May, Iceland became the first country in western Europe to tighten monetary policy since the pandemic struck. One of the main drivers for inflation is housing prices which have surged close to 15% in the last 12 months, helped by lower borrowing costs.

Beleaguered Italian ferry operator Moby SpA dropped its request for an order blocking Morgan Stanley from trading in the company’s debt or interfering in its restructuring, Bloomberg News reported. Moby told a federal court in New York late Sunday that it was withdrawing its application for a temporary restraining order against the bank, which it accused in a Sept. 27 lawsuit of participating in a secret plan to foil its restructuring in Italy and seize control from other creditors.

In Germany, where one in four jobs depends on exports, the crisis gumming up the world’s supply chains is weighing heavily on the economy, which is Europe’s largest and a linchpin to global commerce, the New York Times reported.

The United Kingdom's 25-year-old model of importing cheap labour has been up-ended by Brexit and COVID-19, sowing the seeds for a 1970s-style winter of discontent complete with worker shortages, spiralling wage demands and price rises, Reuters reported. Leaving the European Union, followed by the chaos of the biggest public health crisis in a century, has plunged the world's fifth-largest economy into a sudden attempt to kick its addiction to cheap imported labour.

Business growth across Europe remained strong last month but elevated inflationary pressures put a dent in demand while ongoing supply issues constrained activity, issues which are likely to continue, a survey showed on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Although many restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic have now been lifted in the region, firms are suffering from shortages of staff, raw materials and transport.

France and Spain on Monday called for a coordinated European response to the surge in global energy prices to protect Europe's poorest citizens, the competitiveness of its businesses and its 2050 plan to cut greenhouse emissions, Reuters reported. The call, along with ideas shared by European Union governments during talks between euro zone finance ministers in Luxembourg, would complement the European Commission's work to address the energy price spike, the chairman of the meeting said.

Ireland does not expect Britain to trigger a clause in Northern Ireland's fraught post-Brexit trading deal to unilaterally jettison some of its terms, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said, Reuters reported. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that it was possible the British government would trigger "Article 16" if the European Union did not make appropriate concessions to ease the burden of trading restrictions on Northern Ireland.

A test case relating to Covid-19 business interruption insurance is to go ahead in the Commercial Court using a hybrid remote and physical hearing arrangement, the Irish Times reported. With the Courts Service investing €2.2 million this year to ensure courtrooms are video-link enabled, the case, to be heard over three days later this month, involves the operators of the Old Imperial Hotel in Youghal, Co Cork, and a Slovenia-based insurance company.

French economic growth will return to around 1.4% a year as public investment to spur the recovery from the Covid pandemic offsets the damage from a sharp recession, according to long-term government forecasts, Bloomberg News reported. President Emmanuel Macron’s government expects stronger growth rates in the short term as activity catches up with pre-crisis levels around the end of this year. As that surge fades, a 100 billion-euro ($116 billion) stimulus plan should ensure growth potential stabilizes at around 1.35%, a social-economic report published Monday shows.

British Treasury chief Rishi Sunak promised Monday to deliver an economy based on “good work, better skills and higher wages,” as the governing Conservative Party tried to shrug off the U.K.’s economic turmoil as the growing pains of a thriving, self-reliant post-Brexit economy, the Associated Press reported. Sunak touted the U.K.’s low unemployment rate of under 5% as a sign it is putting pandemic disruptions behind it. He said now that Britain has left the European Union, it will embrace “the agility, flexibility and freedom provided by Brexit” to create a dynamic, high-tech economy.