The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Ukraine needs between $3 billion and $4 billion a month in external aid to make sure its government doesn’t collapse as it fights an increasingly brutal war against Russia, The Hill reported. “Our preliminary estimate is that somewhere between three and four billion dollars are necessary on a monthly basis,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said at an annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

Irish inflation moderated to 8.2 per cent in September from 8.7. per cent in August, the second consecutive monthly decline in the annual rate of consumer price increase, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said on Thursday, the Irish Times reported. Prices have been rising steadily since April last year, triggering the worst cost of living squeeze in decades with consumer price inflation topping five per cent for 12 months in a row. The headline inflation rate declined 9.1 per cent in August to 8.7 per cent in September, the first drop-off in seven months.

The Bank of England said Wednesday that its program of bond purchases to support U.K. pension funds would end Friday as planned, the Wall Street Journal reported. “The governor confirmed this position yesterday and it has been made absolutely clear in contact with the banks at senior levels,” the BOE said. The central bank began buying U.K. government bonds on Sept. 28 after an unpopular package of tax cuts sent jitters through the country’s markets. The volatility sparked margin calls for pension funds that use a strategy known as liability-driven investing, or LDIs.

British government borrowing costs surged again on Wednesday after Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey told pension funds they had three days to fix liquidity problems before the bank ends emergency bond-buying that has provided support, Reuters reported. Twenty and 30-year gilt yields both hit their highest since 2002 at 5.195% and 5.1% respectively, passing above 5% for the first time since the BoE began buying bonds on Sept. 28 to calm turmoil triggered by Prime Minister Liz Truss's tax cut plans.

The number of Scottish companies falling into administration more than quadrupled in the third quarter, new analysis shows, amid fears that worse is to come as surging interest rates and rampant inflation take a toll, Herald Scotland reported. Fourteen companies based in Scotland fell into administration between July and September, up from three during the April to June period, analysis of figures in The Gazette by insolvency and restructuring practice Interpath Advisory shows. Interpath Advisory noted the situation in Scotland “mirrors the UK picture”.

Defaults among emerging market companies continued to pile up in the third quarter due to troubles in Russia as well as China's property sector, with the volume of bonds trading at distressed levels close to record highs, JPMorgan said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The year-to-date default rate for emerging market high-yield firms reached 10.3%, the bank found in its latest default monitor. This was driven by Russian defaults lifting the rate in emerging Europe to 21.7%, while China's property sector woes saw the default rate across Asia run to 12.8%.

Germany and the Netherlands have proposed a package of 10 measures that the European Union could use to curb gas prices and avoid fuel rationing, including looking into setting a new benchmark price for liquefied natural gas. The plan, seen by Reuters and shared with other EU countries before the bloc's energy ministers meet on Wednesday, calls for the EU to kickstart joint gas buying, to avoid one country outbidding another and driving prices higher.

The Bank of England extended support targeted at pension funds for the second day in a row, the latest attempt to contain the fallout of a furious bond-market selloff that has threatened U.K. financial stability, the Wall Street Journal reported. The central bank on Tuesday said that it would add inflation-linked government bonds to its program of bond purchases after a fresh attempt on Monday to help pension funds failed to calm markets. The bank said it would buy up to £5 billion of index-linked gilts each day through Friday, equivalent to $5.5 billion.

Dutch greenhouses are cutting output of food and flowers and almost a 10th expect to be forced into bankruptcy soon by Europe’s energy crisis, an industry group survey showed, Bloomberg News reported. The recent survey by Glastuinbouw Nederland is one of the latest signs of how the region’s energy crunch is making it more expensive to produce goods and commodities. A quarter of the Netherlands’ cultivation area has been cut and 8% of greenhouse businesses predict filing for bankruptcy this year.

The French government moved to break blockades at fuel depots of some of the country’s biggest refineries, where weeks-long strikes that have brought shortages and long lines at gas stations, Bloomberg News reported. With wage talks between managements and some unions not going far enough, the labor actions have left almost a third of the gas stations in the country with supply shortfalls.