North Ireland is facing an “abyss” once the Brexit “grace period” on imports from Britain ends unless action is taken, one of its major haulage companies has warned, the Irish Times reported. “Northern Ireland’s going to get worse in April if we don’t get some easement,” said Paul Jackson of McBurney Transport in Ballymena, Co Antrim. “As a haulage business this is currently an unsustainable model, and we have to be engaged with directly and we have to have it sorted out before the first of April, we have to.” Mr.

The International Monetary Fund has found that government support is keeping roughly one in ten German companies afloat that would otherwise have gone bust during the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. In a report that on Tuesday laid bare the scale of economic damage masked by state aid, the Fund also warned that, once support was unwound, bankruptcy could soar, potentially weakening Germany’s banks. The analysis said the pandemic impact was worst for hotels and restaurants, where almost a third of loans could have gone unpaid without state relief.

The Bank of England’s chief economist said the government can afford to end its furlough plan before the U.K.’s recovery is fully complete, Bloomberg News reported. Andy Haldane, who has been the most publicly optimistic of the central bank’s rate-setting committee, said the economy may be growing quickly enough by the second quarter to absorb the 1 million people who lost their jobs in the coronaviurus crisis.

The European Union and the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden should suspend a trade dispute to give themselves time to find common ground, France’s foreign minister said, Reuters reported. “The issue that’s poisoning everyone is that of the price escalation and taxes on steel, digital technology, Airbus and more particularly our wine sector,” Jean-Yves Le Drian told Le Journal du Dimanche in an interview. He said he hoped the sides could find a way to settle the dispute. “It may take time, but in the meantime, we can always order a moratorium,” he added.

European airports have called on the EU to loosen state aid rules as the outlook for travel darkens amid a resurgence of coronavirus cases, the Irish Times reported. The demand came as the airports industry warned it saw “no realistic prospect” of an improvement in travel in the coming months and cut its forecast for passenger numbers this year.

Germany’s upper house of parliament called on Monday for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to extend a waiver on insolvency filings for firms hit by the coronavirus crisis, Reuters reported. The provision, which is due to expire at the end of the month, has helped reduce the number of bankruptcies in Europe’s largest economy through lockdown, with the Federal Statistics Office last week reporting a 31.9% year-on-year drop in October.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak can’t afford to wait for the budget on March 3 to provide extra support for hobbled U.K. firms, according to the U.K.’s biggest business lobby group, Bloomberg News reported. With Britain back in a severe lockdown, urgent action is needed to help companies survive, the Confederation of British Industry said in a letter to the Chancellor on Tuesday.

The European Union needs to find new ways to recapitalize businesses so that the hole on corporate balance sheets doesn’t derail the recovery, according to a financial-industry group, Bloomberg News reported. Companies face an equity shortfall of as much as 600 billion euros ($724 billion), as existing government programs and private funding won’t suffice to fully cover the roughly 1 trillion euros that businesses need to replace losses suffered during coronavirus restrictions, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe said in a report on Tuesday.