Eurozone governments plan to go deeper into the red than ever before this year, racking up budget deficits of close to €1tn as they splash out on emergency measures to counter the coronavirus crisis, the Financial Times reported. Draft budget plans published by member states on the European Commission website indicate the 19-country bloc will slide to an aggregate fiscal deficit of €976bn, equal to 8.9 per cent of gross domestic product this year, according to Financial Times calculations.

Some of the world’s top economies could see their credit ratings cut or put on downgrade warnings in the coming months in a second global wave of coronavirus-related revisions, S&P Global’s top sovereign analyst has warned, Reuters reported. S&P’s sovereign group managing director Roberto Sifon-Arevalo told Reuters that the immense costs of supporting health systems, firms and workers through the pandemic was fundamentally altering some countries’ finances for the worse.

France plans to raise 20 billion euros ($23 billion) in quasi-equity loans for small firms hit by the coronavirus crisis by offering investors a state guarantee against the first 2 billion euros in losses, officials said, Reuters reported. Fearing failures among firms which were already saddled with record levels of debt before the crisis, the French government wants the programme up and running by early next year as it battles the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The head of the International Monetary Fund on Sunday called for significant steps to address the increasingly unsustainable debt burdens of some countries, urging creditors and debtors to start restructuring processes sooner rather than later, Reuters reported. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said a six-month extension of the Group of 20 major economies’ freeze in official bilateral payments would help low-income countries hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic, but more urgent action was needed.

Europe’s economy is sliding towards a double-dip recession, with economists warning that rising coronavirus infections and fresh government restrictions on people’s movement are likely to cut short the region’s recent recovery, the Financial Times reported. Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands have all announced measures in the past week to contain the second wave of Covid-19 infections, with more expected in the coming days. Belgium on Sunday announced the closure of all bars and cafés for four weeks, while Switzerland widened its mandate for wearing masks.

The English High Court appointed Ben Cairns and Richard Fleming of Alvarez & Marsal as joint administrators of NMC Health on 9 April 2020, but NMC Health’s operating subsidiaries in the Middle East, including its 36 UAE-incorporated subsidiaries (the NMC Companies), are not within the jurisdiction of the English courts and are not part of the English administration process, JD Supra reported. On 27 September 2020, however, the Courts of Abu Dhabi Global Market (the ADGM Courts) placed the NMC Companies into administration and appointed Ben Cairns and Richard Fleming as administrators.

Irish households and businesses secured the second-highest level of payment breaks from banks at the height of the coronavirus pandemic across a group of 11 western European countries, according to a report from debt ratings agency DBRS Morningstar, The Irish Times reported. Some 13.4 per cent of Irish loans across the State’s three domestic banks were subject to payment freezes at the end of June, second to Portuguese loans at 21.5 per cent, and almost double the 7 per cent average, the report said. German loans came in at the other end of the scale, at 1.6 per cent.

The High Court has appointed provisional liquidators to two related companies that operate 13 Pamela Scott and Richard Alan retail stores across the Republic, The Irish Times reported. The court heard the companies sought to be liquidated after coming under pressure from landlords, changes to the wage subsidy scheme, a sustained reduction in footfall, and further restrictions expected imminently due to the increasing number of Covid-19 infections.

A sale of Banca Monte dei Paschi to UniCredit would be inappropriate after UniCredit announced it would appoint former Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan as chairman, lawmakers from Italy’s ruling 5-Star Movement said, Reuters reported. Padoan oversaw the bailout of Italy’s oldest bank, Monte dei Paschi, back in 2017, with Rome spending 5.4 billion euros ($6.31 billion) on a 68% stake. Under an agreement with European Union authorities, the stake must be sold by mid-2022. “It would be paradoxical if, after the public commitment that provided for a support of several billion euros ...

Germany’s economy is losing steam but will do slightly better than government forecasts as fears grow over rising coronavirus infections, according to the country’ s five leading research institutes, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product will contract by 5.4% in 2020 and grow 4.7% next year, the experts predicted in their latest bi-annual outlook published Wednesday. In their spring report, they expected a contraction of 4.2% this year and growth of 5.8% in 2021.