The COVID-19 pandemic could trigger a debt crisis in some countries, so investors must be ready for granting some form of relief that could also include debt cancellation, World Bank President David Malpass was quoted as saying on Sunday, Reuters reported. “It is evident that some countries are unable to repay the debt they have taken on. We must therefore also reduce the debt level. This can be called debt relief or cancellation,” Malpass told Handelsblatt business daily in an interview. “It is important that the amount of debt is reduced by restructuring,” Malpass added.

Shareholders in Monte dei Paschi di Siena approved on Sunday a long-awaited bad loan clean-up plan aimed at easing the sale of the state-owned bank to a healthier rival, Reuters reported. Italy has worked for two years on the plan, which gained final approval from the European Central Bank in September and must be completed by Dec. 1. Rome bailed out Monte dei Paschi in 2017, acquiring a 68% stake for 5.4 billion euros ($6.3 billion). To meet conditions agreed at the time with European Union competition authorities, it must cut that stake before the bank approves 2021 earnings.

The High Court has made orders formally winding up the operator of a south Dublin care facility, which caters for vulnerable adults, and a nursing home, The Irish Times reported. Mr Justice Michael Quinn made the order in respect of St Mary’s Centre (Telford), after being informed that no appeal is being brought against his decision not to appoint an examiner to the company. The company had operated both disability care facility for persons who are legally blind and a nursing home on a campus beside St Vincent’s Hospital on Merrion Road in Dublin.

The unemployment rate in the eurozone edged up to 8.1 percent in August from 8 percent in July, the European Union said Thursday, as government support cushioned much of the economic impact of the pandemic, the International New York Times reported. But economists fear that the jobless rate could surge when the programs expire, or employers go bankrupt or are forced to lay off workers permanently. Germany, France and many other countries compensate workers for some of the income they lose when their employers put them on furlough or reduced hours.

Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc unveiled a long-awaited financing plan, targeting up to 5 billion pounds ($6.5 billion) of fresh capital to buttress the U.K. jet-engine-maker against an historic aerospace downturn that still has years to go, Bloomberg News reported. The London-based company will tap existing shareholders for 2 billion pounds in a rights issue, and is seeking a further 3 billion pounds in bonds and loans, it said in a statement Thursday. Rolls-Royce shares fell as much 12%, extending a two-year decline, while its euro bonds jumped by the most since they were issued.

The scale of the economic shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic will lead to as much as €11.7 billion of revenue shortfalls across Irish small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), which many will not be able to survive, according to a new Central Bank report, The Irish Times reported. The bank estimates that the gap between companies’ sales and running costs will range between €10.3 billion and €11.7 billion, led by firms in the food and accommodation sector, even after companies have been helped by Government wage subsidy schemes and widespread cost-cutting.

The International Monetary Fund sounded a warning over rising global debt levels and proposed reforms to the debt-restructuring process for countries that struggle to meet their obligations, a number that is set to rise as the pandemic batters economies, Bloomberg News reported.

Germany is bracing for a surge in insolvencies starting Thursday, when a moratorium to help companies survive the coronavirus outbreak comes to an end, Bloomberg News reported. From this month, businesses that can’t pay their bills will again be forced to seek court protection. Since March, that hasn’t been the case for those that could pin their lack of liquidity on the pandemic and show they stood a good chance of overcoming the crisis. “Those that could be saved were rescued,” said Tillman Peeters, managing partner at Frankfurt-based financial advisory firm Falkensteg.

In Germany the duty to file for insolvency will apply again from 1 October for all businesses facing liquidity problems, bringing risks for companies which delay filing for insolvency, and making payments contestable again, Pinsent Masons reported. For businesses in crisis due to the impact of Covid-19, the German Federal Government had in March suspended the duty to file for insolvency until 30 September 2020. This suspension was extended, but only for overindebted businesses as far as they are still solvent.

The UK taxpayer faces losses of as much as £23bn so far in bad loans across the state coronavirus emergency bailout schemes, according to government estimates that will raise concerns over the cost of supporting unviable companies through the pandemic, the Financial Times reported. The warning comes just days after chancellor Rishi Sunak extended the programme of business support to the end of November to protect companies from collapse this winter.