Germany will see a substantial increase in government debt as it spends its way out of the coronavirus crisis, with its debt-to-GDP ratio set to increase to 77 per cent from below 60 per cent currently, its finance minister said, the Financial Times reported. Olaf Scholz made the announcement on Wednesday as he presented a second supplementary budget for 2020 that envisages additional borrowing of €62.5bn. Added to the €156bn of new debt included in the first extra budget in March, that takes the total for this year to €218.5bn.

A record number of distressed debt funds are seeking to raise fresh capital as the coronavirus pandemic sparks dislocation in the credit markets, Bloomberg News reported. Seventy funds that focus on troubled companies are looking to bring in a combined $72 billion of capital amid a possible prolonged downturn, according to London-based research firm Preqin. That’s more than double the capital targeted by distressed debt funds during 2019, and is higher than any point since 2016. Private credit firms have been building up distressed debt funds for years in preparation for a downturn.

The Bank of England is widely expected to boost its support for the U.K. economy again on Thursday amid signs that recovering from the pandemic-induced recession will be harder than hoped, Bloomberg News reported. Economists predict the central bank will expand its bond-buying program by 100 billion pounds ($125 billion), taking it to 745 billion pounds, and investors are watching keenly for any hint of radical policies such as negative interest rates and yield curve control. The decision will be announced at noon in London.

Air France plans to offer about 8,300 staff incentives to leave in a bid to cut costs without stirring a political backlash after receiving a massive state bailout, people familiar with the proposal said, Bloomberg News reported. The Air France-KLM unit will seek the voluntary exit of around 300 pilots, 2,000 cabin crew and 6,000 ground staff, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the plans aren’t public. The cuts could affect roughly 17% of workers, though that may change after union and management talks, they said.

German airline Lufthansa, responding to investor criticism of a state-backed rescue deal, warned it might need to apply for protection from creditors if the bailout plan failed to win shareholder approval, Reuters reported. Lufthansa’s biggest shareholder, German billionaire Heinz Hermann Thiele, criticised the 9 billion euro ($10.1 billion) bailout, saying he had raised his stake in Lufthansa to over 15% and hoped alternative options could be explored.

Bankers in Sweden are positioning for a wave of debt deals from real estate issuers, as the industry tries to move out of increasingly costly borrowing arrangements, Bloomberg News reported. Catella AB, a Swedish boutique advisory firm specializing in the property sector, has been hiring to make sure it has enough bankers to handle the development. “The demand for different sources of debt financing will increase in the Swedish real-estate market going forward,” Carl Wingmark, head of property advisory at the firm, said in an interview.

Telia Co. AB is in talks to sell its indirect stake in Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS, Turkey’s biggest mobile-phone carrier, to the country’s sovereign wealth fund for about $530 million, Bloomberg News reported. Negotiations are still ongoing and are in an advanced stage, but no agreement has yet been reached, Telia said in a statement. Telia is the largest shareholder in Turkcell via the holding company Turkcell Holding AS.

The Swiss economy is expected to suffer its biggest contraction since the mid-1970s this year, with financial stability risks increasing globally due spiraling corporate and state debt, Bloomberg News reported. “The risk of upheaval on the financial markets and further upward pressure on the Swiss franc is high,” Switzerland’s the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday. Like many advanced economies, momentum in Switzerland tanked after theaters, shops and restaurants got shut down in a bid to control the outbreak.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz will ask parliament to increase new borrowing by a further 62.5 billion euros ($70.5 billion) to a record 218.5 billion this year for measures to boost recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, two people familiar with the plans said on Monday, Reuters reported. The plan, to be presented in Scholz’s second supplementary budget in three months, underlines Germany’s shift from Europe’s austerity champion to one of the biggest spenders in the euro zone’s efforts to rebound from the pandemic.

The High Court in Ireland has granted a restriction order against the directors of an insolvent company, Winning Ways Ltd, Pinsent Masons reported. The order was requested by the liquidator of the business at the request of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE). The judgment confirms that the onus is on directors to prove that they acted honestly and responsibly when raising a defence against a restriction order under section 819 of the Companies Act 2014.