German economist Clemens Fuest described Italy as the “bigger problem, particularly in the medium term” as he claimed the impact of Brexit would be only a “short-term issue,” Daily Express reported. Italy has sent the eurozone into meltdown and the euro currency floundering after announcing its spending plans which include a deficit target of 2.4 percent for 2019. The budgetary measures enraged European Commission (EC) chiefs, who sensationally rejected the fiscal plans after claiming they breached previous spending agreements.

Mario Draghi has insisted that the European Central Bank still plans to halt its €2.6tn stimulus programme at the end of this year, arguing that inflation is set to increase despite recent disappointing economic data, the Financial Times reported. Appearing before the European Parliament, the ECB president said the final decision to end the asset purchase programme would be taken next month “subject to” data confirming the bank’s prediction that inflation was going to “gradually rise”.

A deepening row between Russia and Ukraine ignited by a naval skirmish at the weekend has sparked falls in both countries’ financial markets, the Financial Times reported. Ukraine’s government bonds issued in foreign currency faced significant drops in price, which sent yields rising. Yield on a 10-year dollar-denominated bond maturing in November 2028 jumped 38.7 basis points to 10.832 per cent, its highest level since issuance. A 15-year dollar bond that matures in September 2032 faced a similar rise in yield to 10.385 per cent, also a record high for the paper.

Greece’s Eurobank Ergasias SA isn’t waiting around for a state rescue, with a plan to sell about 7 billion euros ($8 billion) of troubled loans and merge with a real estate fund, Bloomberg News reported. As part of the plan, the bank will merge with real estate fund Grivalia Properties REIC to create a new business named Eurobank, the two companies said. It will then shift non-performing debt to a separate vehicle that will issue senior, mezzanine and junior notes that the bank will initially retain. Some of the lower level notes would then be sold off to investors.

Prosecutors are still considering charges against one suspect arising from an investigation into State assets agency Nama’s €1.6 billion sale of loans to Northern Ireland-based developers, The Irish Times reported. Nama sold €6 billion worth of property loans to Northern-based developers to US company Cerberus in April 2014 for €1.6 billion in a deal that sparked criminal and parliamentary investigations.

Waagner-Biro, the steel engineering company who constructed the remarkable steel dome over Jean Nouvel‘s Louvre Abu Dhabi, has announced insolvency, designboom reported. The Austrian firm’s financial issues are reportedly due to late payments and unexpected costs incurred by Louvre Abu Dhabi for the steel structure. The dome, which stretches 178 meters in diameter and is made from steel and aluminium, cost €80 million to construct.

Businesses are sidestepping tax bills amounting to tens of millions of pounds using an insolvency procedure that the government is considering banning, the Financial Times reported. That is the conclusion of an independent panel set up by the government to monitor the use of insolvency arrangements known as “pre-packs”. The Pre Pack Pool says some businesses have used the procedure to shed tax bills and pension liabilities.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday that the government’s priority is to protect jobs at Italian aircraft maker Piaggio Aerospace, and will discuss the matter in the coming hours. Piaggio Aerospace has asked the government to be put under special administration after a 2017 turnaround plan failed to produce the expected results, Reuters reported. The company, a unit of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund Mubadala, produces unmanned drones used by the Italian airforce.

Italian households have refused to help finance their government’s deficit-boosting budget, with a landmark retail bond sale proving to be a flop, the Financial Times reported. This week’s BTP Italia sale — which closes today after running for four days — has raised €2.2bn from retail and institutional investors, well below the usual €7 to 8bn scale that such bonds reach. The European Commission’s decision on Wednesday to move towards enforcement action against Italy over its budget proposals failed to entice a late wave of investors into the deal.

Eurozone consumers’ confidence is wavering, with a closely watched indicator of sentiment at its lowest level since March 2017 amid uncertainty over global economic growth and rising volatility in financial markets, the Financial Times reported. The European Commission’s headline consumer sentiment indicator dropped to -3.9 in November, having fallen sharply since the start of the year, according to official data published on Thursday. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a smaller decline, to -3.