Europe

Ukrainian officials are preparing for the International Monetary Fund this week to push it to devalue its currency faster, cut interest rates and strengthen its tax-raising efforts to fill the country’s budget gap, Bloomberg News reported. IMF staff visiting Kyiv are expected to pressure the war-torn country to pursue those steps to continue receiving financial support, as they undertake a scheduled review of a $15.6 billion loan program, Ukrainian officials with the knowledge of the topic said after preliminary discussions with the fund.

An Irish government-commissioned mortgage arrears review group has called for a removal of the current €3 million secured debt limit for individuals to secure insolvency deals, under measures aimed at tackling more than 20,000 long-term arrears cases in the State, the Irish Times reported. A debtor with secured debts in excess of €3 million is not currently eligible to make a proposal for a personal insolvency arrangement (PIA), unless all secured creditors agree to disregard the cap.

Poland’s central bank left borrowing costs unchanged yet again, defying growing pressure to restart monetary easing, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Council kept its benchmark at 5.75% — the level where it’s been since last October — in line with the forecasts of all 31 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The decision comes amid calls by government officials to reduce interest rates to help boost economic growth and as other eastern European central banks ease policy.

Germany plans to sell a significant part of its stake in Commerzbank AG as it seeks to draw a line under the lender’s bailout more than a decade ago, Bloomberg News reported. Berlin, which owns 16.5% of Commerzbank, will initially target a disposal of 3% to 5% in the Frankfurt-based firm. That could happen as early as this month, with more sales possible at a later date. The German government joins other European administrations including Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and Greece in selling down bank stakes they acquired through various bailouts during the financial crisis.

Deutsche Bank AG bolstered the size of a significant risk transfer by $1 billion after strong investor demand, Bloomberg News reported. SRTs, also known as synthetic risk transfers, allow banks to insure their loans against default by selling notes to investors such as pension, sovereign wealth and hedge funds. For banks, the benefit is that they are able to tie up less of their own capital to meet regulatory requirements. Some of the SRTs have been priced at a yield in the low double digits.

The number of bankruptcies in Sweden declined on year last month, for the first time since July 2022, according to data from credit reference agency Creditsafe, Bloomberg News reported. The 3% drop in defaults in August comes as falling borrowing costs have helped fuel optimism about an economic recovery in the Nordic region’s largest country.

Swedish group Holmbergs Safety Systems, controlled by investment fund FSN Capital – a major investment firm in northern Europe, has filed a request for the insolvency of its subsidiary in Romania, which it set up in 2020 by taking over Te Rox Prod from local entrepreneur Doina Cepalis with plans to turn it into a major production hub from where the products will reach the markets of Europe, the US, and Asia, Romania-Insider.com reported.

U.K. retail sales ticked up in August after better weather boosted food sales, according to a report by KPMG and the British Retail Consortium, the Wall Street Journal reported. Total retail sales for the four weeks to Aug. 24 increased 1% on year, compared with 0.5% growth the prior month and a three-month average growth of 0.4%, the report said. Growth was once again driven mainly by food purchases. In the three months to Aug. 24, food sales increased 2.9% compared with the year-prior period. Nonfood sales over the same period decreased 1.7%.

Sweden’s Riksbank is more likely than not to take its benchmark rate below 3% before the end of the year, Governor Erik Thedeen reiterated, as the country’s economy is treading water and the central bank is increasingly confident that inflation will remain near its target, Bloomberg News reported. Last month, the Swedish central bank lowered its key rate to 3.5% from 3.75% and said it expects another two or three similarly-sized cuts before the end of this year. Data released since then hasn’t changed Thedeen’s view that the latter option is more probable.