Headlines

Greece extended its budget surplus last year, reflecting the leftwing Syriza government’s expectations of a record-busting figure, in the latest sign of Athens pleasing investors after a decade-long debt crisis that took it to the brink of leaving the eurozone. One of the bloc’s poorest members showed a surplus of 1.1 per cent of gross domestic product for 2018, compared with a revised 0.7 per cent for the previous year, and a far cry from its 5.6 per cent deficit of 2015, its statistics office said on Tuesday. Figures published in December for the first 11 months of 2018 had shown that Gre

French judges ordered former Prime Minister François Fillon to stand trial on charges of misusing public funds, in a case that torpedoed his 2017 bid for the presidency and cleared the way for the election of Emmanuel Macron. France’s financial crimes court charged Mr. Fillon with misappropriating public funds by employing his wife and two of his children as aides while he served in parliament, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday. They also charged Mr.

One of Europe’s leading industrialists has said the continent’s largest companies will invest more money in jobs and innovation at home as the attractions of investing in China diminish and the US turns more protectionist. Carl-Henric Svanberg, chairman of the European Round Table of Industrialists and head of Swedish truckmaker Volvo, vaunted the merits of European stakeholder capitalism over the American and Chinese models, saying it was more sustainable despite the heavier burden of taxation and red tape. “I actually think it works better here than it does in the east and west.

The British government is considering giving lawmakers a vote on a critical piece of Brexit legislation as early as next week, a change of tack as it tries to kick-start the country’s stuttering exit from the European Union. British lawmakers returned to the Brexit treadmill Tuesday after an Easter break, to face the familiar conundrum: finding a deal on the U.K.’s exit from the EU that can win a majority in Parliament. Prime Minister Theresa May wants the U.K.

India’s Jet Airways is constantly engaging with the government and lenders for a resolution of the current debt crisis and will not leave any stone unturned to revive the airline, its chief executive officer Vinay Dube told television channel ET Now in an interview.

The Australian dollar dropped on Wednesday after weaker than expected inflation in the first quarter, raising expectations of a possible rate cut by the central bank. In quarter-on-quarter terms, consumer inflation was unchanged in March after a 0.5 per cent rise in the December quarter, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That compared to a 0.2 per cent rise forecast by economists polled by Reuters. Consumer prices rose 1.3 per cent year on year in March, against February’s reading of 1.8 per cent. The reading was also below a Reuters poll forecasting a rise of 1.5 per cent.

Brazilian retailer Magazine Luiza on Tuesday announced it would start selling physical books online for pickup in its chain comprised of almost 1,000 stores, using its national footprint to compete with traditional booksellers and Amazon.com Inc.

A forensic audit of 200 top companies by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has detected irregularities to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore, including diversion of funds. Most of these companies have been referred to insolvency and resolution proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Irregularities detected in some top companies point to the collapse of corporate governance structures leading to liquidity stress in these entities.

Serbia's Bankruptcy Supervision Agency said it is selling assets of insolvent wheat and animal feed wholesaler Mlinostep. The auction will take place on May 24 at a starting price of 170.9 million dinars ($1.6 million/1.4 million euro), the Bankruptcy Supervision Agency said in a statement on Monday. The list of assets put up for sale includes warehouses, silos and land in Stepanovicevo, in northern Serbia. A deposit of 68 million dinars is required to participate in the auction. Mlinostep was declared bankrupt in November 2016.

The Deposit Guarantee Fund of Ukraine last week sold insolvent banks' assets worth UAH 80.26 million, the fund's press service reports. “Last week the assets of 25 banks, which are in the management of the Fund, were sold for UAH 80.26 million,” the report says. In particular, UAH 50.56 million was received from the repayment of fund creditors' claims, UAH 26.08 million from the sale of main banks' assets, and UAH 3.14 million from the sale of accounts receivable. Also, UAH 0.15 million was obtained from the direct sale of banks’ property.