Headlines

An India government investigation found lapses in the corporate governance of Byju’s, but cleared the struggling online-education startup of financial fraud, the Economic Times of India reported. The yearlong probe by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs found no evidence of wrongdoing such as siphoning of funds or manipulation of financial accounts, people familiar with the matter said. Still, it discovered governance shortcomings that contributed to the startup’s mounting losses, the people said, asking not to be named as the investigators’ report isn’t public yet.

The first six months of this year have seen the highest rate of corporate insolvencies in Ireland since 2018, according to a study by Deloitte, the Irish Independent reported. Their research found there have been 412 insolvencies since January – up 25pc on the same period in 2023. Of those, 77 were in the hospitality sector, which was an 88 percent year-on-year increase. Deloitte calculates that Ireland is on course for over 800 insolvencies in the full year, which would be 25pc up on 2023. Almost all the firms going bust are small- and medium-sized enterprises.

A travel firm has cancelled all bookings until the end of next month due to issues of insolvency. Youtravel is cancelling bookings up to an including July 26 after its tour operator brand, FTI Touristik, filed for insolvency earlier this month, the Glasgow Evening Times reported. In a bid to 'secure its future', Youtravel confirmed that bookings made in the firm's system for arrivals up to and including July 26 will be cancelled without charge by Monday, July 1.

Sri Lanka reached final restructuring agreements worth $10 billion, including with an Official Creditor Committee of bilateral lenders and China’s Exim Bank, providing much-needed relief to the beleaguered island nation, Bloomberg News reported. Sri Lankan officials in Paris on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding to restructure $5.8 billion of debt, finalizing an initial agreement struck late last year with the group of official creditors led by France, India and Japan.

China’s capital city of Beijing eased homebuying requirements for downpayment and mortgages, joining the country’s other mega cities to support the real estate sector, Bloomberg News reported. Beijing reduced downpayment requirements by 10 percentage points to a minimum of 20% for first-time buyers, the capital city said in a statement Wednesday. For second homes, the threshold is lowered to a minimum of 35% for urban areas and a minimum of 30% elsewhere. The city also lowered floor on mortgage rates.

Sweden’s central bank held its key policy rate at 3.75% and said it could cut the policy rate two or three times during the second half as long as the outlook for inflation holds, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Riksbank last month became the second central bank from a rich, advanced economy to begin its easing cycle following the post-pandemic surge in inflation, when it lowered its key interest rate for the first time in more than eight years to 3.75% from 4.0%. Switzerland’s central bank was the first to move in March.

Turkey’s central bank is set to stick with an interest-rate pause that’s likely to last through much of the year or even beyond, engineering a slowdown in the economy to lower one of the world’s highest levels of inflation, Bloomberg News reported. Rate hikes that began a year ago have taken until now to become a drag on the economy, in part because more restrictive financial conditions were out of sync with the generous fiscal measures such as wage hikes enacted by the government.

The Philippine central bank kept its policy rate unchanged as it continues efforts to tame inflation and support the country’s currency, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Eli Remolona said Thursday that the central bank maintained its benchmark overnight reverse repurchase rate at 6.50%. It also held its benchmark lending rate steady at 7.00%. The country’s consumer-price index for May rose 3.9% from a year earlier, edging higher from a 3.8% increase in April. That is near the upper end of the central bank’s inflation target range of 2%-4%.

The Czech Republic’s central bank on Thursday cut its key interest rate for the fifth time in a row as inflation remains low and the economy is showing signs of recovery, the Associated Press reported. The cut, which had been predicted by analysts, brought the interest rate down by a half-percentage point, to 4.75%. The bank started to trim borrowing costs by a quarter-point on Dec. 21, the first cut since June 22, 2022. Further cuts of half a percentage point each time followed on Feb. 8, March 20 and May 2.

Brazil’s mid-month inflation slowed more than expected in early June, just as central bankers signaled they’re in no rush to resume interest rate cuts after pausing their monetary easing cycle last week, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Wednesday showed prices increased 4.06% from a year earlier, below the 4.11% median estimate from analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Inflation stood at 0.39% on the month. Policymakers led by Roberto Campos Neto interrupted an almost yearlong cycle of rate cuts, holding the benchmark Selic steady at 10.5%.