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South Africa’s official unemployment rate rose to a new high in the first quarter as the construction and trade industries shed jobs, Bloomberg News reported. The jobless rate rose to 32.6% from 32.5% in the three months through December, Statistics South Africa said Tuesday in a report released in the capital, Pretoria. That’s the highest number on record. Unemployment according to the expanded definition, which includes people who were available for work but not looking for a job, rose to 43.2% from 42.6% the previous quarter.
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The European Commission has approved an 800 million euro scheme by Greece, designed to support tourism companies which have been heavily affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, Reuters reported. "They (the companies) have been hit hard by the pandemic, and this scheme will help ensure the continuity of their economic activity in these difficult times," Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who is in charge of the European Union's competition policy, said in a statement on Tuesday.
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China's factory activity expanded at the fastest pace this year in May as domestic and export demand picked up, though sharp rises in raw material prices and strains in supply chains crimped some companies' production, a business survey showed on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 52.0 last month, the highest level since December and inching up from April's 51.9. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the index to remain at 51.9. The 50-mark separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis.
South Korea exports logged their sharpest expansion in 32 years in May, marking another robust month of shipments fuelled by stronger consumer demand globally as many economies start to reopen, Reuters reported. Surging chip and car shipments helped power a 45.6% surge in South Korea's exports from a year earlier, government data showed on Tuesday, posting the fastest growth since August 1988 and extending their expansion to a seventh month in a row.
The authorities in Sri Lanka have opened a criminal investigation into the crew of a cargo ship laden with toxic chemicals that has been burning off the island nation’s coast for 12 days, spilling debris into the ocean and polluting the country’s beaches, the New York Times reported.
Inflation in the euro area climbed to the highest level in more than two years after economies across the region started to lift coronavirus restrictions and rebounding demand aggravated supply bottlenecks, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose an annual 2% in May, more than economists predicted, with energy the biggest gainer from a year ago when the region was in full lockdown. Germany, Spain and Italy -- three of the four largest euro-zone economies -- all reported increases.
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The euro zone economy has reached a turning point and the recent rise in borrowing costs reflects improved fundamentals, European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel told Reuters, playing down concerns that rising yields risk choking off growth. Facing a persistent uptick in borrowing costs, the ECB must decide on the future pace of its emergency bond buys at a June 10 meeting and a growing chorus of policymakers is calling for a steady flow of stimulus, fearing that the recovery might otherwise falter.
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Indonesia’s flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia confirmed it is taking steps to restructure its debt and revamp its business in order to stay afloat amid the pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The airline is negotiating terms with plane lessors and is talking with banks and business partners to restructure its loans, according to a stock exchange filing submitted late Thursday. The coronavirus outbreak has forced dozens of airlines and other aviation businesses to restructure or seek bankruptcy protection.
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Thai Airways International Plc said that the Central Bankruptcy Court will decide on its restructuring proposal on June 15, after Friday's hearing was postponed to allow for the assessment of complaints filed by creditors against the plan, the Bangkok Post reported. "Creditors filed two complaints against the restructuring plan, which the court accepted," the airline said in a statement.
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Laurentian University is working through its insolvency process, preparing a way to deal with claims against it, including ones before it declared bankruptcy and after, CTVNews.com reported. In its fourth report, the accounting firm Ernst & Young outlined a process for handling financial claims from such parties as the banks, smaller creditors, its unions and former staff. The firm, which is the monitor for the process under the Companies' Creditor Arrangement Act, is seeking court approval of its proposals. With a few exceptions, there would be a deadline of July 30 to make a claim.
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