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Israel will sign a free trade agreement with South Korea this week, marking the first such arrangement with an Asian market, Israel's economy ministry said on Sunday, Reuters reported. The deal is meant to bolster bilateral trade by cutting out customs duties and offering safety nets on investments. Bilateral trade reached about $2.4 billion in 2020, about two thirds of it goods and services imported into Israel, the ministry said. The deal will be signed this week in Seoul during a visit by Israel's foreign affairs and economy ministers.
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Australia’s trade minister said the country’s international borders may not completely open until the second half of 2022, a longer-than-anticipated closure that would be a blow to the airline and tourism industries, Bloomberg News reported. In an interview with Sky News early on Friday, Dan Tehan was asked when Australia’s borders might open. “The best guess would be in the middle to the second half of next year, but as we’ve seen throughout this pandemic things can change,” Tehan said, according to audio of the conversation sent by his office.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga extended a state of emergency that covers Tokyo and expanded it to two more regions hit by rising virus cases, in an attempt to stem infections ahead of the capital’s hosting of the Olympics in less than three months, Bloomberg News reported. The move announced on Friday adds the industrial region of Aichi and the southern prefecture of Fukuoka to areas subject to restrictions. It also extends the state of emergency already in place for Tokyo, Osaka, Hyogo and Kyoto until the end of May.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Sunday thanked the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for timely providing financial assistance to Pakistan back in 2018 when PTI took over the ailing economy, Daily Pakistan reported. Addressing Pakistani community at a ceremony in connection with Roshan Digital Account, the premier said that Pakistan could have defaulted on international debt payments if Saudi Arabia had not extended the helping hand in that tough times. Back in October 2020, the Kingdom had announced a $6 billion bailout package for Pakistan’s shaky economy.
India’s airlines are under renewed pressure to raise cash or face the risk of having to downsize, consolidate or have their planes repossessed by lessors as a surge of COVID-19 infections roils travel, Reuters reported. Passenger traffic fell by nearly 30% in April from a month before and has halved again so far in May, forcing even the country's biggest and most cashed-up carrier, IndiGo, to act.
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As optimism in Britain's economic rebound grows, companies in the country are expecting to borrow billions less than previously anticipated, according to a new study, YahooFinance.com reported. UK firms now expect to borrow £19bn ($26.4bn) this year — £7bn less than previously forecast in February. This is due to a combination of several things including an economic boost from the reopening of non-essential retail, outdoor activities and restaurants as well as easing restrictions further down the line.
Tata Steel Ltd. sued three of Sanjeev Gupta’s metal units for 7.9 million pounds ($11 million) over missed payments, piling more woes onto the embattled tycoon’s corporate empire, Bloomberg News reported. The London lawsuit centers on the 2017 sale of Tata’s specialty steel business to Liberty House Group for 100 million pounds. Liberty told the Indian firm’s U.K. arm that it had run into difficulties as early as May 2020 when demand for steel was hit due to the pandemic, lawyers for Tata said in documents filed at the U.K. High Court.
The Irish High Court has appointed a provisional liquidator to a shipping company which claims it has become “hopelessly insolvent” due to apparent fraud by its managing director, the Irish Times reported. The order was made in relation to a Co Louth-based freight forwarding business, Fast Shipping Ireland Ltd, which employs nine people. Following an investigation into its financial affairs, the company claims its currently suspended managing director, Simon Mulvany, used its monies for his own benefit, including the purchase of two racehorses.
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A Minas Gerais state court has declared bankruptcy for MMX Sudeste Mineração, a subsidiary of MMX, which in turn is still pending its own bankruptcy protection, MMX said this week, SteelOrbis.com reported. MMX is an iron ore producer which depends on its subsidiary, MMX Sudeste Mineração, to carry own its bankruptcy protection plan. MMX said it wasn’t officially notified of the court decision, adding that it will strategically review its options.
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State-owned Air Seychelles will not pay more than $20 million to holders of bonds worth $72 million, a government official told Reuters, even though creditors have threatened to wind the African airline up if they are not paid in full, Reuters reported. The standoff is the latest twist in broader efforts by creditors to recover $1.2 billion owed by Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways and airlines it partly owned when the debt was issued in 2015 and 2016, such as Air Seychelles.
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