Headlines

Overseas tourism revenues are likely to collapse by two-thirds this year as a result of Covid-19, an Oireachtas committee has been told. In 2019 the overseas market brought in €9 billion in revenue; this year it will be closer to €3 billion, The Irish Times reported. Foreign visitors account for 75 per cent of all tourism revenue earned in the State, members were told.

The International Monetary Fund warned European governments facing resurgent coronavirus infections not to shy away from sweeping financial support for households and businesses, Bloomberg News reported. Doing too little now will ultimately be more costly than providing too much aid, according to Alfred Kammer, director of the organization’s European Department. “Put simply: governments cannot afford not to spend,” he said in a briefing on Wednesday.

Mozambique's Attorney General's Office said on Wednesday it will seek the extradition of three former Credit Suisse bankers implicated in a $2 billion debt scandal that sent the country's economy into crisis, Reuters reported. Andrew Pearse, Detelina Subeva and Surjan Singh, who helped arrange the loans to Mozambique, all pleaded guilty in the United States last year to charges including conspiracy to violate U.S. anti-bribery laws and to commit money laundering and securities fraud in relation to their role in the affair.

Britain’s government borrowing in the first half of the financial year was more than six times higher than before the COVID pandemic, official figures showed on Wednesday, taking public debt to its highest since 1960, Reuters reported. Public borrowing in September alone totalled 36.101 billion pounds ($46.90 billion), above all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists, although August’s figure was revised down by more than 5 billion pounds to 30.113 billion pounds.

Bad news for AirAsia X customers as they cannot claim any refunds or credits from the airline as it undergoes a restructuring process after being hit hard by the pandemic, The Rakyat Post reported. According to the AirAsia X support site, the airline has submitted an application for a debt restructuring to the High Court of Kuala Lumpur and customers have been listed as scheme creditors as part of that process. Additionally, credit account applications, flight changes and Unlimited Pass holders are also affected.

Up to 1,250 Irish businesses have been “recommended” for State-backed coronavirus loans, according to a senior official at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, The Irish Times reported. Declan Hughes, head of the department’s indigenous enterprise, SMEs and entrepreneurship division, said that as of last Friday banks operating the Government’s Covid-19 credit guarantee scheme had recommended 1,250 loans worth €64 million. Mr Hughes told the Oireachtas Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Employment that there had been “very significant interest” in the initiative.

Financial meltdown on a scale never seen before in Lebanon has raised fears for the stability of a country facing multiple crises. Political chaos, the COVID-19 pandemic and a huge explosion at Beirut’s port, which killed nearly 200 people and caused billions of dollars in damage, have all deepened Lebanon’s troubles, Reuters reported. After months of discord, politicians are set to nominate a prime minister on Thursday to form a new government that must launch a recovery and unlock foreign aid.

Sweden’s Handelsbanken reported a fall in quarterly net earnings on Wednesday due to restructuring costs, though the bank’s loan portfolio continued to weather the impact of the coronavirus pandemic with ease, Reuters reported. Handelsbanken said in its report that results had been impacted by a provision for a restructuring reserve of 1.47 billion crowns referring to the branch closure and IT investment programme the bank unveiled in September.

Two Irish landlords of the liquidated Monsoon business have won a High Court challenge in which they claimed their leases to the women’s fashion stores remained in full force here despite a UK creditors arrangement, The Irish Times reported. Apperley Investments Ltd, Tailwind Investments Ltd and Martina Investments Ltd were landlords to the former Monsoon store on Dublin’s Grafton Street. RESAM Cork UC and RESAM Properties Ltd were landlords for the Monsoon store and the Accessorize store, both on Patrick Street, Cork.

The world will have a smaller airline industry as a result of the coronavirus crisis with many privately funded carriers set to go under and governments throwing "good money after bad" to keep national champions afloat, Wizz Air's CEO said, Reuters reported. Worst hit will be traditional carriers relying on a hub-and-spoke network and business traffic, but Wizz expects demand for its own cheap fares and direct routes to snap back quickly once the pandemic fades, the Hungarian airline’s co-founder said.