Headlines

Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings Co. said it cannot meet initial deadlines for interest payments on two local bonds and that a state guarantor would step in — marking the first test of a key government program to shore up builder debt, Bloomberg News reported. The company’s onshore unit cannot make the coupon payments on its 3.95% note and its 3.8% bond by an initial deadline of May 9, according to filings.

Mexico is studying options to absorb as much as $40 billion in Pemex debt, the equivalent of what will come due in the next presidential term, one of its top finance officials told investors in New York, Bloomberg News reported. The government is considering options that could include repurchasing bonds issued by the heavily indebted state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos or issuing sovereign debt to fund buyouts, Deputy Finance Minister Gabriel Yorio told investors, according to people who participated in the meeting.

The European Union’s General Court has cancelled the decision made by the European Commission to approve a restructuring aid package for German airline Condor in 2021, the Irish Independent reported. The Commission approved the €321m package in July 2021. The German government had planned to give this to the airline to support the restructuring and ongoing operations of the airline. Condor had faced challenges that year following the insolvency of former owner Thomas Cook. Ryanair had challenged the decision of the Commission before the EU General Court.

After a long stretch of high inflation, the Bank of England finally has its 2 percent inflation target firmly within its sights, the New York Times reported. The central bank said on Thursday that it expected inflation to reach its target in two years, and then go even lower, a forecast that comes as policymakers inch toward cutting interest rates. The majority of the bank’s nine-person rate-setting committee voted this week to hold rates at 5.25 percent, the highest since early 2018 and where they have been for nine months.

Argentina’s privately-run power producers will reject an offer by the government to settle a debt that’s mushroomed to about $2 billion, Pampa Energia SA Chief Executive Officer Gustavo Mariani said, Bloomberg News reported. The producers — led by Pampa and Central Puerto SA, which together supply about 30% of Argentina’s energy — want better terms for the debt, which began to accumulate late last year when President Javier Milei’s government stopped paying them as part of a broader effort to shrink its budget deficit.

For Nazim Salur, it’s the end of a nearly decade-long dream to build a global delivery powerhouse out of Turkey. Getir, the rapid grocery app Salur cofounded from Istanbul in 2015, last week confirmed it will exit its remaining international operations, Bloomberg News reported. Once a poster child of pandemic growth valued at $11.8 billion, attracting investors like ex-Sequoia Capital partner Michael Moritz, Mubadala Investment Co., Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global, the startup is halting operations in the Netherlands, the U.K., U.S. and Germany to focus on its core market of Turkey.

The Bank of Canada says households can weather higher borrowing costs, but flagged rising asset valuations and financial stress among renters as risks to the outlook, Bloomberg News reported. Canadians are “proactively” adjusting to higher interest rates, and the financial system “remains resilient,” the central bank said in its annual review of the system published Thursday. And while payments have risen for about half of the country’s mortgages, households have higher wages and savings, officials said, and they’re adjusting their spending patterns.

Mexico’s headline inflation sped up more than expected last month, likely cementing a rate hold at the central bank’s monetary policy meeting later on Thursday, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 4.65% in April from a year earlier, up from 4.42% in March, the National Statistics Institute reported Thursday. The reading was slightly above the 4.63% median estimate from analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Malaysia’s central bank held its benchmark interest rate unchanged again, extending its policy pause to a year as it keeps a watchful eye on growth and inflation, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bank Negara Malaysia kept its overnight policy rate at 3.00% on Thursday. That’s the same level as in May last year, when the bank delivered a surprise rate hike. Bank Negara reiterated that its policy stance remains supportive of the economy and gave an upbeat view of Malaysia’s economic prospects.

Brazil Finance Minister Fernando Haddad rolled out a plan worth 50.9 billion reais ($9.9 billion) Thursday to help millions of people hit by floods in the nation’s south as investors keep a wary eye on public spending, Bloomberg News reported. The initial measures, which include subsidized credit from the federal government, will be directed to 3.5 million people including workers, social program beneficiaries and rural producers, as well as companies, states and municipalities, Haddad said.