Headlines

Kenya is holding talks with the International Monetary Fund on a new lending facility as the East African nation faces huge budget deficits worsened by the coronavirus crisis. The government has abandoned expensive commercial debt to cut back on ballooning repayments at a time when its revenue collection has been squeezed by the pandemic, Reuters reported. Tobias Rasmussen, the IMF’s resident representative in Nairobi, told Reuters on Tuesday that the new facility was being discussed following a Kenyan request that preceded the pandemic.

A sufficient number of creditors of indebted Premier Oil have approved a proposed merger with private equity backed Chrysaor to create the British North Sea's biggest oil and gas producer, Premier said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The reverse takeover, which will see Premier’s creditors paid $1.23 billion (947.9 million pounds) in cash, will fold one of the world’s oldest independent producers into a private equity-backed group in which Premier shareholders will receive an expected 5.45% stake. Premier had $1.9 billion in net debt.

Malaysian state oil firm Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) said late on Tuesday it had approved an additional 10 billion ringgit ($2.40 billion) dividend to the government to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported. Earlier this week, the country’s economic minister had said Petronas would pay the government, its sole shareholder, 34 billion ringgit in dividends this year. The firm, which suffered its first loss in nearly five years during the second quarter, had initially pledged to pay 24 billion ringgit and said any additional funding would depend on its affordability.

China suspended Ant Group’s $37 billion listing on Tuesday, thwarting the world’s largest stock market debut with just days to go in a dramatic blow to the financial technology firm founded by billionaire Jack Ma, Reuters reported. The Shanghai stock exchange said it had suspended the company’s initial public offering (IPO) on its tech-focused STAR Market, prompting Ant to also freeze the Hong Kong leg of its dual listing scheduled for Thursday.

Argentina’s wide gap between its official peso spot rate and closely watched prices of the currency in alternative and black markets has narrowed amid signals the central bank will tighten its funding of government spending, Reuters reported. The gap between the peso rates has soared this year amid tight controls on access to dollars, concerns over the economy and money printing to pay for the indebted country’s emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But since a peak around Oct.

When South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently extolled in parliament his government’s provision of R500bn ($31bn) to steer the nation’s battered economy through the pandemic, there was some awkward fine print for the country’s banks, the Financial Times reported.

Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco on Tuesday reported a 44.6% drop in third-quarter net profit as the coronavirus crisis continued to choke demand and weigh on crude prices, Reuters reported. Share prices of global oil companies have been hammered this year as investors fret over the impact of the pandemic on energy demand and the long-term shift away from fossil fuels. Oil prices have recovered only slightly since tumbling to their lowest in almost two decades in March, prompting Aramco and other majors such as Shell and BP Plc to slash capital expenditure this year and next.

Holders of Zambia’s Eurobonds plan to reject a government request to defer payments on its sovereign dollar debt, according to four sources, pushing the country closer towards a protracted debt overhaul and possible hard default, Reuters reported. Zambia, which was struggling with mounting debts even before the coronavirus pandemic as a result of the plunge in prices for copper, its main export, has three outstanding dollar-denominated Eurobonds with a total face value of $3 billion.

Australia Post licensees say their business are now “worthless” after CEO Christine Holgate quit over the Cartier watch scandal, PerthNow reported. Executive director Angela Cramp, who heads the group of 2850 members, said there was “no way back from this” after Australia Post boss Christine Holgate resigned on Monday – just weeks after the Prime Minister bluntly told her if she didn’t wish to stand aside “she should go”. “Australia Post Australia and licensees are all the poorer from this,” Ms Cramp said.

Two debt restructuring schemes have been introduced to help distressed small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore, providing support to those facing challenges amid the Covid-19 crisis, The Straits Times reported. The Sole Proprietors and Partnerships Scheme and the Extended Support Scheme - Customised allow SMEs to restructure their credit facilities and debts owed to multiple creditors.