Headlines

Business insolvencies in Canada are hitting their highest point since the Great Recession, new data show, the Globe and Mail reported. According to the federal Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, 2,003 business insolvencies were filed from Jan. 1 to March 31 of this year. Of those, 1,599 were bankruptcies and 404 were proposals, which is a legal option to negotiate lower debt repayment with creditors. The number of insolvencies was up 32 per cent from the previous quarter, and 87 per cent from the same quarter last year.

The Bank of England’s effort to stimulate the economy during the pandemic is responsible for all £115 billion ($144 billion) of the net losses on quantitative-easing that UK taxpayers will have to cover, analysis by Bloomberg shows. Using the central bank’s latest estimate of the lifetime cost of the program, a Bloomberg analysis indicates that the BOE is on track to lose at least £120 billion on the bonds it bought under QE during Covid in 2020 and 2021. The earlier phase of QE, done during the financial crisis and up to 2016, will end up being marginally profitable.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved Shree Naman Developers' acquisition of real estate developer Radius Infra Holdings with a resolution plan that will help settle 81% of secured financial debt of the company, the Economic Times of India reported. The financially distressed Radius Infra Holdings was admitted into the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) in May 2022. The defunct builder had admitted liabilities of about ₹1,050 crore, while the successful resolution applicant agreed to pay ₹180 crore to acquire the company.

Norway’s central bank held its key policy rate at 4.5% and reiterated guidance that the rate is likely to stay at that level for some time, as high wage growth and a weak krone are keeping inflation elevated, the Wall Street Journal reported. Inflation is slowing but is still “markedly” above the 2% target while business costs have increased sharply in recent years, the bank said Friday. “The committee assesses that the policy rate is sufficiently high to return inflation to target within a reasonable time horizon,” it said in a statement.

U.K. retail footfall declined sharply in April on unseasonably wet weather and the earlier Easter timing, pointing to continued struggles for the sector, a monthly report said Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The number of visits to stores—comprising high-street, retail-park and shopping-center data—for the four weeks ended April 27 tumbled 7.2% compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the British Retail Consortium and Sensormatic Solutions IQ. Footfall in March fell on year by a less sharp 1.3%, helped as Easter fell in March this year, but April in 2023.

The retail shakeout has reached Brazil, where local players are starting to restructure and consolidate amid stiff competition from foreign giants like Amazon.com Inc., MercadoLibre Inc. and Shein Group Ltd, Bloomberg News reported. Though e-commerce reshaped retailing in the US and Europe even before the pandemic, a confluence of economic, financial and logistical circumstance kept the South American nation insulated from the trend until later.

Turkish annual consumer price inflation climbed to 69.8% in April, official data showed on Friday, a bit below expectations but the highest since late-2022 on strong rises in education, restaurants and hotels prices, Reuters reported. Commenting on the figures, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said April's month-on-month inflation, which was 3.18%, was in line with expectations. In March it stood at 3.16%. "After annual inflation reaches its peak in May, it will begin to decline sharply in line with our predictions," Simsek said on social media platform X.

Japan’s finance minister declined to confirm whether Japan stepped into the market to support the yen with intervention earlier this week, keeping traders guessing, Bloomberg News reported. “I’m not commenting on it,” Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said in response to a question about whether Japan intervened earlier this week. Suzuki was speaking at a press conference in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he attended a series of international gatherings including the Asian Development Bank’s annual meeting.

Australia plans to wipe out about A$3 billion ($2 billion) from student loans, cutting the debt of more than three million people, as the country continues to grapple with inflation and cost-of-living pressures, Bloomberg News reported. The center-left Albanese government announced the measure in its monthly budget on Sunday in hopes that it would ease economic pressure on workers and students, said Minister for Education Jason Clare in a statement.