Headlines

The world’s post-coronavirus economic future could depend on mass career migration away from sectors such as retail, entertainment and travel, Japan’s most powerful business leader has warned, the Financial Times reported. Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of Hitachi and head of the Keidanren business lobby, told the Financial Times in an interview that propping up businesses during lockdown was not sufficient and governments would need to shift spending away from furloughs towards fundamental economic restructuring.

Tech start-ups across Europe are struggling to access coronavirus support schemes because of EU state aid rules, industry groups from several countries say, threatening to undermine Brussels’ attempts to stimulate local rivals to Silicon Valley, the Financial Times reported. More than a dozen tech trade groups, including industry associations in France, Germany, the UK and Ireland, have together written to EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager calling for “more flexibility” in member states’ ability to provide “vital” support to lossmaking but innovative small businesse

Venezuela’s bond market has been rocked over the past few years by defaults, sanctions and a collapse in crude oil prices, Bloomberg News reported. Yet the disastrous cocktail is attracting hedge funds including London’s Altana Wealth Ltd. that say the situation can’t get any worse. Altana is pitching the South American nation’s government notes, which can be bought at pennies on the dollar, as the “trade of the new decade,” according to two letters to investors seen by Bloomberg.

Zambia is seeking to restructure its debt after years of “over-ambition” in borrowing to plug an infrastructure deficit, Finance Minister Bwalya Ng’andu said, Bloomberg News reported. The southern African nation has stopped taking on new commercial debt and is seeking to cancel some loans that it’s contracted but not yet received, he said in an interview with the state broadcaster on Sunday.

Thyssenkrupp AG is considering the sale of units that make steel and submarines as the conglomerate fights for survival in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The company said on Monday it will explore “consolidation options” for the two businesses in the latest plank in management’s strategy to downsize the firm and concentrate on higher-margin business areas after years of struggles. “We have taken some difficult decisions that were long overdue,” Chief Executive Officer Martina Merz said in a statement.

A growing number of Argentine provinces are hiring advisers and weighing options for their foreign debt loads as the national government advances its own talks to restructure $65 billion, Bloomberg News reported. Half a dozen regional governments are taking their own steps as Argentina negotiates with holders of its overseas debt ahead of a May 22 deadline. For provinces, which hold $15 billion in debt and rely on disbursements from the central government, the fate of the national talks are key.

China, Africa’s largest bilateral creditor, is likely to agree to delay but not forgive its $152 billion of loans, an approach at odds with prior forbearance plans from groups including the Paris Club, according to a top Johns Hopkins University researcher, Bloomberg News reported. “The Chinese have always done their lending on the idea that individual projects contribute to structural transformation and economic development,” said Deborah Brautigam, who heads the China Africa Research Initiative at JHU’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Thailand’s government said on Monday it plans to submit a rehabilitation plan for troubled national carrier Thai Airways International Pcl to a bankruptcy court rather than go ahead with a planned rescue, Reuters reported. “The State-Enterprise Planning Office agreed in principle for the rehabilitation of Thai Airways in court ... the procedure will be submitted to cabinet tomorrow,” government spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat said.

The euro zone issuance market for subordinated, loss-absorbing bank bonds re-opened this week for the first time in almost three months after a severe sell-off in the asset class due to the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. The 80 billion euro ($86 billion) market for these bonds - the riskiest debt banks can issue - had been shut for issuance since Feb. 20, according to Refinitiv IFR data, as borrowing costs shot up, while banks also waited to release their first quarter earnings.

The governments of Abu Dhabi and Dubai are discussing ways to prop up Dubai’s economy by linking up assets in the two emirates, with Abu Dhabi’s state fund Mubadala likely to play a key role in any deal, three sources familiar with the matter said, Reuters reported. Some economic sectors have come to a near standstill in Dubai during the coronavirus outbreak, and it faces its most severe downturn since a 2009 debt crisis. It lacks the oil wealth of Abu Dhabi to cushion the blow.