Headlines

India can take more steps to be competitive in the global market, such as enforcing contracts, World Bank President David Malpass said. “There can be more progress in land permits and in enforcement of contracts,” Malpass said at a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday, Bloomberg News reported. “Other countries in Asia have done pretty well.” India jumped 14 places to 63rd in the World Bank’s annual rankings for ease of doing business released Thursday, helped by a new insolvency law.

China’s Jingye Group has fuelled hopes of a rescue deal for British Steel with plans to send a delegation to the second-biggest UK steelmaker’s main plant in Scunthorpe, the Financial Times reported. Hebei-based Jingye, which also owns hotels and a medicines business alongside its main steelmaking operations, is due to visit the Lincolnshire steelworks next week.

It was meant to be a commemorative coin, a reminder in your pocket that the UK had left the EU on October 31. But with the departure set to be delayed once again next week, millions of 50p “Brexit coins” are just one government initiative having to be hastily reconsidered, the Financial Times reported. With scant acknowledgment this week, Boris Johnson broke a commitment to his party and country of quitting the bloc on October 31 “come what may, do or die”.

ICICI Bank Ltd., India’s second-largest private lender, posted a lower than expected profit due to a one-time income tax adjustment, Bloomberg News reported. Net income fell 28% to 6.55 billion rupees ($98 million) for the three months ended Sept. 30 from 9.1 billion rupees a year earlier, the lender said Saturday. The profit compared with analysts expectation of 13.8 billion rupees on average, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Standard & Poor’s raised Greece’s sovereign credit rating by one notch, signaling confidence in the country’s new government and its policies. Coming 16 months after it last upgraded Greece’s rating, S&P said in a statement Friday that it is raising the country’s long-term foreign currency debt to BB- from B+. The ratings agency’s outlook remains positive. Still, the new rating keeps Greece three levels below junk, showing that the country has to do more to regain its investment-grade rating, Bloomberg News reported.

In this South American nation stretching from lush jungles in the north to the edge of the Antarctic at its southernmost point, the country’s 45 million people are weighing a vote for change ahead of presidential elections on Sunday, Bloomberg News reported. At the heart of the decision is economic hardship that has roiled Latin America’s No. 3 economy since the middle of last year. It has hurt President Mauricio Macri, who under pressure had been pushing austerity measures to rein in debt.

At least three potential bidders have expressed an interest in buying two soy processing plants put up for sale by Brazilian grain crusher Imcopa Importação, Exportação e Indústria de Óleos SA, two sources familiar with the bidding process told Reuters. The bidders are U.S.-based Bunge Inc; CJ Selecta, owned by South Korea’s CJ Cheiljedang; and the local unit of Russia’s Sodrugestvo, according to the sources, who requested anonymity this week to discuss the confidential process, Reuters reported.

Dubai needs to halt all new home construction for one or two years to avert an economic disaster brought on by continued oversupply, according to one of its biggest builders, Bloomberg News reported. “We’re entering a crossroads now,” Damac Properties PJSC Chairman Hussain Sajwani said in a Bloomberg interview. “Either we fix this problem and we can grow from here or we are going to see a disaster.” Damac’s chairman is the latest executive to call for curbs on construction in a market that’s been on a downward trajectory since it peaked five years ago.

Zimbabwe’s state-owned electricity distributor, grappling with drought and ageing equipment, said on Thursday it will disconnect mines, farms and other users as it looks to recover $77 million in unpaid bills, Reuters reported. The southern African nation is experiencing daily power cuts lasting up to 18 hours after a severe drought reduced water levels at the country’s biggest hydro plant. The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) is also being hampered by ageing coal-fired electricity generators which constantly break down.

Italy wants to shield Monte dei Paschi from bad loan losses as it prepares the bailed-out bank for a sale, but faces resistance from European Union competition authorities, two sources close to the matter said, Reuters reported. Italy’s Treasury has a year-end deadline to present an outline of its strategy for getting out of the world’s oldest bank, which was at the forefront of Italy’s banking crisis until a 2017 state bailout was cleared by Brussels.