Headlines

Argentina’s peso resumed its slide on Wednesday as President Mauricio Macri announced a raft of emergency measures aimed at providing relief to a population suffering from the impact of a sharp devaluation following his stunning defeat in primary elections, the Financial Times reported. The measures, which will cost $740m, included increases in the minimum wage, loans for small and medium-sized businesses, student grants, subsidies for poor families with children and a floor for income tax, as well as a freeze on petrol prices for 90 days.

Scandal-hit Steinhoff said on Wednesday it had refinanced some 9 billion euros ($10 billion) of debt in its overseas operations which include brands such as Poundland in Britain and France’s Conforama, after pushing the deadline date back repeatedly, Reuters reported. “Implementation of the restructuring is a major milestone on our recovery journey, bringing with it the stability that will allow us to turn the page and concentrate fully on maximizing value from our operating companies,” Group Chief Executive Louis du Preez said in a statement.

Green Reit, Ireland’s first real estate investment trust, is to be sold to London-based property investment group Henderson Park in a €1.34bn deal that underlines the slowdown in the country’s commercial property market after a period of strong growth, the Financial Times reported. Green was floated six years ago as a recovery began in the Irish property market, which had been knocked by the financial crash of 2008.

The frontrunner in the bidding for British Steel is a Turkish investment group owned by the country’s military pension fund, which is chaired by a former two-star army general, the Financial Times reported. Ataer Holding, a wholly owned investment vehicle of the Turkish Armed Forces Assistance Fund, has been in negotiations with the UK government over financial support for a takeover of British Steel, which fell into compulsory liquidation in May.

Former South African Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas, who says he refused a 600 million-rand ($39 million) bribe from wealthy businessmen, has written a memoir about his time in office and outlined his vision for how to kick-start the country’s economy, Bloomberg News reported. Jonas, 59, who will join telecommunications company MTN Group Ltd. as chairman in December, alleged three years ago that members of the Gupta family offered him the cash and the finance minister’s post if he followed their agenda.

The German economy shrank in the three months to June as trade tensions weighed on its export-heavy manufacturing sector and intensified the pressure on politicians in Berlin to loosen the fiscal purse strings, the Financial Times reported. Germany’s output fell 0.1 per cent in the second quarter from the previous three months, meaning annualised output growth slowed to 0.4 per cent in the year to June — its slowest for six years.

Europe’s bankers greeted the news with a collective groan: The negative interest rates that had eaten into incomes for the last half a decade are set to continue and even worsen in the years ahead, Bloomberg News reported. Pointing to yet another period of ragged earnings, executives called for special breaks from the European Central Bank to soften the blow of further rate cuts and other measures to stimulate economies across the eurozone.

The bond market used to like the idea of Matteo Salvini as Italy’s leader. Now it’s becoming worried. As League party leader Salvini attempts to force fresh elections, investors fear victory would embolden a new government to ramp up spending and clash with the European Union again over budget deficit limits, Bloomberg News reported. With the nation’s bonds having seen the biggest one-week selloff since the current coalition was formed in May last year, more turmoil is expected and could lead its borrowing costs to return to levels that could rattle global markets.

One of Scotland’s leading providers of financial help, Scottishtrustdeed.co.uk, recently compiled a report on Scotland’s top insolvency hotspots from 2018, News Reel Hub reported. Glasgow and Edinburgh may have some of the highest numbers of insolvencies in terms of pure numbers, but it’s people living in rural communities, ‘fringe’ areas and Dundee who face the biggest risk of bankruptcy. The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s (AiB) latest report shows that a total of 4,644 people were declared bankrupt in the period 2017/18, representing an increase of 1.8% on the previous year.

It’s turning out to be a torrid summer for the usually sedate lead market. The London Metal Exchange (LME) lead market was roiled in early June by news of an unplanned outage at the Port Pirie lead smelter in Australia, Reuters reported. It’s just been upended again by a second shutdown of the plant, which is operated by Nyrstar, the Belgian company that had to be rescued from potential insolvency by trade house Trafigura. The second outage has seen LME time-spreads tighten again and the outright three-month price hit a two-week high of $2,101.50 per tonne on Monday.