Headlines

The leader of Dudley Council has said "unpopular measures" will save his authority from the risk of effective bankruptcy, BBC.com reported. Patrick Harley told BBC Politics Midlands that a tough budget for next year would allow the council to build rather than deplete its reserves. But he accepted measures such as charging for green waste collections, scrapping free car parking and reducing staff numbers would be unpopular. The councillor's assessment comes five months after a review of the authority found "extremely limited" progress in dealing with its financial challenges.

The Chinese government plans to transfer ownership in one of the nation’s biggest bad-debt managers to a unit of its sovereign wealth fund in coming weeks as part of a regulatory overhaul, Bloomberg News reported. The Ministry of Finance is currently going through the process to move its holdings in China Cinda Asset Management Co. to Central Huijin Investment Ltd. The plan is in its final stage but may still change or get delayed.

China’s leaders signaled a more forceful policy approach to shoring up the economy as Beijing braces for trade tensions under the incoming Trump administration, employing language they haven’t used since the depths of the global financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported. The 24-man Politburo, China’s top decision-making body, pledged Monday to implement more proactive fiscal policy and to adopt a “moderately loose” monetary policy next year—the first introduction of such language since 2008.

Province of Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof said he would try to block any federal government efforts to sell or shut down the loss-making national carrier, Aerolineas Argentinas SA, Bloomberg News reported. President Javier Milei is looking to push a bill through congress that would clear the way to the airline’s privatization, part of his plans to shrink the size of the state in the debt-ridden nation.

Zambia and France signed a bilateral debt restructuring agreement, a key step in a protracted process that started when the southern African nation defaulted four years ago, Bloomberg News reported. The deal is part of Zambia’s efforts to revamp about $13 billion in external debt after it became the first African nation to default during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. “Three years ago, Zambia was a basket case,” Zambian Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said at the signing ceremony on Sunday in Lusaka, the capital.

An essential ingredient in economic policymaking, from interest rates to government spending, is reliable data. But government officials, economists and other number crunchers in Britain are expressing deepening concern over a long-running issue with a data set used to understand a crucial area: the country’s jobs market, the New York Times reported.

Mexico’s headline inflation slowed slightly more than expected in November, boosting the odds of a fourth straight interest rate cut at the central bank’s meeting next week, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Monday showed consumer prices rose 4.55% from a year prior, under both the 4.6% median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg and the 4.76% reading in October. Monthly inflation stood at 0.44%.

Just weeks after the collapse of Swedish battery maker Northvolt AB, its founder Vargas Holding is turning its attention to another energy-intensive industry that needs cleaning up, Bloomberg News reported. Partnering with Rio Tinto Plc, Fortum Oyj and Mitsubishi Corp., Vargas plans to build a low-carbon primary aluminum plant in Finland that could be up and running late this decade. The project — named Arctial — would add another piece to the Swedish investment firm’s portfolio that also includes green steel, textile recycling and heat pumps.

Solarmax, a German inverter and battery storage systems specialist with more than 30 years of experience, is facing insolvency. Last week, a German district court opened preliminary insolvency proceedings against the Bayern-based company, PV-Magazine.com reported. The Neu-Ulm district court judges appointed Michael Pluta of Pluta Rechtsanwalts GmbH as preliminary insolvency administrator, as his law firm published on Friday. A statement from Pluta said Solarmax was experiencing financial difficulties due to market conditions.

Recaro has been rescued from bankruptcy. The financial lifeboat comes courtesy of Proma Group, an Italian automotive parts supplier, which yesterday announced that it had signed an investment agreement to take over operations for the world's oldest seat maker, Car and Driver reported. Proma said in a press release that its investment will allow Recaro Automotive, which is based in Germany, to continue operations amidst a transitional phase. That will lead to a European relaunch in January, when OEM production will move to Italy.