Headlines

Cash-strapped Jet Airways Ltd has flown straight into a storm, resulting in a major setback for India’s largest full-service airline that could shake up the country’s aviation industry, Reuters reported. Jet, which has debt exceeding 80 billion rupees ($1.12 billion) as of September-end, has been steadily losing market share to its rival and low-cost carrier IndiGo, which is owned by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, Jet’s second-largest shareholder, is now in talks with creditors for a deal that could help the airline back on its feet.

Just six weeks after the European Central Bank removed the most important part of its crisis-era stimulus in a nod to a recovering eurozone economy, such official optimism is under threat, the Financial Times reported. With a swath of data showing weakening global growth, central banks are concerned. The US Federal Reserve has already signalled it expects fewer interest rate rises this year, and on Thursday the ECB will debate its response, after stopping the expansion of its €2.6tn quantitative easing programme in December.

Qatar threw a $500 million lifeline to Lebanon because of what it sees as its mission to be the Middle East’s emergency lender to nations in distress, according to the country’s foreign minister, Bloomberg News reported.

Venezuelan bond prices jumped to the highest in six months as large anti-government protests throughout the country spurred speculation that President Nicolas Maduro’s regime could be coming closer to an end, Bloomberg News reported. As Venezuelans took to the streets, the country’s $4 billion of defaulted notes due in 2027 surged 2.4 cents to 30.7 cents on the dollar, the highest price since June. Other overseas notes from the government and state-owned oil company joined along in a broad rally.

A third of African countries have unsustainable debt positions and the continent must reduce its reliance on foreign funding for projects that don’t help them service loans, Zimbabwean Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said, Bloomberg News reported. Global investors in search of higher yields have been “gobbling” up African debt over the past decade, he said.

The parent company of one of Turkey’s largest food producers is in talks with lenders to restructure a portion of its $2 billion debt pile, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Anadolu Birlik Holding AS wants to extend maturities on loans it took out to finance investments in the energy sector, the people said, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private, Bloomberg News reported. The company is seeking to restructure less than half of its total debt and the negotiations may be finalized within the next two months, one of the people said.

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways on Wednesday said it has begun legal proceedings in London, disputing a claim by the administrators of Air Berlin for damages of up to 2 billion euros ($2.26 billion), Reuters reported. State-owned Etihad filed its case in the High Court in London on Wednesday, a company spokesman told Reuters, and believes that the case initiated in December by the German airline in Berlin should be determined by the English court. The insolvency administrator’s lawsuit said that Etihad had not complied with its financial obligations to Air Berlin.

South African retailer International Holdings N.V. said on Tuesday a former partner firm of its European operations claims it is owed about 291 million euros (£256.62 million or $331 million) by the company, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Steinhoff is in the middle of a clean-up of its balance sheet after discovering multi-billion euro holes in its balance sheet more than a year ago. LWS GmbH, a company linked to Austrian businessman Andreas Seifert, claims to be a creditor of Steinhoff Europe AG (SEAG), the parent company said.

Representatives of Greece's bailout creditors are in Athens to review progress on measures demanded in return for relief on the country's massive national debt, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story. The inspectors started meetings Tuesday with senior government officials to review issues including delayed privatization projects, a plan to help banks reduce a high amount of non-performing loans, and measures to protect low-income families from property foreclosures.

An indicator assessing the state of the German economy fell to a four-year low, while analysts in January revealed a slightly less negative sentiment for their outlook, according to a key survey. The Zew survey’s assessment of the current economic situation in Germany dropped 17.7 points to 27.6 points, the lowest reading since January 2015, the research group revealed on Tuesday, the Financial Times reported.