Headlines

India made the biggest dent in its foreign-exchange reserves in seven years as the central bank stepped up action to prop up Asia’s worst-performing currency. Reserves dropped by $5.14 billion in the seven days ended Oct. 12, the biggest weekly decline since November 2011, as the Reserve Bank of India sold dollars to shore up the rupee, helping it end a losing streak that extended for six weeks, Bloomberg News reported. Most of the drop in reserves seems to be because of accelerated central bank intervention, according to Kotak Securities Ltd.

Odebrecht Engenharia e Construcao SA bondholders are growing more pessimistic about the outlook for the construction conglomerate at the center of Brazil’s epic graft scandal, Bloomberg News reported. The firm’s $1.4 billion of dollar-denominated bonds due in 2025 and 2042 have each lost more than 10 cents over the past month, leaving them at a five-month low near 25 cents on the dollar. Investors are growing concerned the builder is running out of money to pay them back amid a dearth of new projects and a swiftly deteriorating cash supply.

The International Monetary Fund on Friday announced it had reached preliminary agreement on a new $3.9bn assistance package for Ukraine, whose government hours earlier took the politically unpopular decision of meeting a key condition of the fund by raising household gas tariffs by 23.5 per cent, the Financial Times reported. The new 14-month programme has yet to be approved by the IMF’s executive board.

The committee of creditors tasked with the resolution process of Essar Steel Ltd. has picked ArcelorMittal as H1 Resolution Applicant, or preferred bidder, for the insolvent asset, Bloomberg Quint reported. The final bid price will be negotiated over the weeks to come, the Luxembourg-based company said in a statement. This comes two weeks after the Supreme Court directed both Numetal Mauritius and ArcelorMittal to pay up past debts to be eligible to bid for insolvent Essar Steel Ltd. Of the two, only one met the Supreme Court directive—ArcelorMittal.

For a moment last weekend, hearts were suddenly aflutter that – out of nowhere – a deal to secure the United Kingdom’s orderly exit from the European Union was in the offing, The Irish Times reported. UK Brexit secretary Dominic Raab was said to be “dashing” to Brussels for face-to-face talks with the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier, while EU ambassadors were summoned to a meeting that one report suggested was to get early sight of a deal. But it was just a mirage.

Beijing is trying to kick its habit of using big-ticket infrastructure spending to fuel the economy, a turning point from a growth model that has left many Chinese cities adorned with empty high-rises and underused highways, The Wall Street Journal reported. China bolstered economic growth for decades by pouring trillions of dollars into roads, factories, railroads and more, and doubled down to protect the economy from the global financial crisis of the last decade. Now the torrent has subsided as debt soared and needless projects blossomed.

The leaders of Italy’s populist coalition government said they had no intention of leaving the euro but will stick with spending plans that have triggered both a credit rating downgrade and sharp criticism from Brussels, the Financial Times reported. Both Luigi Di Maio, leader of the anti-establishment Five Star party, and his coalition partner Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-immigration League party, said they remained committed to Italy staying within the single currency.

A high-level panel is likely to recommend a United Nations model for cross-border insolvency cases under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, according to a senior official, The Economic Times reported. The Insolvency Law Committee (ILC) is looking into the discussion paper related to having the UN model for cross-border insolvency matters as well as the comments received on the paper. Under the Code, there are provisions to deal with cross-border insolvency matters.

A eurozone government set on a collision course with the EU over budget deficit targets. Borrowing costs rising amid market jitters over plans to overturn austerity. A vulnerable banking sector and one of Europe’s highest public debt burdens. Italy fits the description. But this was Portugal less than three years ago, soon after a minority Socialist government came to power vowing to “turn the page on austerity” with support from hardline communists and the anti-establishment left, the Financial Times reported. Today, the contrasts could hardly be sharper.

Malaysia charged a former deputy prime minister with breaking money-laundering and corruption laws as Mahathir Mohamad’s government steps up investigations into graft allegations plaguing the former administration, The Wall Street Journal reported. Zahid Hamidi, who waved to supporters as he arrived at court, pleaded not guilty to all 45 charges. The charges involve a total of 114 million ringgit ($27.4 million), and include allegations he used funds from a family-run charity to pay off credit card debts. He was freed on bail. Mr.