Headlines

Sri Lanka's president said Wednesday that he is seeking a loan repayment moratorium until 2028 as the debt-ridden country tries to emerge from bankruptcy, the Associated Press reported. President Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament the government is asking lenders to accept a plan to defer payments for five years and then pay down the debts from the beginning of 2028 through 2042.

Insolvency appellate tribunal NCLAT on Wednesday gave an ultimatum and said that if the issues between Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) and Suraksha group over Jaypee Infratech are not settled by the second week of April then it would proceed ahead, the Economic Times of India reported.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) dismissed an application filed by Vistra ITCL to direct the resolution professional (RP) of realty developer Satra Properties India to include its additional claim of Rs 51 crore that would have taken its total admitted claim to over Rs 131 crore, the Economic Times of India reported. Vistra informed the bankruptcy court that the RP had partially rejected the lenders’ financial claim, which should have been admitted in its entirety.

Rene Benko’s ailing property group Signa is close to selling a building in downtown Munich to German construction tycoon Alfons Doblinger, in what would be the first major asset sale since its main units filed for insolvency in December, Bloomberg News reported. Signa Prime and its insolvency administrator are in direct talks with the 80 year-old entrepreneur over the sale of Rosenstrasse 8 in Munich’s main shopping area. The building has been marketed for about €100 million ($109 million).

The head of China's state planner said on Wednesday that the government's 5% economic growth target this year, which many analysts say is ambitious, is achievable and that he expects the world's second-largest economy to have a good first quarter, Reuters reported. Speaking at a rare joint briefing on the sidelines of the annual parliament meeting in Beijing with China's finance minister, commerce minister, central bank chief, and head of the securities regulator, Zheng Shanjie said officials would step up economic policy adjustments this year to consolidate a recovery.

The Bank of Canada held its policy rate steady for a fifth consecutive meeting, acknowledging progress on inflation while reiterating that it’s still “too early” to consider rate cuts, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers led by Governor Tiff Macklem left the benchmark overnight rate unchanged at 5% on Wednesday. The pause was expected by markets and by economists in a Bloomberg survey.

Egypt struck a deal with the International Monetary Fund to extend the country an $8 billion loan, hours after allowing its currency to float freely and raising interest rates in a surprise bid to win back foreign investors as its economy comes under pressure from the war in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Egyptian pound lost about 38% of its value against the U.S. dollar after the currency announcement, despite the Central Bank of Egypt raising key interest rates. The pound last traded at 49 pounds to one U.S. dollar, from about 30 the previous day.

New York state lawmakers are renewing the push to overhaul the protracted and painful process of solving sovereign debt crises, Bloomberg News reported. Senator Gustavo Rivera is sponsoring amended legislation that stands to ramp up oversight on how defaulted government debt is restructured with creditors. It could also potentially limit how much investors are allowed to recoup when countries restructure their debts — a concept that’s riled up Wall Street in the past.

Ghana is resisting calls by holders of the country’s eurobonds to offer a sweetener for restructuring $13 billion of debt, risking a self-imposed deadline for a deal, Bloomberg News reported. Investors have asked Ghana to link interest payments on some of the debt to the future economic growth of the West African nation. Bondholders want Ghana to mirror Suriname, which last year issued a so-called value-recovery instrument that pays out if the nation becomes oil-rich.

Kenyan lawmakers approved the Treasury’s plans to offer debt-for-nature and food-security swaps to bolster the nation’s finances for its next fiscal year starting July 1, Bloomberg News reported. The East African nation is in talks with the United Nations and development partners to structure the debt swaps, according to a Treasury report that was published last month. The report didn’t provide details on how much Kenya plans to raise via these instruments and how they would work.