Headlines

The mid-January deadline for businesses to qualify for partial forgiveness of pandemic loans likely played a major role in driving up business insolvencies that month, said the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the Canadian Press reported. As businesses continue to face inflation, labour shortages, higher interest rates and weakened consumer spending, for many the deadline was “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Simon Gaudreault, the CFIB’s chief economist and vice-president of research. “The math just doesn’t add up anymore,” he said.
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The Brazilian airline Azul SA is working with Citigroup Inc. and Guggenheim Partners as it explores a potential offer for its troubled competitor Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA, Bloomberg News reported. Shares in both companies rallied. The companies are advising Azul as it weighs several options, including an outright acquisition of its rival. Azul still could decide to shelve the idea. Any offer would need approval from the country’s regulator — known as Cade.
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The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Monday reserved its order in the matter related to Dublin-based aircraft lessor Aircastle Limited’s insolvency petition against budget airline SpiceJet, the Economic Times of India reported. SpiceJet’s counsel has cast doubt over the maintainability of Aircastle’s petition as the latter had filed a separate petition under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) against the Gurgaon-headquartered carrier. The counsel for Aircastle has argued that both petitions deal with separate cases of default by SpiceJet.
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The founder of a small Florida hedge fund could be jailed for refusing to reveal where Indian tech firm Think & Learn Pvt allegedly hid $533 million that lenders are trying to recover, according to a federal judge, Bloomberg News reported. William C. Morton could be locked up for contempt of court if he can’t explain why he disobeyed a court order to provide details about the money, which was briefly placed with his hedge fund, Camshaft Capital Fund.

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A builder who became insolvent ­following the construction sector crash in the late 2000s has had more than €2.2m in debt written off in return for a lump-sum payment of €80,000, the Irish Independent reported. Under a personal insolvency arrangement (PIA) approved by the High Court, David Lawlor (60) will be able to retain his family home, which was in negative equity. The court heard Mr Lawlor, a separated farmer and maintenance worker from Dragoon Hill, Hollywood, Co Wicklow, had overall debts of €2.7m.
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Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced an ambitious 2024 economic growth target of around 5% on Tuesday, promising steps to transform the country's development model and defuse risks fuelled by bankrupt property developers and indebted cities, Reuters reported. Delivering his maiden work report at the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp parliament, Li also flagged higher defence spending, while hardening the rhetoric on Taiwan.
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Retail sales growth in the U.K. slowed in February, when consumer demand was damped by record rainfall, according to a British Retail Consortium report, the Wall Street Journal reported. Total retail sales for the four weeks to Feb. 24 increased by 1.1% on year, compared with annual 1.2% growth the prior month and the three-month average of 1.4%, according to the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor report published Tuesday. Annual growth stood at 5.2% in February last year.
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Activity in the Republic of Ireland’s services sector expanded again in February but the growth was accompanied “by rising price pressures”, AIB has said, the Irish Times reported. The bank’s latest purchasing managers index for services rose to 54.4 last month, up from 50.5 in January, signalling the fastest rate of expansion in six months. Any figure above 50 indicates expansion. The increased level of activity, however, was accompanied by a worrying uptick with input prices and charges rising at the fastest rates in 10 and 12 months respectively.
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South Africa’s economy escaped a technical recession in the fourth quarter as fewer rotational power cuts helped energy-intensive industries including mining rebound, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product expanded 0.1% in the three months through December, compared with a contraction of 0.2% in the prior quarter, Statistics South Africa said in a report released in the capital, Pretoria, on Tuesday. The South African currency traded 0.2% stronger at 19.0087 per US dollar as of 12:25 p.m. In Johannesburg.
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Chinese investment can’t be the solution for cash-strapped Canadian miners seeking financial backing, according to Canada’s natural resources minister, Bloomberg News reported. “We need to be working to solve access to capital issues, but the answer cannot be investment from Chinese state-owned industries,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Tuesday in an interview.
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