Headlines

Some RM2.2 billion of the Pahang state government's debt can be reduced this year, from a figure of RM3.2 billion by restructuring Pengurusan Air Pahang Berhad (PAIP), Yahoo! News reported. State secretary Datuk Seri Muhammad Safian Ismail said the restructuring of the water supply company would enable the state government's debt with the federal government to be abolished and the status changed as a grant or allocation. "Right now we have a debt of about RM3.2 billion and we have no problems paying it.

The proprietor of Jack and Jill supermarket in Nairobi Ahmed Noorani has been told to wait longer before taking any action against a businessman who owes him Sh167 million, The Standard reported. High Court judge Francis Tuiyot said Friday businessman Rajendra Sanghani's insolvency case must be determined before Noorani can take actions. Sanghani owes Noorani Sh167, 270,500 as the balance for a Sh477,100,000 unsecured loan advanced between August 1, 2012 and April 26, 2018. He filed for restructuring at the High Court and sought interim orders under Section 304 of the Insolvency Act.

The Central Bank has directed lenders in the Republic to hold additional capital from next year in order to protect them from a sudden downturn, the Irish Times reported. The regulator said that banks must hold the equivalent of 1 per cent of risk-weighted assets as a so-called countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB) from July 2019, though it noted that the sector currently has enough surplus capital to absorb the increase. The buffer applies not only to domestic banks, but the Irish loan portfolios of European-regulated institutions.

Lying just to the south of Shanghai, Zhejiang province is the historical centre of Chinese private enterprise.

Fresh Italian debt sales in coming weeks will test investors’ view of the interest rates available on the country’s substantial financing needs, as market participants warn that conditions are still far from settled, the Financial Times reported. Italian government bond yields remain elevated after a price plunge in May drove the 10-year benchmark briefly above 3.3 per cent, as populist parties sought to form a government.

In times of summer, the thoughts of young (and oldish) financiers often turn to liquidity; and not just because they are dreaming about sangria or beer on a sunny beach. Instead the big issue in summer is that the ability to buy and sell assets — or the level of “liquidity” — typically declines during the holiday lull. That can cause asset prices to go haywire if a nasty surprise hits, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. Just think of what happened in August 2007 or August 1997.

The property boom in Germany’s capital is breaking record after record, but the city’s elders are looking to pump the brakes, The Wall Street Journal reported. Berlin’s left-leaning local government, an alliance of Social Democrats, Greens and Socialists, is moving to rein in the residential real-estate market with a barrage of measures that critics say would have put East Germany’s Communist former rulers to shame.

The Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) conducted more than 300 investigations last year into cases where it suspected people going through bankruptcy had not declared assets or had illegally transferred property to the detriment of creditors, according to its latest annual report, the Irish Times reported. The report, due to be presented imminently to the Cabinet, discloses that three of these investigations resulted in the recovery of about €6.5 million. Last year saw 521 people exit bankruptcy, while 118 family homes were transferred back into the ownership of former bankrupts.

Pakistan has asked China to keep lending it money to avert a foreign currency crisis, warning that Beijing’s planned $60bn investment in the south Asian country was at risk if it failed to do so, the Financial Times reported. Pakistan borrowed $4bn from China in the year ending June 2018, according to government officials, and wants to keep the money flowing to avoid having to ask the IMF for a bailout.

Turkey’s Bereket Enerji group has put power plants on sale as part of plans to refinance and pay down its debts, joining other Turkish power companies that are renegotiating their foreign-currency loans with lenders, seven people with knowledge of the plan said, Bloomberg News reported.