Headlines

Japan's service-sector sentiment worsened and bankruptcy cases rose in October, data showed on Monday, casting doubt on the central bank's view the country was on track to meet its 2% inflation target driven by robust domestic demand, Reuters reported. The findings align with concerns voiced by some Bank of Japan (BOJ) board members at last month's policy meeting that intensifying labour shortages could constrain growth, rather than lead to higher wages.

Indonesia has opened a six-month window until May 2025 for certain businesses to receive full loan forgiveness from state banks, a policy that aims to boost loan and economic growth, according to details of a new regulation, Reuters reported. Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto last week signed off on a government regulation that allows state lenders to fully write off bad debts of certain micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which are major contributors to Indonesia's gross domestic product.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday signed a law that lowers corporate income taxes and boosts incentives for businesses, in a bid to spur more investment into one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, Bloomberg News reported. The Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy, or CREATE MORE Act, reduces the corporate income tax rate for businesses registered with investment agencies to 20% from 25%.

Thailand is set to appoint former Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong as the new Bank of Thailand chairman, a sign of the government seeking to tighten its grip over the central bank with which it has sparred over monetary policy and inflation targets, Bloomberg News reported. Kittiratt, a critic of the BOT’s hawkish monetary policy and a former member of the ruling Pheu Thai party, was picked as the new chairman at a near five-hour meeting of the selection panel on Monday, according to people familiar with the matter. Thai media earlier reported that Kittiratt was selected.

A boom in Brazil’s agriculture sector sparked a rush of investments, with the $7 billion market for agribusiness funds luring people from all walks of life in the past three years, Bloomberg News reported. But with bumper crops across the globe sending prices plunging and Brazilian farmers filing for bankruptcy at alarming rates, the retail investor is paying the price. It’s a sobering reminder of market risks to investors who have been bombarded with messages on national television promoting agriculture as hip and cool, and even music that celebrates the success of the sector.

Bolivia’s central bank ditched new rules on reporting its gold reserves which it had published just two days earlier, Bloomberg News reported. The bank said in a statement Friday that it wouldn’t implement the resolution to avoid “speculation that seeks to damage the economic stability of the country.” The resolution would have allowed the bank to report its gold holdings twice a year: on Nov. 5 and May 5. That could potentially have allowed it to access more liquidity to pay for imports and address a crippling fuel shortage.

NatWest Group Plc bought back £1 billion ($1.29 billion) of its shares from the UK government as the Treasury continues to sell down its stake in the lender, Bloomberg News reported. The off-market purchase of 262.6 million shares brought the Treasury’s voting rights in the lender to about 11.4% from about 14.2% previously, according to a statement. The transaction is the first time that NatWest has done two directed buybacks in a twelve-month period.

Project developer HH2E AG is set to file for self-administration after it failed to secure financing for one of Germany’s largest hydrogen projects, Bloomberg News reported. HH2E has been fundraising for its first development project, a hydrogen production plant in the Baltic port of Lubmin. While it said negotiations resulted in final agreements, majority shareholder Foresight Group Holdings Ltd. ultimately decided against providing the necessary financing, HH2E said in a statement. Foresight didn’t comment on its role in the breakdown of financing discussions in a separate statement.

Several lawmakers are considering the formation of a special committee to investigate the recent bankruptcy ruling against Sritex, Indonesia’s largest textile company, which could potentially lead to tens of thousands of job losses, JakartaGlobe.id reported. Members of the House of Representatives' Commission VII on industry and the creative economy revealed the plan during a visit to Sritex’s factory in Sukoharjo Regency, Central Java, on Thursday.

Investors who won a $16 billion judgment against Argentina over its nationalization of energy firm YPF SA more than a decade ago are open to receiving payment in bonds instead of cash, Bloomberg News reported. Burford Capital, a litigation funder that’s the biggest stakeholder in the case, would accept sovereign bonds or other marketable securities, considering the Argentine central bank’s depleted foreign reserves, the people noted, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.