Headlines

Inflation has fallen, the economy is finally growing after years of recession and, thanks to the easing of some international sanctions, Iran’s crude oil is once again being sold overseas, the Irish Times reported. But many in the Islamic Republic believe that, if anything, the economic situation has worsened. Despite high hopes that the nuclear deal agreed with western powers in 2015 would deliver an economic bonanza, daily life remains hard and there are not enough jobs for an army of unemployed youth.

British Airways’ owner IAG said on Friday it would buy Niki, Air Berlin’s insolvent Austrian holiday airline, for 20 million euros ($24.01 million) and provide additional liquidity to the company of up to 16.5 million euros, Reuters reported. The sale to IAG, which had been in exclusive talks for the airline, is the final chapter in the demise of Air Berlin, the No. 2 German air carrier that previously owned Niki and filed for insolvency earlier this year.

For bond investors, Africa was a happy hunting ground last year. Its local-currency and dollar securities easily outperformed those of emerging markets overall as investors piled into a continent offering high yields and starting to recover from the commodity bust of three years ago. But risks abound, among them policy tightening in advanced economies, local and global politics, weakening currencies and another fall in oil prices, Bloomberg News reported. And then there is credit risk.

Oi SA’s largest equity investor called for a shareholders meeting to decide whether to take legal action against the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer and to scrutinize parts of the Brazilian phone company’s restructuring plan, Bloomberg News reported. CEO Eurico Teles and CFO Carlos Brandao exceeded their authority by negotiating the plan with creditors without the board’s approval, and investors should decide whether to file a civil liability claim against them, Pharol SGPS SA said in a letter published Friday in a filing.

Punjab National Bank, India’s second-largest state-run lender, will be able to avoid massive losses after the government forced delinquent borrowers to repay loans or face liquidation proceedings under a new law, Bloomberg News reported. The interest and bids received so far for assets put up for sale by India’s new bankruptcy court indicates that the bank may not have to take “huge haircuts” and cases will be resolved quickly, Sunil Mehta, managing director of the state-run bank, said in an interview over the weekend. He did not give details.

India’s billionaire Ambani brothers have overcome their famously testy relationship to agree a telecom infrastructure deal that will further expand the footprint of disruptive new entrant Reliance Jio, the Financial Times reported. The two brothers became direct competitors for the first time last year when Mukesh Ambani’s Jio launched a price war on consumer telecom incumbents including Reliance Communications, run by his younger brother Anil Ambani.

The UK will remain a relative laggard among developed countries this year as the after-effects of the Brexit referendum mean the economy will only enjoy limited benefits from a global upswing in growth, economists said in the FT’s annual survey of the profession. Forecasts for growth during 2018 clustered around 1.5 per cent as the UK will be pulled in two separate directions next year as uncertainty over the outcome of the Brexit negotiations reduces growth at the same time as an upswing in global activity boosts exports, the Financial Times reported.

India’s billionaire Ambani brothers have agreed a telecoms infrastructure deal that will expand the footprint of disruptive new entrant Reliance Jio and give rival Reliance Communications a path back from the brink of insolvency, the Financial Times reported. Jio, a subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, has squeezed Indian mobile industry margins with aggressive pricing over the past year.

Bitcoin resumed its slide yesterday, dipping below $14,000 as the cryptocurrency’s dizzying drop from a record set 10 days ago intensified, Bloomberg News reported. The latest blow to the world’s biggest cryptocurrency came from South Korea, where the government said it was eyeing options for stamping out a frenzy of speculation, including a potential shutdown of at least some exchanges. Bitcoin fell as much as 11 percent to as low as $13,500 as of 2:02 p.m. in New York, erasing modest gains after the South Korean release, composite Bloomberg pricing shows.

British IAG is in exclusive talks to buy Niki, Air Berlin’s insolvent Austrian airline after Niki’s administrator said that one bidder out of four remained, Reuters reported. Besides IAG, the owner of British Airways and low-cost carrier Vueling, bidders for holiday airline Niki included tour operators TUI, Thomas Cook and former Formula One world champion Niki Lauda. Niki Lauda, Niki’s founder, was quoted as saying on the website of newspaper Die Presse that he was out of the running. A source said Thomas Cook was also out of the race.