Headlines

Singapore’s overall debt situation remains manageable thus far, with both individual bankruptcy and corporate winding-up orders below pre-pandemic levels, said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan in Parliament on Wednesday, the Business Times reported. He was responding to Member of Parliament Yip Hon Weng, who asked if the government was concerned about individual bankruptcy applications reaching an 18-year high, and increased corporate insolvencies in 2023.

A council is warning it could be at risk of bankruptcy as £3m of government funding for port checks is withdrawn. Dover District Council (DCC) is responsible for checking food for diseases as it enters the UK, including African swine fever, BBC.com reported. The authority will now have to plug the funding gap, which it warns will "severely deplete" council reserves.

China's central bank on Thursday said it would keep policy flexible and precise to boost domestic demand, while maintaining price stability, amid signs of a patchy economic recovery and rising deflationary risks, Reuters reported. In its quarterly policy implementation report, the People's Bank of China said the authorities face some difficulties and challenges in promoting an economic recovery amid global uncertainties. "Prudent monetary policy should be flexible, moderate, precise and effective...

Deflation is becoming more entrenched in China, with consumer prices falling in January at their steepest pace in more than 14 years—a stark symptom of deepening economic malaise that spells trouble for the global economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The latest data suggest China faces a growing risk of slipping into a longer-term spell of falling prices that becomes harder to reverse the longer it lasts. That presents a special challenge for the rest of the world.

For German banks at the forefront of a spreading US commercial property downturn, covered bonds and deposits can offer a lifeline, according to Barclays Plc analysts, Bloomberg News reported. Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG and Aareal Bank AG have seen their unsecured borrowing costs grind higher as investors scrutinize their loan books for bad US loans. That makes it critical that they continue to be able to rely on more steady sources of funding. Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, known as PBB, said Wednesday that it had increased loan-loss provisions, noting “persistent weakness” in real estate.

India’s central bank stuck to its hawkish policy stance on Thursday as inflation remains well above its target, suggesting it’s in no hurry to cut interest rates until later in the year, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Committee voted five-to-one to keep the benchmark repurchase rate at 6.5%, a move predicted by all of the 42 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The panel also decided to retain its policy stance at “withdrawal of accommodation,” disappointing some analysts who had predicted a shift to neutral.

The Czech Republic’s central bank cut its key interest rate for the second straight time Thursday in an effort to help the struggling economy, the Associated Press reported. The cut by a half-percentage point brought the interest rate down to 6.25%. The bank also trimmed borrowing costs by a quarter-point on Dec. 21, which marked the first cut since June 22, 2022. Between 2021 and 2022, the bank unleashed a series of rate hikes to try to combat soaring inflation. The last hike of 1.25 percentage points took the rate to 7%, the highest level since early 1999.

Members of the Bank of Canada's (BoC) governing council were concerned about cutting borrowing costs too soon amid persistent inflation when they decided to keep the key overnight rate on hold on Jan. 24, minutes published on Wednesday showed, Reuters reported. The policy-setting governing council was "particularly concerned about the persistence of inflation and did not want to lower interest rates prematurely," the minutes said. The Bank of Canada (BoC) aims to keep inflation at 2% and has increased its key overnight rate 10 times in 17 months to a 22-year high of 5% to tame inflation.

A company owned by Blaine Sullivan, a well-known leader in Newfoundland and Labrador's fishing industry, has emerged as the preferred bidder for the insolvent shipyard in Harbour Grace, CBC.ca reported. The advisory firm that's monitoring the court-supervised restructuring and sales process, PricewaterhouseCoopers, revealed in documents published this week on its website that it supports a sale of the yard to Green Skiff Investments.

A group of local landlords with hundreds of rental buildings in Ontario owe more than $144 million as they grapple with a “severe liquidity crisis” that has prompted them to seek creditor protection, the Hamilton Spectator reported. Between them, Aruba Butt, Dylan Suitor and Ryan Molony have 11 related corporations drowning in debt and less than $100,000 in cash as they make their bid under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), according to court filings.