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Laurentian University has reported a $37.9-million surplus for the financial year 2023-2024, which ended April 30, Sudbury.com reported. The university’s board of governors approved LU’s 2023-24 financial statements, audited by the financial firm BDO, at the Oct. 18 meeting. You can view these financial statements in the board package. Laurentian’s financial report for the year 2023-2024, which provides commentary on Laurentian’s financial situation, is also included.

Chinese banks cut their benchmark lending rates after easing by the central bank at the end of September, part of a series of measures aimed at reviving economic growth and halting a housing market slump, Bloomberg News reported. The one-year loan prime rate was lowered to 3.10% from 3.35%, while the five-year LPR was reduced to 3.60% from 3.85%.

The UK tax office is taking a tougher approach to clawing back debts, insolvency specialists said, a bid to squeeze £5 billion ($6.5 billion) in extra revenue that is adding to pressure on firms going out of business, Bloomberg New reported.

The punishing post-COVID wave of sovereign defaults has finally crested, with the likes of Ghana, Sri Lanka and Zambia concluding years of painful debt reworks. But the International Monetary Fund and others worry that a dangerous liquidity shortfall could take its place in many emerging economies - setting back development, stunting climate change mitigation and fueling distrust in governments and Western institutions, Reuters reported.

The International Monetary Fund’s executive board completed its first review under the Extended Credit Facility for Ethiopia, which will disburse about $340.7 million to the East African country, Bloomberg News reported. The funds are part of a broader $3.4 billion four-year financing package approved in July. Completion of the review brings total disbursements under the arrangement to about $1.363 billion, the IMF said late on Friday. “Ethiopian authorities have shown strong commitment to their home-grown economic reform program,” according to the IMF’s statement.

Brazil's central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto on Monday highlighted a "huge" de-anchoring of inflation expectations in the country, adding that it is "very important" to bring inflation back to the 3% target, and policymakers are committed to doing so, Reuters reported. Speaking at an event hosted by the 20-20 Investment Association, Campos Neto said tight labor market data indicates the need to closely monitor services inflation. He also reiterated that policymakers chose not to provide monetary guidance to allow time to assess the evolving scenario.

German automakers should not be afraid of competition from China, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday at the opening of Mercedes-Benz's first battery recycling plant, an investment he described as part of Germany's new industrial policy agenda, Reuters reported. "Some say that China can do much better with electric motors than us," Scholz said.

Europe's biggest debt collector, said on Friday that it will file for voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States as it seeks to restructure its own finances, Reuters reported. The company has struggled as the pandemic, an energy crisis and two-decade-high interest rates failed to unleash a wave of loan defaults, with concerns mounting over Intrum's net debt, which reached 49.4 billion Swedish crowns ($4.69 billion) at the end of June.

Scottish company insolvencies have declined by 16% since last year, but experts say overall volumes will remain high for some time to come, Scottish Financial News reported. There were a total of 73 company insolvencies registered in Scotland in September 2024, comprised of 48 CVLs, 18 compulsory liquidations and seven administrations. There were no CVAs or receivership appointments. Historically, compulsory liquidations were the most common type of company insolvency in Scotland. However, since April 2020, numbers of CVLs have remained higher than numbers of compulsory liquidations.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has closed the insolvency proceedings against Jaypee Healthcare after the financial creditors' dues were settled by Max Healthcare, the Economic Times of India reported. The appellate tribunal's direction to close the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against Jaypee Healthcare Ltd (JHL) came after the financial creditor submitted that they had received the amount of Rs 1,035.29 crore as part of the settlement and no claim had survived.