Headlines

The cost to restructure debt laden shipping and shipbuilding industries here will be as much as 31 trillion won ($27 billion), according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), The Korea Times reported. In a report, "Benefits and Costs of Corporate Debt Restructuring: An Estimation for Korea," the IMF said it will take about 10 years to recoup the costs, with the restructured industries contributing to economic growth by restarting investment and hiring new employees.

A Canadian rating agency has confirmed Portugal’s only investment-grade credit rating in a decision that ensures Lisbon will continue to benefit from the European Central Bank’s government bond-buying programme, the Financial Times reported. DBRS on Friday maintained the country’s BBB (low) rating with a “stable” outlook, despite earlier expressing concerns over low growth and high debt.

Big international banks are preparing to move some of their operations out of Britain in early 2017 due to the uncertainty over the country’s future relationship with the European Union, a top banking official said, the Irish Times reported. Writing in the Observer newspaper, Anthony Browne, the chief executive of lobby group the British Bankers’ Association, said the public and political debate was “taking us in the wrong direction” and businesses could not wait until the last minute.

Economic data released in China last week revealed the government’s two-steps-forward, one-step-back approach to macroeconomic management, the Financial Times reported. While the rest of the world fretted about runaway debt levels in the world’s second-largest economy earlier this year, Chinese economic planners kept their eyes firmly on their target range for gross domestic product growth, set at 6.5 to 7 per cent.

The European Union must choose between letting Rome hike its budget deficit to cope with the costs of migrants and an earthquake, or siding with the “Hungarian way” of building barriers, Italy’s economy minister said, the Irish Times reported. The Italian government has been stepping up anti-Brussels rhetoric after announcing an expansionary 2017 budget plan on October 15th ahead of a referendum on constitutional reform that may decide prime minister Matteo Renzi’s political future. “Europe must choose which side to take.

Saudis who switched on a popular talk show last week to listen to officials explain why state employees had their take-home pay cut were in for a shock, Bloomberg News reported. Within minutes of the start of MBC1’s “Al Thamena” program, viewers were told that the public sector was bloated. Civil Service Minister Khalid Al-Araj said state workers were productive for no more than an hour a day, but see their jobs as a right. Mohammad Al Tuwaijri, the deputy economy minister, said without the recent austerity measures, the kingdom would have gone bankrupt in three to four years.

A wave of protests against home repossessions has swept Greece in recent weeks, prompting fears for the safety of workers carrying out the forced transfers and threatening plans to clean up the country’s banking system, The Wall Street Journal reported. The rise in sometimes-violent activism by leftist groups comes as banks in Europe’s most depressed economy push to resume seizures and auctions of properties, especially commercial real estate, to pare their books of bad loans.

The European Central Bank kicked back a decision on whether to boost its €1.7 trillion ($1.86 trillion) stimulus, disappointing investors who had hoped for greater clarity from Frankfurt and raising the stakes for its next policy meeting in December, The Wall Street Journal reported. At a short news conference, ECB President Mario Draghi said policy makers hadn’t even discussed whether to extend the central bank’s €80 billion-a-month bond-purchase program, which is due to end in five months. As that deadline approaches, investors have been growing nervous.

Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd chose an advisor to seek a potential sale of its stake in Long Beach Terminal, a spokeswoman said on Friday. Hanjin Shipping chose the advisor with the approval of the Seoul court overseeing the shipper's receivership, the spokeswoman said, declining to name the advisor. The collapsed shipper owns a majority stake in Total Terminals International LLC, which operates Long Beach Terminal. Read more.

Colombia’s government submitted a broad tax-overhaul proposal to Congress that raises taxes on ordinary Colombians and cracks down on evasion in a bid to fill a budget shortfall created by lower oil prices, The Wall Street Journal reported. At stake is the vaunted sovereign credit rating in Latin America’s fourth-largest economy and President Juan Manuel Santos ’s ambitious plans to modernize a poverty-stricken countryside. Both Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s earlier this year warned of downgrading Colombia’s BBB rating unless the government found a way to raise revenue.