Headlines

To most investors, Venezuela looks less like a market than a mess. The IMF expects output to shrink by 10% this year and inflation to exceed 700%, The Economist reported. As the bolívar’s value has plunged, multinational firms have announced billions of dollars of write-downs. For much of this year, however, some strong-stomached investors have scented an opportunity. They rushed to buy bonds issued by the government and by the state-owned oil company, PDVSA. They have been rewarded handsomely.

British MPs have backed stripping billionaire Philip Green of his knighthood over the collapse of BHS department store, in a symbolic move that will raise pressure on the tycoon over his promises to resolve the company’s pension problems, the Irish Times reported. Mr Green owned BHS for 15 years before he sold the loss-making 180-outlet chain to Dominic Chappell, a serial bankrupt with no retail experience, for just one pound (€1.11) last year. It went into administration in April and the last of its stores closed in August, with the loss of some 11,000 jobs.

When Elvira Nabiullina took over as governor of Russia’s central bank, she came face to face with a sobering statistic: regulators listed as many as 150 banks that were regularly involved in dubious transactions, the Financial Times reported. Today, after an unprecedented three-year purge of the dark corners of Russian finance, that number is down to “no more than about 10”, Ms Nabiullina says. And she is only just getting started.

Fresh doubts emerged over the reliability of Chinese statistics on Wednesday after officials said the economy grew 6.7%—for the third consecutive quarter. It was the first time since Beijing started releasing quarterly figures in 1992 that it had achieved such a feat of consistency, The Wall Street Journal reported. Economists say it is rare for a fast-growing economy to clock the same growth quarter after quarter.

Ireland’s national debt stood at €200.1 billion at the end of June, equating to 77.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), the Irish Times reported. New figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show this represented a €6.5 billion drop on the previous quarter, when debt represented more than 80 per cent of GDP. At the height of the financial crisis, Ireland’s debt was more than 120 per cent of GDP. Last year it fell from 105 per cent to 78 per cent as a result of a 26 per cent leap in GDP linked to the relocation of multinational assets here.

China’s housing market is bubbling over. A boom in values in metropolises such as Beijing, Shanghai and their environs — up 25 per cent or higher over the past year alone, according to Savills China — has spread to smaller cities this year. In August, real estate prices in the southeastern coastal city of Xiamen were up 40 per cent over a 12-month period, the Financial Times reported. The even bigger surge in Gu’an highlighted one of the area’s unique selling points. Local developers have touted the county’s proximity to Beijing’s second international airport.

Oi SA's decision to request protection from creditors in June accelerated discussions between Brazil's government and phone carriers to revamp telecommunications licensing regulations, said Igor Freitas, a board member at industry watchdog Anatel. Brazil's new centre-right government is pushing through Congress an authorization-based model for the telecoms industry, which will allow companies to own the assets after making infrastructure investments. Under the existing framework, fixed-line assets are returned to the state after the concession expires.

Two Platinum Partners hedge funds have sought U.S. Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection as part of an ongoing liquidation effort, according to court documents filed in New York federal court Tuesday. In August, a Cayman Islands court ordered that an outside expert unwind the so-called offshore versions of its flagship hedge fund, Platinum Partners Value Arbitrage, which, along with the firm, is also being investigated by U.S. authorities. That liquidator, RHSW Caribbean, filed the Chapter 15 bankruptcy petition which seeks to protect Platinum's U.S.

A South Korean court has decided to allow two units of the collapsed STX shipbuilding group to be sold either separately or together, according to a sales notice seen by Reuters on Tuesday, opening the prospect of a separate sale of STX France. The French business, which specialises in building cruise ships at its former naval yard in Saint-Nazaire and is profitable, is expected by analysts to attract buying interest. Bids are due in by Nov.

China’s economy is slowing. How bad can it get? China is widely expected to report on Wednesday that its economy grew about 6.7 percent in the third quarter from a year ago. That would match the growth pace China set in the first and second quarters of this year. In economics, stability like that is remarkable — and usually not to be believed, the International New York Times reported. Economists often look beyond the official numbers to find alternative ways to gauge the Chinese economy.