Headlines

Creditors of troubled Czech hard coal miner New World Resources pushed on Sunday for a quick agreement with the government on state aid for its main operating subsidiary OKD to avoid its bankruptcy, saying a deal was needed next week. The firm's main creditors and shareholders acting under the name Ad Hoc Group (AHG) and holding 60 percent of equity and two thirds of NWR debt said on Sunday the firm, which has suffered from a fall in global coal prices, needed to secure financing from next month on.

Australia’s government has been dealt a political blow ahead of a knife-edge election, with thousands of jobs plunged into doubt after the country’s second-biggest steelmaker went into administration, the Financial Times reported. The troubles at Arrium have helped push the ruling Liberal-National coalition behind the opposition Labor party in the polls for the first time since Malcolm Turnbull became prime minister in September.

Italy’s bank chiefs gathered in Rome this week to discuss what could be done to solve the industry’s woes. So far, they have announced precisely nothing. The silence reflects a stalemate that can’t be broken unless there is a major, but unlikely, shift from Italy’s banks or the European authorities, the Irish Times reported. At the root of the problem are Italian lenders’ €360 billion of non-performing loans.

The board of directors of an embattled Malaysian state development fund offered to resign after a parliamentary inquiry found that billions of dollars went missing and recommended that senior management face a criminal investigation, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Public Accounts Committee’s findings mark the first time a Malaysian investigating body has leveled allegations of fraud at 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, which is the focus of corruption investigations in Malaysia and at least six other nations.

China rattled markets around the world last year when vast sums of money began flowing out of the country. Estimated at nearly $1 trillion, the money flows represented growing skepticism that China would be able to fix its deep problems and resume its place as a driver of global economic growth. Doubts remain about Beijing’s ability to rev up slowing growth and patch up its frayed financial system. But new data suggests China has stanched, at least for now, the flow of money that had been pouring out of the country, the International New York Times reported.

Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mladek offered last week that current owners sell 100 percent stake in the operating unit OKD of troubled miner New World Resources as well as most of the group's debt but majority owners and creditors rejected to name a price for the assets, Mladek said on Twitter, Reuters reported. The miner and its main creditors and owners, acting together under the name of Ad Hoc Group (AHG), have been seeking some form of government aid for NWR to avoid insolvency of the firm employing 13,000 people.

Romanian prospecting company Prospectiuni Bucuresti, controlled by local investor Ovidiu Tender, has entered insolvency, Romania Insider reported. The Bucharest Court approved the company’s insolvency request and appointed local firm Euro Insol as judicial administrator. Euro Insol, founded by Romanian lawyer Remus Borza, is also the legal administrator of state-owned power producer Hidroelectrica. It also manages other big insolvent companies in Romania, such as energy equipment producers UCM Resita, Uztel Ploiesti, and Vulcan Bucuresti. Vulcan is also controlled by Ovidiu Tender.

Angola will turn to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout to help cope with the oil-price rout that has hit its economy hard, joining a growing list of commodity-dependent African economies seeking assistance from the institution to weather the adverse economic climate, The Wall Street Journal reported. The announcement represents an about-face for a government that had previously rejected the idea of seeking IMF assistance and ends months of speculation over how the West African country will cope with a looming financial crisis on the back of record-low oil prices.

When it comes to analyzing China's economy, few topics polarize views like the nation's debt levels, Bloomberg News reported. By some accounts, borrowing is out of control and has the country teetering on the edge of a crisis. Others point to the nation's long list of assets, which can more than offset any funding crunch. An example of the opposing views was on display when two separate April 5 research reports each cited the risk of a "Minsky moment" (a collapse in asset prices following the exhaustion of credit expansion) but both came to very different conclusions.

The debate over Britain’s exit from the European Union, so far, has focused largely on the economic impact on the U.K. itself. That reflects not only the fact that it is British voters who will decide whether the U.K. remains a member of the European Union in the June 23 referendum but also an assumption that it is the U.K. that has most to gain or lose, The Wall Street Journal reported. The impact of Brexit is already being felt. As the polls have narrowed in recent weeks, sterling has weakened relative to the dollar, reflecting market concerns that investment and trade will suffer.