Headlines

Greece’s negotiations with international creditors are going very slowly and are nowhere near the point where bailout money can be disbursed, a senior European Union official said, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Greek government has complained that it will soon run out of cash if no bailout money is disbursed, a development that would raise the prospect of a default on its debt and even an exit from the euro.

Chinese economic expansion cooled to 7 per cent in the first quarter of this year, a figure that exceeded forecasts for a decline below the crucial 7 per cent threshold, but adding to fears that the world’s second biggest economy is facing difficulties, the Irish Times reported. The latest figure was better than the forecasts by multiple institutions that first-quarter growth would fall slightly below 7 per cent due to weak investment and demand.

Sofia City Court held a hearing in the insolvency case against Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB) on April 15 and was expected to issue a ruling “within seven days”, reports in Bulgarian media quoting court officials said. The three-hour hearing was not open to the public, after CCB interim receivers and the state deposit guarantee fund objected to the motion. Presiding judge Ivo Dachev was expected to issue a ruling at the start of next week, specialist judiciary news website Legalworld.bg reported.

Unsecured creditors, including HMRC, of collapsed mobile retailer Phones4U will see a return of just 0.4%, PwC said in its latest progress report yesterday, Economia reported. PwC, which was appointed administrator of the mobile retailer after it collapsed in September last year, said secured creditors, who own £430m of senior secured notes which were listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, will receive 20% to 24% of their money, as their debt ranks higher in legal terms.

Police arrested the treasurer of Brazil's ruling Workers' Party on Wednesday, bringing the country's largest corruption scandal a step closer to President Dilma Rousseff's government, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Joao Vaccari Neto was arrested in connection with a probe into money laundering and illegal donations to the party, public prosecutor Carlos Lima said. Mr Neto is the latest the latest prominent Brazilian caught up in a multibillion-dollar probe.

Things have gone further south for Jones the Grocer Singapore (JTG), three months after the gourmet grocer from Down Under assured that it was business as usual, The Straits Times reported. The Singapore arm of the Louis Vuitton-backed Australian gourmet cafe and retail chain has been placed under judicial management, and its assets are now up for public sale.

Ukraine Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko has a warning for creditors of the war-torn country: Come to the table now to restructure $40 billion in debt or face the risks of an uncertain economic, political and military climate down the road, The Wall Street Journal reported. The American-born finance chief, in an interview, said that if creditors don’t emerge and begin earnest and transparent negotiations on the debt before a deadline for an agreement at the end of May, they could face a series of risks to Ukraine’s stability.

The European Central Bank on Tuesday increased the amount of money Greek banks can borrow under an emergency-lending program, extending a lifeline for the country’s banks as its government continues tense negotiations with its creditors over its bailout program, The Wall Street Journal reported. The ECB raised the amount the Greek central bank can lend its banks to €74 billion ($78.9 billion) from €73.2 billion the previous week, according to a Greek bank official. The ECB declined to comment.

The Insolvency Service of Ireland has reached an agreement with lenders and agents acting on behalf of a new Personal Insolvency Application (PIA) protocol which sets out the standards that creditors and Personal Insolvency Practicioners (PIPs) can expect from each other, the Irish Times reported. Under the protocol compliant arrangement banks and PIPs using the insolvency process will only use agreed documentation and standard terms and conditions when dealing with PIAs and all have committed “to high level principles” set out in the protocol.

The European Central Bank has told banks with exposure to Austria's Heta bad bank to write it down by more than 50 percent, Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed banks. The requested writedown would apply to debt guaranteed by Carinthia but would be higher - at least 95 percent - for other debt with a lower ranking that is not guaranteed by Austria, the newspaper reported. The ECB was not immediately available to comment.