Headlines

India is preparing an enabling provision for a compact and largely informal bankruptcy settlement process for faster resolution for large firms under the over-arching Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), on the lines of the one available for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the Economic Times reported.

Mercon Coffee Corp., the bankrupt global coffee trader, must try to negotiate a cheaper way to fund its restructuring case after a U.S. judge rejected a proposed loan from Coöperatieve Rabobank, Bloomberg News reported. Rabobank had agreed to loan Mercon as much as $40 million that would pay about 15% interest, plus an upfront fee of 3% on part of the debt and the payment of $3.8 million in expenses, according to court documents and Bankruptcy Judge Michael E. Wiles.

Unsecured creditors of Metroland have approved an insolvency proposal by the Toronto Star's sister company, the Toronto Star reported. The creditors, including former employees, voted Tuesday at a meeting chaired by proposal trustee Jonathan Krieger, a partner at Grant Thornton, a restructuring and insolvency consultancy. The proposal still needs court approval.

Sweden-based Nilar International AB filed for insolvency on Dec. 1 and has appointed Lars Nylund, an attorney for Advokatfirman Fylgia, as trustee in the bankruptcy, PV-Magazine.com reported. “The trustee is continuing the company’s operations with the aim of finding a new owner for the business,” the company said on its website.

Ethiopia looks set to miss an interest payment due later on Monday on its December 2024 dollar bond, becoming the latest emerging-market sovereign to default on debt, Bloomberg News reported. The country’s finance ministry said on Friday, it was “not in a position to pay” the $33 million coupon because of the nation’s “fragile external position.” It added that “restricted discussions” it had held with a group of bondholders had thus far been unsuccessful.

Argentina's consumer prices likely spiked around 12% in November alone, a Reuters poll of analysts showed on Monday, which will be the first monthly inflation data under the government of new libertarian President Javier Milei, Reuters reported. The South American country, which swore in its new government on Sunday, is battling triple-digit annual inflation already at 143% and climbing fast. Milei has said he will fight "tooth and nail" to bring inflation down. The Reuters poll of 22 analysts gave a median estimate of the CPI rising 11.9% in November, up from 8.3% in October.

As a deeply divisive re-write of Chile’s constitution comes to an end, interest rates fall and economic growth returns it seems that Chile’s bond market is regaining its mojo. But there may be one final sting in the tail from the last three years of social, political and economic turbulence, Bloomberg News reported. All 14 analysts and traders in a Bloomberg survey expect rating firms to downgrade their outlook on Chilean bonds, or lower the rating some time next year as the debt-to-gross domestic product ratio rises.

The International Monetary Fund's No. 2 official on Monday warned that fragmentation in the global economy and clear shifts in underlying bilateral trade could trigger a "new Cold War" given the Ukraine war and tensions between the United States and China, Reuters reported. First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath told the International Economic Association in Medellin, Colombia, that losses could reach 2.5% to 7% of global gross domestic product if the world economy fragmented into two blocs.

China's leaders started a closed-door meeting on Monday to discuss economic targets and map out stimulus plans for 2024, Reuters reported. The annual Central Economic Work Conference, during which President Xi Jinping and other top officials chart the course for the world's second-largest economy next year, is likely to end on Tuesday.

Somalia is expected to get major debt relief this week, slashing its debt-to-GDP ratio to less than 6% in a historic move that would allow it to rejoin the international financial system after roughly 30 years, Reuters reported. The war-scarred East African country is set for the relief under the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. An IMF media advisory on Monday said Somalia was scheduled to reach the "Completion Point" under HIPC on Dec. 13, calling it "a major milestone in its development path".