Headlines

Russia's No. 1 telecoms operator MTS said on Wednesday its Uzbek subsidiary had applied for bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The phone operator had been fighting to restore its Uzbek business after a court revoked its license to operate in August as part of dispute involving a criminal case against local MTS managers and a back-tax claim. MTS was ordered to pay $600 million in fines by an Uzbek court in November.

Dubai-based property lender Amlak Finance is in talks with creditors to restructure debts of around AED7bn (US$1.9bn), in the latest attempt to resurrect a victim of Dubai's property crash, ArabianBusiness.com reported. The sharia-compliant mortgage lender is negotiating with a creditor committee of six members, which includes two government-owned funds as well as Dubai's largest lender and its biggest Islamic bank, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. They spoke on condition of anonymity as the information is not public.

Despite a drumbeat of optimistic forecasts from economists and upbeat statements from various European leaders, the actual news on the economy continues to be grim, with figures released Tuesday showing that Germany, the Continent’s flagship economy, contracted by about 0.5 percent in the final months of last year, the International Herald Tribune reported. Combined with a flurry of disappointing results recently in other major economies, the stumble raised questions about Europe’s ability to escape recession.

There's a glimmer of hope for the euro zone's fourth largest economy, even though the International Monetary Fund expects Spain to remain in recession through much of 2013, Reuters reported in an in-depth report. As domestic demand has slumped, some companies have converted themselves into exporters. Latin American markets have been a prime target for Spanish companies because of their language advantage, and giants such as Telefonica and Banco Santander have increased their exposure there to compensate for problems in their domestic market.

Bahrain-based Gulf Air will launch a major cost-cutting plan and focus increasingly on regional services, Air Transport World reported. In a statement issued Tuesday, the carrier said it intends to strengthen its Middle East and North African (MENA) services, target 24% in cost savings by year end and simplify its fleet structure. The restructuring was foreshadowed by October’s announcement of a BD185 million ($494 million) government cash injection in the loss-making national carrier. Lawmakers also talked of halving the current 3,800 workforce and reducing its fleet from 39 to 20 aircraft.

Widespread speculation about the possible reintroduction of estate duty is proving lucrative for many chartered accountants. Clients, mostly high net-worth ones, are seeking advice on how to restructure ownership of assets to avoid the possibility of huge tax payments by their heirs when the grim reaper comes calling, the Economic Times reported. Estate duty, a tax on inheritance of wealth, is known in many countries as the 'death tax'. In the US, estate tax is imposed on the transfer of the 'taxable estate' of a deceased person.

Households continue to save an increasing share of their incomes, new figures show. In the third quarter of last year Irish households saved 16 per cent of total disposable income, according to Central Statistics Office data published yesterday, the Irish Times reported. The new figures, which have been adjusted for seasonal factors by statisticians for the first time, show that the savings rate in the third quarter was the second highest since figures were first compiled in 2002. High savings rates are a feature of economies which have suffered collapsed property prices.

The Indonesian Supreme Court has granted Telkomsel's appeal and refused the bankruptcy petition against it from PT Prima Jaya Informatika, Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) said Tuesday, The Business Times reported. SingTel has a 35 per cent interest in the share capital of Telkomsel. Telkom owns the remainder 65 per cent share capital of Telkomsel. On Nov 21, 2012, the Supreme Court granted the Telkomsel appeal and Telkomsel has received the official copy of the decision through the District Court of Central Jakarta on Jan 10, 2013.

A pent-up demand for bankruptcies in Ireland is expected to clog up the personal insolvency service when it is finally launched at the end of March, the Independent reported. Sources involved in the process say the demand for bankruptcy settlements is already building and dealing with these will take precedence over the other areas of the personal insolvency regime. "We expect to be dealing with bankruptcy cases for the first number of months. There is huge demand in this area, a lot of people waiting for the service to be launched," a source told the Irish Independent.

China's local governments ramped up their efforts to borrow in 2012, raising concerns that the rebound in growth in the world's second-largest economy has come at the expense of increasing financial risks, The Wall Street Journal reported. China's local governments borrowed big in 2009 and 2010, taking debt levels to around 10.7 trillion yuan ($1.7 trillion), according to government data, as they financed a huge infrastructure stimulus. That led to worries among some economists that hidden debt problems could trigger instability in China's banking system.