Headlines

OPEC member Venezuela sees no risk of debt default due to the stability of oil prices, an economic official said on Monday, amid some market fears the country faces a looming problem with maturing debt, Reuters reported. Despite growing international risk aversion, Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA and the government have issued $15.2 billion of dollar-denominated bonds so far in 2011 -- by far the largest amount in Latin America. Analysts say the maturing of various papers between 2016-17 could be a problem.

Greece's major political parties on Sunday agreed to form a national unity government that will lead the country to new elections after putting in place a debt-slashing deal, in the hope of averting financial catastrophe for the country and winning back the trust of its European partners, Dow Jones reported. The deal was made possible after Prime Minister George Papandreou agreed to step down to make way for a new prime minister under a commonly accepted government.

That the Greek economy is in a downward spiral from a relentless program of austerity is well known. Greek manufacturing saw one of its sharpest falls ever in October, and this year overall production is expected to contract by more than 6 percent. What has not yet shown up in the official figures, though, is the extent to which the crisis atmosphere has brought the economy to a virtual standstill, the International Herald Tribune reported. Auto sales have essentially halted and are at their lowest level since 1993. People who do have cars have trouble paying to operate them.

Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), operator of the Japanese nuclear plant destroyed by the tsunami in March, forecast a second year of heavy financial losses even as it secured Y890bn (US$11.4bn) in government aid to help compensate victims of the nuclear disaster, the Financial Times reported. The utility on Friday projected a Y600bn net loss for the year to March 2012, its first earnings guidance since the triple meltdown occurred at its Fukushima Daiichi facility. If the estimate is realised, it would bring its losses since the tsunami to Y1,847bn.

The French government is finalizing an austerity package that could be unveiled as early as Monday, said a person familiar with the matter, as it seeks to meet its deficit reduction targets and hold on to its prized triple-A credit rating against a backdrop of slowing growth, The Wall Street Journal reported. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has already said he would need to pass an additional €6 billion to €8 billion ($8.3 billion to $11 billion) of austerity measures, the second set of government initiatives to shore up state coffers in just over two months.

The board of Proserpine Cooperative Sugar Milling Association Ltd. has refused to accept a A$120 million takeover offer by Chinese state-owned Cofco Group's local unit Tully Sugar Ltd., Tully said Sunday. The Proserpine board has chosen to enter administration despite Tully tabling a binding and unconditional asset sale and loan agreement, Tully said in a statement.

Holders of Empresas La Polar SA series A and B bonds agreed to back a debt restructuring plan that aims to avert the department store operator’s second bankruptcy in 12 years, said Nelson Contador, a legal adviser to the company, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. All of La Polar’s creditors will vote on the plan on Nov. 7, Contador told reporters during a meeting of bondholders Friday. Debt will be divided into two parts, La Polar chairman Cesar Barros told reporters at the same meeting.

In a tumultuous day of political gamesmanship, Prime Minister George A. Papandreou on Thursday called off a referendum on Greece’s new debt deal with the euro zone after winning a measure of support from his opposition and managed to repair, at least for a day, a major rupture in relations with Europe, the International Herald Tribune reported. The decision to abandon his idea of holding a popular vote on the European debt deal did not end the political turmoil here; Mr.

In the frantic political seizure triggered by Athens’ abortive referendum plan, European leaders broke what was once the eurozone’s big taboo: that Greece could default and leave the eurozone, the Financial Times reported. The possibility has long been discussed in private, not least in Germany. But for the eurozone’s leadership – especially France – the avoidance of default and preservation of the euro’s integrity was a core goal of the seemingly endless series of rescue plans and negotiations to keep Greece from crumbling under the weight of its public debt.

The government is seeking an overall reduction of €15 billion to €20 billion in its burden of debt, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said, the Irish Times reported. In an address to the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin on “Ireland in Europe”, the Minister said a medium-term process was in place with the European Commission and the European Central Bank on the issue. “We want the overall burden of debt to be reduced and this is the argument we will use when we are talking about the promissory note in Anglo Irish Bank,” he said.