Headlines

The bankruptcy court in New Delhi has admitted the Serene Residency Group Housing Project at Sector ETA II after it defaulted on its dues of about ₹ 257 crore. The company is a subsidiary of listed real estate firm Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Ltd, the Economic Times of India reported. The New Delhi bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted the insolvency resolution application filed by the Indian Bank against the company and also appointed Navneet Kumar Gupta as interim resolution professional (IRP) for the company.

Overnight borrowing costs for some Chinese financial institutions jumped to as high as 50% on Tuesday, as a month-end scramble for cash squeezed liquidity and stressed money markets, Reuters reported. In addition to seasonal factors, the cash shortage was caused by an upcoming flood of government bond issuance, and traders also pointed to market fears of default by cash-strapped institutions. The highest overnight rate for pledged repo - a short-term financing business - hit 50% on Tuesday, according to official interbank data, although the average rate remains modest at roughly 3.6%.

China’s economy suffered a setback as surveys showed factory orders shrank and construction activity slowed, reigniting growth concerns just as activity appeared to be stabilizing, the Wall Street Journal reported. The closely watched surveys show the world’s second-largest economy isn’t out of the woods as it contends with challenges including a slowdown in growth overseas and a drawn-out property bust at home.

An interim artificial intelligence report by the United Nations will lead governments and the private sector to think more about governance, risks and opportunities, tech envoy Amandeep Singh Gill told Reuters. The U.N. last week created a 39-member advisory body to address issues in the international governance of AI. The body expects to submit a preliminary report by the end of this year and a final one next year.

Italy plans to crackdown on landlords who do not pay taxes on short-term flat rentals such as those made through platforms like Airbnb, politicians said on Monday, in a move that could boost fiscal revenue by 1 billion euros ($1.06 billion), Reuters reported. After a meeting between key coalition figures over the 2024 budget, the co-ruling Forza Italia party said in a statement that Italy planned to introduce a national identification code to be used for short-term rentals. "That code will bring out the revenue of those who rent flats without declaring them.

The Bank of Canada's monetary policy is working to cool the economy and relieve price pressures, but the central bank is prepared to raise interest rates further if inflation persists, Governor Tiff Macklem said on Monday, Reuters reported. "We held our policy rate steady (last week) because monetary policy is working to cool the economy and relieve price pressures, and we want to give it time to do its job," Macklem told the finance committee in the House of Commons.

The South African Reserve Bank urged the government to address structural impediments such as record power cuts and poor infrastructure that are undermining its work by constraining supply, restraining economic growth and rapidly pushing up prices, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank is “meant to respond to short term cyclical issues — but if the structural issues don’t change, what happens in this economy is that it behaves all the time like it is over-heating,” Deputy Governor Fundi Tshazibana said in an interview on Saturday.

The Bank of Japan further loosened its grip on long-term interest rates by tweaking its bond yield control policy again on Tuesday, taking another small step towards dismantling its controversial monetary stimulus of the past decade, Reuters reported. While it kept ultra-low interest rates steady, the BOJ watered down its 1% cap on the 10-year bond yield which it set just three months ago to allow long-term borrowing costs to rise more.

The question of how Britain will respond to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the $369 billion landmark legislation offering deep subsidies for green investment, has followed Jeremy Hunt, Britain’s finance minister, for most of the past year, the New York Times reported. Mr. Hunt urged patience and promised an answer when he updates the country’s budget in a few weeks. But as that speech approaches, expectations that he will offer anything as generous as the American largess have been squashed.

China Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted developer, won a final chance to set what could be the nation’s biggest ever restructuring back on track, as a Hong Kong court pushed back a winding-up hearing, Bloomberg News reported. Judge Linda Chan in Hong Kong’s High Court adjourned the proceedings to Dec. 4, the latest in a series of delays since they began last year. “This is really the last adjournment,” Chan said. Evergrande must have a concrete restructuring proposal by the next hearing, otherwise the court is “very likely” to issue a winding-up order, she said.