Headlines

After one of the ugliest retail downturns in two decades, corporate doctors are warning that more retailers will hit the wall in the next 12 months, The Australian reported. "This is the hardest retail environment I've seen in 20 years," Ferrier Hodgson partner and retail specialist James Stewart said. Mr Stewart expects more insolvencies among retailers in the next 12 months. PwC retail partner Stuart Harker also expects more retailers to go into voluntary administration or receivership in the next year.

Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, on Thursday raised the spectre of her organisation withholding its portion of an €8bn ($11bn) aid payment Greece needs by the end of this month, saying Athens had implemented requisite economic reforms “in parts”, the Financial Times reported. Speaking ahead of a highly anticipated meeting of IMF, US and European finance officials in Poland, Ms Lagarde said Athens had to re-ignite “the urge to deliver on commitments” made by its government after a period during which “momentum had slowed down”.

The world's leading central banks joined forces to offer Europe's beleaguered banks easy access to dollars Thursday, acting to quell fears that the region's lenders could fall victim to the euro-zone's government debt crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported. The European Central Bank said it would coordinate with the U.S. Federal Reserve, Bank of England, Bank of Japan and Swiss National Bank to ensure banks unlimited dollar funding through the end of the year. The rare coordinated move buoyed markets.

Anglo Irish Bank chairman Alan Dukes has said the bank will be able to pursue former chief executive David Drumm through the Irish courts again if its objection to his discharge from bankruptcy in Boston is successful, the Irish Times reported. The bank expected a decision on its objection in the “relatively near future”, Mr Dukes told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform. “If that goes in the way we hope, that will leave it open to us to pursue actions here,” he said.

Analysts are predicting a new wave of pre-pack administrations amid the increasingly grim conditions on Britain’s high streets, as debate rages over whether they are unfair to the competitors and trade creditors of companies that use them, the Financial Times reported. Carpet-maker Brintons and womenswear chain Jane Norman were both recently rescued via pre-packs, through which a company enters and leaves an administration process almost instantly.

Kuwait's Global Investment House requested its creditors Thursday to delay repayment of debt due in December citing ongoing challenges in the financial markets, Agence France-Presse reported. "Global requested the lending banks’ support for the near-term deferral of principal repayments due in December 2011 and deferral of any increase in rate of interest from December 2011 onwards," the company said following a meeting with creditors. Under a restructuring plan signed in December 2009, Global was expected to repay more than $340 million of debt plus interest.

A rise in Britons' expectations of the future rate of inflation will do little to strengthen the case for higher interest rates, but may deter some Bank of England policy makers from voting for a fresh round of stimulus, The Wall Street Journal reported. A survey conducted for the U.K. central bank published Thursday found inflation expectations for the year ahead rose in August to their highest level in three years.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are convinced that Greece's future is within the euro zone, Mrs. Merkel's spokesman said after the two leaders held a three-way conference call with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou.The Wall Street Journal reported. But Mrs. Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy also stressed during the call the need for Greece to put into practice in a strict and effective way the already-agreed measures of its austerity program under a current bailout package, the spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said.

European banks are losing deposits as savers and money funds spooked by the region’s debt crisis search for havens, a trend that could worsen economic and financial conditions, Bloomberg reported. Retail and institutional deposits at Greek banks fell 19 percent in the past year and almost 40 percent at Irish lenders in 18 months. Meanwhile, European Union financial firms are lending less to one another and U.S. money-market funds have reduced their investments in German, French and Spanish banks.

Mexican airline Interjet said on Wednesday it has opted against taking over the operations of troubled carrier Mexicana, which stopped flying a year ago due to financial difficulties, Reuters reported. In a newspaper announcement, Interjet said its board had been asked to consider taking on Mexicana's business by a third party, and had decided not to after reviewing the possibility. "We're aware of the difficult situation Mexicana's workers are going through, and we sincerely hope that their rights are safeguarded in the process," Interjet said.