Headlines

China Evergrande Group delayed key votes on its offshore-debt restructuring plan just hours before they were to occur Monday, adding to uncertainty in a protracted process to finalize one of the country’s biggest restructurings ever, Bloomberg News reported. The distressed developer, at the epicenter of a property crisis that’s unleashed record delinquencies in a threat to China’s financial markets, delayed the meetings for the group and some units to Sept. 25-26, it said in a filing.

Embattled Chinese developer Country Garden (2007.HK) said on Monday its $100-billion project in Malaysia was proceeding as planned and it had sufficient assets, despite concerns about its financial strength amid debt woes, Reuters reported. The comment by China's largest private developer came after it missed two dollar coupon payments this month totaling $22.5 million, fuelling fears that the country's property debt crisis could hamper a broader economic recovery and spill overseas.

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said the pace of economic activity in China has been a disappointment that could cloud Japan's economic outlook, Reuters reported. China's July data, such as retail sales, business investment and industrial production were "on the weak side," Ueda said, according to the text posted on the BOJ's website on Monday.

Nearly a third of councils in poor areas in the United Kingdom are considering bankruptcy as they run out of money, the Mirror reported. A survey of 47 local authorities found five are currently in the process of deciding whether to declare they cannot balance their books this year. The councils are thinking about issuing what is known as a Section 114 notice, which would freeze all non-essential spending. A further nine local authorities said they might have to declare bankruptcy next year.

New Zealand’s government is tightening its belt as a domestic recession and concerns about China’s faltering economy erode tax revenue and strain its budget, Bloomberg News reported. The government has identified almost NZ$4 billion ($2.4 billion) of potential savings over the next four years, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said Monday in Wellington. He has instructed the public service to cut spending on consultants and contractors and said he will also reduce future budget allowances. “We have seen further deterioration in the global economy, particularly in China,” Robertson said.

Record levels of government debt, geopolitical tensions that threaten to split the global trading system, and the likely persistence of weak productivity gains may saddle the world with a slow-growth future that stunts development in some countries even before it starts, Reuters reported. That sobering view of a post-pandemic global economy emerged from research organized by the Kansas City Federal Reserve and debated here this past weekend.

Canada's second-quarter GDP report, due on Friday, is likely to show a sharp slowdown in economic growth, a Reuters poll of economists showed, which could lead the Bank of Canada to pause its interest rate hikes despite recent hotter inflation data, Reuters reported. The GDP report will be the last major piece of domestic data before the Canadian central bank makes its next policy decision on Sept. 6. It is expected to show the economy growing at a 1.1% pace in the second quarter, down from 3.1% in the first three months of the year, and below the BoC's 1.5% estimate.

Germany's rail workers will not go on open-ended strikes after less than 50% of union members voted in favor, German news agency dpa reported Monday. A vote of 75% in favor would have been necessary for all-out strike action, the Associated Press reported. A majority of workers also voted in favor of a recommendation that emerged from arbitration between EVG and the rail operator, Deutsche Bahn. The compromise deal includes a pay increase of 410 euros ($443) per month in two stages over a period of 25 months.

Chile’s central bank sees its policy outlook largely unchanged by a drop in the peso and the potential inflation impact from recent devastating floods, the institution’s vice president said in an interview, Bloomberg News reported. Chile’s monetary easing, combined with doubts over the Chinese economy that’s a key buyer of the country’s commodities and hawkishness of the Federal Reserve have weighed on the currency, Pablo Garcia said from Jackson Hole, where central bankers gathered for a global symposium hosted by the Fed.

Switzerland's Competition Commission is looking into UBS's takeover of Credit Suisse, the authority said on Monday, Reuters reported. In March, the Swiss government, central bank and financial regulator rushed through a rescue deal for Credit Suisse, resulting in the country's two largest banks merging. "We confirm that the Swiss Competition Commission is looking at the takeover of CS by UBS and will send FINMA her results probably by the end of September," the Commission's vice-director told Reuters.