Headlines

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has ordered to initiate the insolvency proceedings against Marvel Group promoter Vishwajeet Jhawar, the Economic Times of India reported. The NCLT Mumbai order, pronounced by Justices Prabhat Kumar and Sushil Mahadeorao Kochey on January 30, was passed on a petition filed by APRN Enterprises (APRN), formerly known as Ansapack, for outstanding debt of Rs 226.89 crore.

The leader of West Dunbartonshire Council has claimed the local authority could face bankruptcy within several years, as a council tax rise of 7.8% was confirmed for the region, BBC.com reported. Martin Rooney urged political parties and independent elected members to work together to solve a £9.2m deficit facing the local authority. Rooney said that the only options available for the council to raise money were increasing council tax, increasing sales fees and taxes, using reserves, management adjustment and savings.

The interest rate on student loans is a lightning rod for criticism and should be cut, according to the architect of fees trebling to £9,000 under the coalition government, The Times reported. Lord Willetts, the former universities minister, said the interest rate and salary repayment thresholds needed regular reviews to ensure the survival of the student loan system. “There will always be economic and political changes," he said. "The system to survive has to be sensitive to political pressures. Instead we’ve had a series of ad hoc changes, in both directions.

Global authorities must step up their surveillance of lending by nonbank players such as hedge funds and institutional investors to minimize risks to financial stability, Bank of Canada Gov. Tiff Macklem said, the Wall Street Journal reported. Stronger banking regulations introduced following the 2008-09 financial crisis have shifted riskier activities to nonbank participants such as hedge funds, pension funds and asset managers, diversifying risk and improving access to financing, he said.

Every March, China’s leaders gather in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People to announce how much the world’s second-largest economy is expected to grow that year. It doesn’t change much from year to year. The target for 2026 was set on Thursday at between 4.5 percent and 5 percent. It was the first time in more than three decades that the benchmark was placed below the 5 percent mark, and represents an official acknowledgment that China is on a slower growth path.

Three European Central Bank policymakers warned on Thursday that euro zone inflation would ‌likely rise, and growth sag, if the war in Iran were to become drawn out and suck in more countries, Reuters reported. As the U.S.–Iran war entered its sixth day, the conflict has widened beyond Gulf states and into Asia, convulsing global markets and raising questions about the ECB's benign outlook ​for the euro zone.

Governments in rich countries are set to sell a record amount of bonds this year in an increasingly risky environment, while a small number of companies plan to borrow heavily to fund the “enormous” cost of building AI capacity, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. In its annual report on debt issuance, the OECD said rich-country governments led by the U.S. will have to sell $14.5 trillion in bonds just to replace securities that are maturing, a process known as refinancing.

Britain’s unemployment rate has surged ahead of Italy’s for the first time since the depths of the financial crisis, The Telegraph reported. Fresh data on Italy’s jobless rate show it has now fallen below the UK’s, as Sir Keir Starmer steers his economy in a radically different direction to that of Giorgia Meloni, his counterpart in Rome. The jobless rate in Britain hit 5.2pc at the end of last year, its highest level since the worst moments of the pandemic. That is up from 4.4pc a year earlier.

Swiss inflation was unchanged in February close to zero, a worry for the country’s central bank after it voiced increased willingness to intervene in foreign-exchange markets to halt recent gains in the franc, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices were up 0.1% compared with February last year, the same rise as in January, Switzerland’s statistics agency said Wednesday. Swiss inflation was last negative in May.

Zimbabwe is taking steps to clear the $23 billion it owes multilateral institutions, as talks with lenders progress well, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said, Bloomberg reported. The authorities recognise that credibility and predictability are essential ingredients to restoring investor confidence and securing new lines of credit, Mnangagwa told heads of diplomatic missions and international organisations in the capital, Harare, on Thursday.