Headlines

Italy’s mounting pile of debt poses an ongoing hazard to the country and its financial system especially if the economy underperforms, its central bank said in a half-yearly stability assessment, Bloomberg News reported. Just weeks since the government unveiled new projections pointing to an increase in borrowings, officials cited prospects for the public finances as “a risk factor.” That’s arguably stronger language than they used in their two financial stability reports last year.

A liquidity crunch upending the global cocoa market is forcing traders to delay bean purchases from the world’s largest producers, Bloomberg News reported. Traders are running out of cash as a record rally forces them to put up more money to back their futures position. Buying more physical beans would require them to hedge their purchases in the futures market. As a result, many traders and chocolate companies are opting to delay purchases of beans for the next season.

German tennis legend Boris Becker was discharged from bankruptcy court in London after a judge found Wednesday he had done “all that he reasonably could do” to repay creditors tens of millions of pounds, the Associated Press reported. Becker fell far short of repaying his creditors nearly 50 million pounds ($62.5 million) he owed, but Chief Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Nicholas Briggs said it would be “perverse” not to end the case given the efforts Becker made.

Everton have called in a leading firm of restructuring and insolvency advisers, the Guardian understands, raising further questions about the proposed takeover of the Premier League club by 777 Partners, the Guardian reported. The move came while the club were believed to be waiting for a further £15m of loans that 777 had pledged to provide Everton with during April, according to one 777 source. When asked about that £15m in loans, a 777 spokesperson said that – after a delay – “the club has been provided with the working capital it needs as of today [Tuesday]”.

New Zealand unemployment rate jumped sharply in the first three months of this year as the economy slumbered in an extended recession and high interest rates continued to batter household budgets, the Wall Street Journal reported. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.3% in the first quarter, well up from 4.0% in the prior quarter, Stats NZ said Wednesday. Over the year to the first quarter, the unemployment rate rose 0.9 percentage points.

Colombia’s central bank lowered its key interest rate by half a percentage point to 11.75%, defying calls from the government for a deeper cut to boost economic growth, Bloomberg News reported. Five of the seven-member board backed the decision, Governor Leonardo Villar told reporters in Bogota. One argued for a deeper reduction, of three quarters of a percentage point, while another called for a full percentage point cut.

Canada’s economy lost momentum after a strong start to the year and is tracking below the central bank’s latest forecast, supporting expectations a first cut to interest rates could come before summer, the Wall Street Journal reported. Preliminary data suggest gross domestic product, a broad measure of goods and services produced across the economy, was essentially unchanged in March, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. That follows 0.2% growth in February GDP from the month before to 2.218 trillion Canadian dollars, the equivalent of $1.624 trillion.

China Vanke Co. will exit non-core operations and divest assets as the developer seeks to boost liquidity amid the sector’s unprecedented downturn, according to a memo from a shareholder meeting on Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported. The company will “trim down” and adjust its model for raising money, Chairman Yu Liang said in the meeting. It will also exit all businesses except for the three main operations, which focus on property development, real estate management services and rentals.

Distressed developer CIFI Holdings Group Co. said it has reached an agreement with a key creditor group on some terms of a restructuring plan that could cut the principal on its debt by as much as 85%, a reversal from the company’s expectations of “no haircut” a year ago, Bloomberg News reported. Shanghai-based CIFI’s latest proposal involves reducing debt by around $3.3 billion to $4 billion, while asking bondholders to swap existing debt for new notes with tenors ranging from two to six years, according to a Hong Kong exchange filing dated April 29.

Grupo Casas Bahia SA shares jumped as much as 21% after the Brazilian retailer filed an out-of-court deal with its main creditors to reschedule the payment of 4.1 billion reais ($801 million) in debt, Bloomberg News reported. The plan was built with Banco Bradesco SA and Banco do Brasil SA, the main creditors, which hold approximately 55% of the debt in bank loans, according to Casas Bahia’s chief financial officer, Elcio Ito.