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President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s plan to help Brazilians escape the record amounts of debt they amassed during the pandemic remains well short of its targets as it approaches its March 31 expiration, denting his efforts to unleash consumer spending and boost growth in Latin America’s largest economy, Bloomberg News reported. Desenrola, as the program is known, was expected to help as many as 70 million people, including 30 million with lower incomes and smaller debts.

Brazil's Finance Ministry is expected to present a proposal on debt service for states that represents a middle ground in the debate amid calls for reduced burdens, Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

The Bank of Japan has started to make arrangements to end its negative interest rate policy at the March 18-19 meeting, Jiji news agency reported on Thursday. A number of major firms this week announced wage hikes above those of 2023, heightening expectations that the rosy pay trends will give the central bank leeway to make the key policy shift. Sources have told Reuters that the central bank will debate the end of its negative rate policy next week if Friday's preliminary survey on big firms' wage talks outcome yield strong results.

Europe's private credit funds are increasingly borrowing from banks to boost their performance, fuelling concerns about the wider risks posed by this interconnectedness, Reuters reported. A record 80% of new European private credit funds borrowed from banks via 'subscription lines' in 2023, funding that allows them to lend before tapping their investors for cash, MSCI Private Capital Solutions research shared with Reuters shows. Subscription lines are used by some credit funds to enhance returns, a separate MSCI study, opens new tab found.

The European Central Bank unveiled a rare makeover to the inner workings of monetary policy, in a change that is technical but consequential for the economy and investors, the Wall Street Journal reported. The keenly awaited plan, over a year in the making, aims to gradually reduce the size of the ECB’s footprint in the region’s financial system, in part by transforming how banks interact with the central bank—and with each other.

Ukraine's central bank lowered its key rate to 14.5% from 15% in a surprise cut on Thursday, citing slowing inflation, a stable situation on the currency market and lower risks linked to international financial aid for Kyiv, Reuters reported. Most analysts and bankers had expected the central bank to keep the main interest rate steady. The rate was cut to 15% in December. "The easing of interest rate policy will support economic recovery, without threatening macrofinancial stability," the central bank said in a statement.

An effort by the American media executive Jeff Zucker and his Emirati backers to acquire London’s Daily Telegraph appeared to be on life support on Wednesday after the British government advanced legislation that would bar foreign state ownership of newspapers and newsmagazines, the New York Times reported. The move by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would torpedo Mr. Zucker’s bid in its current form, which relies heavily on financing from investment partners in the United Arab Emirates.

Country Garden Holdings Co. missed a coupon payment on a yuan bond for the first time, adding to the woes of the Chinese developer that is facing a lawsuit seeking its liquidation offshore, Bloomberg News reported. The builder’s main onshore unit hasn’t fully prepared a 96 million yuan ($13 million) coupon that came due on Tuesday for a 4.8% yuan bond maturing in 2026, the company said in a response to Bloomberg. There is a 30 trading-day grace period for the payment, it added.

China should rely more on structural reforms and less on economic stimulus to drive economic growth this year, Liu Shijin, a policy adviser to the central bank, said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Liu, a member of the People's Bank of China monetary policy committee, said the economy can achieve its growth target of around 5% this year but that more effort is needed on both stimulus and structural reforms.

SaltWire Network, the largest newspaper business in Atlantic Canada, has filed for creditor protection, the Globe and Mail reported. Documents filed in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia on Monday say the company, which runs 23 titles including its 150-year-old flagship newspaper, the Halifax Chronicle Herald, is more than $94-million in debt. Private debt firm Fiera, SaltWire’s largest creditor, also filed an application in court Monday, saying the media company owes it more than $32-million.