Headlines

The European Union's economy is stronger as a result of the recovery fund, set up to drive post-pandemic growth, which has boosted jobs, investment and offset some of the impact of the Ukraine war, the European Commission said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Officially known as the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the 723 billion euro ($780.84 billion) fund, launched in 2021 for a six-year period has so far disbursed 225 billion euros.

The German government said Europe's largest economy was in “troubled waters” and slashed its growth forecast for this year as it struggles with a lack of skilled labor, excessive bureaucracy, high interest rates and lagging investment in new projects — while a relatively modest set of tax breaks for business remains blocked in the legislature, the Associated Press reported. The growth forecast was lowered to 0.2% from the previous forecast from last fall of 1.3%. That would follow a shrinking of the economy by 0.3% for all of last year.

Chinese banks have approved property development loans of $17.20 billion as part of a special mechanism to inject liquidity into the sector, but detailed statements show some loans to distressed developers are only adjustments of existing credit, Reuters reported.

India’s market regulator has found a hole of more than $240 million in the accounts of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., dealing another blow to the embattled media firm less than a month after its merger with Sony Group Corp’s local unit collapsed, Bloomberg News reported. As part of its investigation into the Zee founders, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, found that about 20 billion rupees ($241 million) may have been diverted from the company. That’s roughly ten times of what was initially estimated by Sebi investigators.

Hong Kong's central bank issued guidance for authorized institutions interested in offering custody services for digital assets as the territory attempts to reclaim its title as a crypto hub, CoinDesk.com reported. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) guidance issued on Tuesday adds to the licensing regime introduced last year that gives crypto exchanges a pathway to operate in a regulated manner.

Canadian inflation decelerated more sharply than anticipated in January, offering comfort the central bank’s past rate increases continue to work through the economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices rose 2.9% in January from a year earlier, following December’s gain of 3.4%, Statistics Canada reported on Tuesday. That marked the lowest level since June, and undershot the 3.3% advance economists were expecting.

The World Bank warned that high borrowing costs have "changed dramatically" the need for developing nations to boost sluggish economic growth, Reuters reported. The multilateral lender's latest warning comes as international bond sales from emerging market governments hit an all-time record of $47 billion in January, led by less risky emerging economies such as Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Romania. However, some riskier issuers have started to tap markets at higher rates.

A city council has warned it is being forced into “tough” decisions to avoid following others into effective bankruptcy, BBC.com reported. Although Newcastle City is not at imminent risk of going under, proposals to cut spending by another £15m over the next year have been signed off by the Labour-run authority's cabinet.

Russia failed to overturn a ruling in the Netherlands that ordered Moscow to pay around $50 billion in the bankruptcy case of Yukos Oil Co., once the largest Russian oil and gas company, Bloomberg News reported. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal dismissed Russia’s latest legal challenge in a saga that has dragged on for nearly two decades. The latest verdict is unlikely to result in an immediate payment to the former shareholders of Yukos. Russia has previously said it isn’t bound to pay the largest arbitration payout ever.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) at Kolkata on Tuesday, February 20, allowed insolvency proceedings against a 104-year-old company for failure to clear dues of over Rs 4 crore, according to a report on barandbench.com. The case involves the Ahmedabad-based private construction firm Chevrox Construction Pvt. Ltd against state-owned Bridge and Roof Co (India) Ltd. Bridge and Roof is a public sector enterprise (PSU) under the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and comes under the administrative control of the Ministry of Heavy Industries.