Headlines

The Reserve Bank on Thursday said that it has filed an application with the National Company Law Tribunal, New Delhi bench, for initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process against Aviom India Housing Finance Private Limited, the Economic Times of India reported. On Monday, the RBI superseded the board of Aviom India Housing Finance owing to governance concerns and defaults in meeting various payment obligations. The Reserve Bank has appointed Ram Kumar, ex-CGM of Punjab National Bank, as the Administrator of the New Delhi-based company.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said that “very big decisions” will be needed to stop Britain’s public debt pile spiraling higher, as he gave his backing to the government’s efforts to boost growth, Bloomberg News reported. Bailey told lawmakers on Wednesday that climate change, an aging population and an end to the “post-Cold War dividend” on defense spending are “very big structural headwinds” facing the already-stretched public finances.

The European Central Bank lowered borrowing costs for a fifth time since June, with the region’s economy stalling and the 2% inflation target in reach, Bloomberg News reported. Investors maintained bets for further easing, pricing an additional 70 basis points of cuts during the rest of 2025. The euro held earlier losses, trading down 0.2% at about $1.0405. European bonds continued to trade higher.

The eurozone economy returned to stagnation as 2024 drew to a close, a blow to its hopes for a recovery as it braces for the possibility that U.S. President Trump will deliver a long-threatened increase in tariffs, the Wall Street Journal reported. The currency area’s economy has struggled to recover from a sharp rise in energy and food prices triggered by Europe’s largest military conflict in eight decades, even as the U.S. economy forged ahead.

Consumer prices unexpectedly picked up pace in Spain in a sign inflationary pressures remain strong at the start of 2025, but likely not enough to deter the European Central Bank from cutting interest rates later Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Annual inflation, harmonized to EU standards, stood at 2.9% in January, rising one decimal point from a month earlier, Spain’s statistics agency said Thursday. Still, the rise was down largely to base effects in fuel prices, which fell in January last year, as well as a sharper rise in electricity prices.

Brazil’s central bank lifted its interest rate by a full percentage point for the second meeting and said the board will do the same at the next decision while leaving their policy options against inflation open thereafter, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers raised the benchmark Selic to 13.25% in an unanimous vote late Wednesday, as expected by all economists surveyed by Bloomberg and a vast majority of traders in the options market. The monetary authority has increased borrowing costs by 2.75 percentage points since September.

The Bank of Canada on Wednesday cut its benchmark rate for a sixth straight time, and warned of a significant shock to the economy from a U.S.-Canada trade conflict with tariffs of up to 25%, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bank of Canada Gov. Tiff Macklem said the central bank would be limited in offsetting the damage from a trade row, because policymakers would have to wrestle with both weaker growth and higher prices. The central bank sets interest rates to achieve and maintain 2% inflation.

Chile’s central bank paused its cycle of interest rate cuts and left all options on the table for future borrowing cost adjustments, citing heightened uncertainty as well as domestic and global inflation risks, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers led by Rosanna Costa voted unanimously to keep borrowing costs at 5% late on Tuesday, as expected by all analysts in a Bloomberg survey. In an accompanying statement, board members wrote that a weaker peso, higher labor costs and an increase in electricity tariffs are driving inflation dynamics.

Sweden’s central bank lowered its key interest rate on Wednesday, with policymakers signaling they might be finished with their monetary policy easing, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Riksbank cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.25%. The bank had previously opened the door to a rate cut during the first half of this year. It said in its statement Wednesday that given the limited risk of inflation becoming too high, coupled with weak economic activity, it decided to make the cut at its first meeting of the year.

Brazil reached a record high for bankruptcy protection filings in 2024, with 2,273 companies seeking judicial relief, according to data from Serasa Experian. This figure marks a 61.8% increase from 2023 and is 22% higher than the previous peak in 2016, which saw 1,863 filings, Valor International reported. Experts predict this trend will worsen, with both 2025 and 2026 expected to surpass last year’s numbers due to a more challenging economic outlook.