Headlines
Resources Per Region
Hungary is likely to lower its key interest rate for the second straight month after central bankers signaled a retreat from a tightening cycle that brought borrowing costs to a European Union high, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank in Budapest will reduce the overnight deposit rate by a full percentage point to 16% on Tuesday, according to all eight economists surveyed in a Bloomberg poll. The decision, along with fresh inflation projections, will be communicated in a statement and a press conference at 3 p.m. local time.
Read more
The European Union was set to unveil on Tuesday an aid package for Ukraine worth 50 billion euros ($55 bln), two officials said ahead of a formal announcement, Reuters reported. The figure - due to be unveiled by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen - comes after a review of the bloc's 2021-27 budget and ahead of an international conference in London on Wednesday and Thursday on raising funds to rebuild Ukraine from a war Russia unleashed on it a year and a half ago.
Read more
Chile's central bank on Tuesday lowered the high-end of its forecast for economic growth in 2023 amid still tight financial conditions, but increased the outlook for 2024 as it hints at potential interest rate cuts in the short-term, Reuters reported. The revisions came a day after the monetary authority decided to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 11.25%, but said it could begin cutting it soon if recent positive trends continue.
Read more
Canada's financial regulator on Tuesday said that it was raising the amount of capital the country's biggest lenders must hold as a stability buffer by 50 basis points to 3.5%, citing stresses on the financial system, Reuters reported. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) in a statement said the change would come into effect on Nov. 1. The statement cited concerns over high household and corporate debt levels, the rising cost of debt, and increased global uncertainty around fiscal and monetary policy.
Read more
Canada's national statistics agency on Tuesday revealed new weights for the basket of goods and services in its Consumer Price Index, giving more prominence to changes in the prices of food and gasoline, Reuters reported. The reweighting, which Statistics Canada carries out every year, has historically had only a marginal impact on the headline number. The new basket weights will be applied to May's inflation data, due out on June 27. The rebalancing reflects changes in 2022 compared to 2021.
Read more
Singapore plans to more aggressively regulate electricity markets as price jumps intensify, again threatening to hurt the retailers that sell it to businesses and households, Bloomberg News reported. The Energy Market Authority will cap wholesale power prices from July 1 using a formula tied to natural gas and generation costs, it said in a document on its website. That comes after they jumped as much as 3,000% this year despite sharp drops in the cost of liquefied natural gas, the nation’s main fuel.
Read more
The European Commission asked EU governments on Tuesday to come up with an extra 10 billion euros for 2024-27 to leverage a total of 160 billion euros worth of investment in key technologies, including renewable energy, Reuters reported. The call comes as the European Union executive is reviewing the bloc's long-term budget that totals around 1% of the EU's GDP and pays for various joint European policies.
Read more
Ghana aims to exempt loans from the African Export & Import Bank (Afreximbank) from being restructured, finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta said, as the country seeks new terms on $20 billion in external debt and recovery from a deep economic crisis, Reuters reported. The gold-, cocoa- and oil-exporter, which defaulted on most external debt in December, aims to reduce its external debt repayments by $10.5 billion over the next three years to qualify for the next tranche of a $3 billion loan deal from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "I have to find a way to do it.
Investigations into bankruptcy cases netted more than €6 million of so-called hidden assets last year, the Irish Times reported. Official assignees in cases run by the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) carried out 185 investigations around bankruptcies, according to the ISI’s 2022 annual report. During bankruptcy proceedings a person’s assets are transferred to the official assignee. The official assignee then sells those assets to cover the bankrupt’s debts.
Read more
India is working to resolve discrepancies between global aircraft leasing rules and its national bankruptcy laws, the country's aviation secretary told Reuters on Monday on the sidelines of the Paris Airshow, Reuters reported. A resolution could help lessors to Go First airline reclaim their planes and fly them out of the country after the carrier filed for bankruptcy protection in May, a move that resulted in a freeze on all its assets including the jets.
Read more