Headlines

UBS was considering the potential impact of buying struggling rival Credit Suisse as early as December, months before the takeover was hastily arranged by Swiss authorities in March, according to a regulatory filing, Reuters reported. The filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also showed UBS concluded in February that buying Credit Suisse was not desirable, but that it should prepare in case its rival encountered "serious financial difficulties".

Russia's economy contracted by 2.2% in the first quarter of 2023 in annual terms, the economy ministry estimated on Wednesday, down from growth of 3% in the same period last year, Reuters reported. The ministry estimated that gross domestic product (GDP) fell 1.1% year-on-year in March, an improvement on a revised 2.9% drop in February. Russia's GDP is expected to rebound marginally this year from a 2.1% annual decline in 2022, the result of Western sanctions against Moscow after it despatched troops to Ukraine in February 2022.

The International Monetary Fund signaled it was close to completing a financial arrangement that should allow Tunisia to secure a $1.9 billion rescue package, Bloomberg News reported. “We needed to ensure that there is enough financing for the program,” Jihad Azour, the IMF’s director for the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, said in an interview on Tuesday. “The good news is we are almost there.” Though Tunisia reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF in October, the deal has yet to be reviewed for approval by the fund’s directors.

The Czech central bank warned it may have to raise borrowing costs if home-grown inflation risks escalate, calling investors’ bets on monetary easing “premature.” The koruna gained, Bloomberg News reported. Policy makers kept the benchmark rate at 7% on Wednesday, but the vote was tighter than before, with three out of seven board members seeking a quarter-point increase. Governor Ales Michl said the current policy setting is already taming domestic demand, pointing to slowing credit growth and a cooling property market.

Argentina’s international reserves have tumbled to their lowest since 2016 as the central bank drains its coffers to defend the increasingly beleaguered peso, Bloomberg News reported. The currency tumbled 13% in parallel markets last month to a record low as a historic drought sapped key crop exports, fueling a dollar shortage at the same time that inflation accelerates past 100%.

Saudi Arabia's central bank on Wednesday increased its repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.75% and its reverse repo rate also by 25bps to 5.25%, it said in a statement. Saudi Arabia, whose currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar, followed the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point. Read more.

The Qatar Central Bank said on Wednesday that it will continue with the current interest rates for the deposit, lending, and repo rates after assessing current monetary requirements, Reuters reported. "Qatar Central Bank aims to maintain the current interest rates at an appropriate level to support sustainable economic growth," it said in a statement. Read more.

Cash-strapped Indian airline Go First filed for bankruptcy proceedings on Tuesday, blaming "faulty" Pratt & Whitney engines for the grounding of about half its fleet, Reuters reported. The move marks the first major airline collapse in India since Jet Airways filed for bankruptcy in 2019, and underscores the fierce competition in a sector dominated by IndiGo and the entry of newer operators such as Akasa Air.

A Japanese hotel chain, once at the center of a bidding war between US private equity firms Blackstone Inc. and Lone Star Funds, faces a reckoning with its creditors, Bloomberg News reported. Unizo Holdings Co. became the first Japanese company to default on its bonds in six years when it filed for a court-supervised restructuring in April. The firm, which has hotels and office buildings, said it didn’t have the money to pay debt worth 10 billion yen ($72.8 million) maturing in May. Several of the country’s regional banks warned they may not get repaid.

KWG Group Holdings Ltd. securities tumbled Tuesday after the firm became the latest Chinese developer to default, even as new-home sales gain steam nationally, Bloomberg News reported. The company didn’t pay 212 million yuan ($31 million) of principal due Friday on bank and other borrowings, it said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing that night. The delinquency triggered 31.2 billion yuan of debt becoming repayable on demand.