Headlines

Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said there needs to be a rethink of how governments and private enterprise in Europe work together in the wake of the collapse of battery maker Northvolt AB, Bloomberg News reported.

A plan to merge two of Brazil's top airlines to create a dominant carrier will likely win regulatory approval as a government push for a financially healthy sector outweighs concern about restricted competition, experts and lawyers told Reuters. A floated combination of Gol and Azul formalized with a memorandum of understanding last week, would give the new firm overwhelming control over the country's domestic market. But both have faced financial turbulence since the pandemic, along with Brazil's current No. 1 carrier, LATAM Airlines' local unit.

After announcing an acquisition deal with investors from the US and UK to resolve its bankruptcy process, WOM Colombia is now planning to begin deploying 5G networks, BNAmericas.com reported. “We will be deploying [5G] infrastructure in the second half of the year,” said WOM Colombia CEO Ramiro Lafarga. WOM acquired spectrum in the 3.5GHz band in December 2023 but has not yet initiated the network deployment. The company paid approximately US$74mn and committed to connecting 3,180 schools and establishing 24 base stations with 4G coverage along primary and secondary roads.

Mexico’s annual inflation slowed slightly more than expected in early January, keeping in play chances of a bigger interest rate cut at the central bank’s next policy meeting, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Thursday showed consumer prices rose 3.69% in the first two weeks of the month from the year before. Core inflation, which excludes volatile items such a food and fuel, came in at 3.72%, slightly above the 3.69% median estimate. Banxico, as the central bank is known, cut its key rate by quarter point for a fourth straight meeting to 10% last month.

Turkey’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for a second straight meeting as a cycle of higher borrowing costs bears fruit in cooler price rises, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey said Thursday that it decided to reduce its one-week repo rate to 45% from 47.5%. This follows a cut from 50% last month, the start of a new phase of lower rates following a series of rapid rate hikes started in the summer of 2023 in a bid to combat rampant price rises.

Norway’s central bank held its key policy rate at 4.5% and reaffirmed that it will likely begin monetary policy easing in March, but noted concern over potential trade tariffs from the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported. The policy rate has been at 4.5% since December 2023 and has helped to significantly dampen inflation from its peak, but a rapid rise in business costs will likely stoke inflation ahead, Norges Bank said.

South Korea’s economy expanded at a weaker-than-expected pace of 2.0% in 2024 after lackluster growth in the fourth quarter amid weak consumer and business spending, bolstering the case for the central bank’s another rate cut next month, the Wall Street Journal reported. Political turmoil over impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, who failed a martial-law attempt in December, and sluggish domestic demand weighed on Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

Authorities in Beijing are ramping up pressure on neighbors to rein in cyberscams after the high-profile kidnapping of a young Chinese actor who says he was trafficked into a criminal enclave in Myanmar, the Wall Street Journal reported. Parts of war-torn Myanmar and other countries in Southeast Asia have become havens for sprawling scam compounds, where hundreds of thousands of people are forced to swindle billions of dollars out of victims in the U.S., China and elsewhere.

Investment firm CIM Capital has agreed to a relaunch of the Lunch Garden restaurant chain. Of the 62 locations, 41 can reopen and roughly half of the employees can return to work, Lunch Garden announced on Wednesday, according to the Brussels Times. The exact date for the reopening is still unknown. The restaurant chain will continue with a more agile structure and will be free of its historical debts, according to a press release. Out of the 41 restaurants, 24 will be company-operated, while 17 will be managed by independent operators.

Northvolt AB has yet to line up investors willing to commit funds to allow the Swedish battery maker to emerge from chapter 11 protection, Bloomberg News reported. The electric vehicle supplier’s cash position is dwindling as investors wait for others to step forward first in the ongoing funding talks. “Numerous parties have submitted indications of interest in Northvolt’s financing process,” a spokesperson for Northvolt said.