Headlines

Inflation drifted lower to the slowest pace in nearly two years, a reprieve for the Bank of Canada amid a jobs market and economy that continue to defy expectations for a stall, Bloomberg News reported. The consumer price index rose 4.3% in March from a year ago, the lowest headline number since August 2021, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday in Ottawa. That matched expectations in a Bloomberg survey of economists and was down from 5.2% in February. On a monthly basis, the index rose 0.5% in March, also matching economist forecasts.

The holding company for Avianca Group International Ltd., a Colombian airline that filed for bankruptcy during the pandemic, is planning an initial public offering as revenue roars back, Bloomberg News reported. “Without a doubt the IPO makes sense to support the group’s growth,” Avianca’s head of investor relations Maria Cristina Ricardo said in an interview. The plan is for Abra Group Ltd. to sell shares in New York or London in the next 12 to 18 months, she added. Air travel in Latin America has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, according to data from OAG Aviation.

The riskiest type of bank bonds appear to be back on the menu for investors, after a Japanese megabank reopened a segment of the bond market that was called into question following UBS Group AG’s emergency takeover of Credit Suisse Group AG, the Wall Street Journal reported. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. raised 140 billion yen, equivalent to $1 billion, from the sale of Additional Tier 1 bonds on Wednesday.

Brazil's government reversed a decision to end tax exemption on foreign shipments targeting Asian e-commerce giants, a measure aimed at improving public finances that faced backlash from lower-income Brazilians, a crucial part of the new government's electorate, Reuters reported. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had asked him not to proceed with ending the tax exemption for international orders from individuals.

Spain’s leftist coalition government on Tuesday approved a plan to make available around 50,000 houses for rent at affordable prices as part of measures aimed at curbing soaring rents and house prices, the Associated Press. The apartments will come from the state-controlled SAREB “bad bank” that was set up in 2012 to manage and sell off troubled banks most toxic assets during the international financial crisis. The SAREB plan follows a much-hailed agreement last week between the coalition parties and their parliamentary supporters for what would be democratic Spain’s first-ever housing law.

Ireland's budget surplus is forecast to more than double to 6.3% of gross national income by 2026, the finance ministry forecast on Tuesday, handing the government significant resources to set up a planned new pension fund, Reuters reported. The finance ministry also expects inflation to slow to 4.9% this year and again to 2.5% next year, while the economy will grow by a faster-than-expected 2.1% in 2023 and 2.5% in 2024 after remaining "remarkably resilient" in recent months, it added.

The European Union was closing in Tuesday on approval for a plan to ramp up semiconductor production as it seeks to wean itself off reliance on Asia for the tiny computer chips that control everything from cars to washing machines, the Associated Press reported. The European Parliament and the bloc's 27 member states struck an informal agreement for the 43 billion-euro ($47 billion) Chips Act, which pools public and private funds and allows for state aid to kick-start massive investments for chipmaking facilities.

More companies in England and Wales entered insolvency during March than at any point since monthly records started three years ago, according to official data on Tuesday that showed a 16% increase on a year ago, Reuters reported. The Insolvency Service Agency reported 2,457 corporate insolvencies last month, up from 1,784 in February. The rate of companies falling into insolvency fell sharply with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to government support programmes and lockdowns slowing the progress of courts handling insolvency cases.

The European Commission (EC) has opened a detailed investigation to assess whether certain support measures taken by Romania in favour of Blue Air Aviation, specifically the guarantees for a EUR 34 mln rescue loan extended in August 2020 and its renewal, comply with EU state aid rules, G4media.ro reported. Specifically, such a detailed investigation assesses whether the troubled company is likely to become viable after the restructuring plan as notified to the Commission.

The director of an insolvent cash-for-visa business listed a golf clubhouse as his address on company documents and has not yet furnished the firm’s books and records to its liquidator despite being directed to do so by a judge, the Irish Times reported. More than €66 million has been transferred out of the company over its lifetime to other connected entities, including in excess of €1 million to Chinese businessman Kai Dai himself, the court heard on Monday before it confirmed the appointment of insolvency practitioner Declan DeLacy as liquidator to Huawen.