Headlines

Thailand's cabinet on Tuesday agreed to waive corporate income tax and value-added tax for companies that issue digital tokens for investment, a government spokeswoman said, Reuters reported. Companies will have access to alternative ways of raising capital through investment tokens in addition to traditional methods like debentures, Rachada Dhnadirek told reporters at a news conference.

The European Union will seek to rein in generous spending by member states permitted to help households and businesses through the Covid pandemic and energy crisis as it sets out a return to stricter budgetary discipline, Bloomberg News reported. Governments will be instructed to withdraw support and consolidate national budgets when the European Commission adopts its fiscal guidance for 2024 on Wednesday, according to an EU official.

The turmoil in Brazil’s credit market has put several local bond sales on hold as banks and investors become more cautious with corporate borrowers in the aftermath of the sudden collapse of Americanas SA, Bloomberg News reported. Power company Coelba, a unit of Neoenergia SA, has pulled a planned debt sale after underwriters tapped the so-called “market flex” clause that allows for changes in conditions, according to people familiar with the matter. The firm had announced an issuance of 1.5 billion reais ($290 million) in local notes on Jan.

Brazil’s battered airlines got some relief on Monday after striking agreements that eased investors’ concern over their liquidity amid deteriorating credit conditions in their home market, Bloomberg News reported. Azul SA’s American depositary receipts closed 41% higher at $5.85 in New York, the most on record, and bonds due in 2026 climbed 16 cents to 67.5 cents on the dollar. The moves follow an agreement the company struck with most lessors allowing it to reduce its payments in exchange for a mix of stocks and bonds, according to a filing published Sunday.

Money managers on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley are learning once again that investing in China can be fraught, Bloomberg News reported. The Biden administration is close to completing an executive order that would curb U.S. investment in China’s tech industry, foreshadowing a further slowdown in bets on the world’s second-largest economy. Uncertainty over policy related to China has already contributed to a decrease of capital flowing into the Asian country.

The proposed amendments to the Malaysian Insolvency Act 1967, as announced in the revised 2023 Budget, will be tabled in Parliament next month, the New Straits Times reported. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said the amendments to the Act would improve the administration and management of the country's bankruptcy system.

Railsbank Technology Ltd., a onetime darling of the UK payments scene that says it’s raised more than $100 million from investors, may be sold off through an insolvency process as it faces mounting financial and regulatory problems, Bloomberg News reported. Directors are close to selling Railsbank through a pre-pack administration, a form of bankruptcy that involves lining up a buyer beforehand, according to people familiar with the matter. The London-based company has appointed restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal to advise on the process. A sale hasn’t been finalized and may not occur.

As China tries to turn the page on one of its worst stretches of growth since the 1970s, its economy is being weighed down by the colossal debts of its local governments, which swelled during the pandemic and are starting to come to a head, the Wall Street Journal reported. Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid campaign saddled cities with billions of dollars in unplanned expenditures for mass testing and lockdowns. The Chinese leader’s crackdown on excessive property-market leverage led to a sharp drop in land sales, depriving cities of one of their biggest revenue sources.

Pakistan will be required to give an assurance that its balance of payments deficit is fully financed for the fiscal year ending in June to unlock the next tranche of IMF funding, the fund's resident representative said on Monday, Reuters reported. The funding is critical for the South Asian economy, which is facing a balance of payments crisis, with its central bank foreign exchange reserves dropping to levels barely able to cover four weeks of imports.