Headlines

The German economy shrank by 0.4% in last year’s fourth quarter, the national statistics office said Friday, a sharp downward revision from its initial report that gross domestic product declined by 0.2%, the Associated Press reported. The quarter-on-quarter contraction in the October-December period was the first since the first quarter of 2021. Consumer spending, which propped up growth in the first nine months of last year, dropped by 1% in the final three months of 2022. Investment in construction and machinery showed bigger drops in the final quarter, the Federal Statistical Office said.

Within months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, there was near panic in Europe over energy supplies. Mainstay flows of natural gas through pipelines from Russia were dwindling to a relative trickle, pushing wholesale prices up more than 10 times the level of a year earlier. Oil prices were high. Lawmakers warned of fuel rationing and rolling blackouts, and winter loomed. Now Europe has plenty of gas, much of it from Norway, the shale fields of Texas, and Qatar.

Reserve Bank of Australia chief Philip Lowe’s expectation of further interest-rate rises ahead has prompted economists and money markets to narrow the odds of a recession in the $1.5 trillion economy, Bloomberg News reported. There is now a better than one-in-three chance of a slump over the next 12 months, a Bloomberg survey showed, up from one-in-four late last year when Lowe signaled a rate pause was in the offing. In the US, by contrast, recession probability has begun to come down.

Turkey’s central bank has warned lenders in the country against sending dollars to their correspondent counterparts abroad, according to people familiar with the matter, its latest move to try to protect the lira, Bloomberg News reported. The request comes after commercial banks wired a net $2.3 billion to deposit accounts abroad in the first six weeks of the year, one of the people said, asking not to be named because the information is confidential. Hard-currency outflows are hampering efforts to keep the lira stable and inflation in check in the run-up to elections slated for May.

Argentine officials intend to lower a key target in the country’s $44 billion agreement with the International Monetary Fund as a severe drought weakens the economic outlook, according to an Argentine government official, Bloomberg News reported. Both sides are discussing a smaller figure for net reserve accumulation in 2023, a cornerstone of the deal seen as the only major anchor providing some stability to the South American economy. Negotiators have met in Buenos Aires and Washington in recent weeks for the fourth review of the program.

U.S. subsidiaries of Australian coal mining company Allegiance Coal Ltd. filed for chapter 11 protection on Tuesday, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The chapter 11 filing includes the New Elk and Black Warrior coal mines located in Colorado and Alabama, respectively, according to papers filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., by Allegiance Coal USA Ltd. The Australian parent company said last week that it is switching away from the production of thermal coal because of a decline in prices for thermal coal delivered to Europe.

India’s banks and bondholders stand to recover less in insolvency resolutions under a proposed change in law that would apportion more to junior creditors, such as unpaid vendors and the government, according to restructuring and insolvency professionals, Bloomberg News reported. The Indian government seeks to achieve an “equitable scheme of distribution of proceeds,” it said in a discussion paper issued in January that recommends other significant changes to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Shares of Zee Entertainment tumbled over 14% to Rs 176.6 in Thursday's trade on BSE after a dedicated bankruptcy court admitted two of Essel Group’s listed companies, Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) and Siti Network, for insolvency proceedings, likely creating hurdles in ZEEL’s merger with Culver Max Entertainment (Sony), the Economic Times of India reported. On a year-to-date basis, ZEEL stock has fallen over 23%. Meanwhile, it has declined by 28% in the last six months.

Authum Investment and Infrastructure has filed a petition in the Kolkata National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking revaluation of the appraisal matrix that gave the winning bidder National Asset Reconstruction Co (NARCL) a higher score in the bid for the twin Srei companies, the Economic Times of India reported. The Mumbai-based non-banking finance company (NBFC) has also offered an additional upfront payment of ₹250 crore over and above its original amount of ₹3,240 crore in a petition filed before the court. The next date for the hearing is set for February 28.

Private credit and infrastructure investments across emerging and developing markets surged to record levels in 2022 as borrowers looked for alternative financing options amid rising interest rates, according to a report published on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The Global Private Capital Association (GPCA) said private credit investment saw the largest rise, growing by 89% to $10.8 billion in 2022 from the year before in Asia, Latin America, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Middle East.