Headlines

Talks between the International Monetary Fund and Pakistan will resume virtually on Monday, a Pakistani official said, as the two sides look to reach a deal to unlock funding critical to keep the cash-strapped south Asian country afloat, Reuters reported. The two could not reach a deal last week and a visiting IMF delegation departed Islamabad after 10 days of talks, but said negotiations would continue. Pakistan is in dire need of funds as it battles a wrenching economic crisis.

Sweden will probably be the only economy in the European Union to contract this year as high inflation erodes private spending and a housing slump hits construction, European Commission said, Bloomberg News reported. The largest Nordic nation faces a 0.8% decline in its gross domestic product in 2023, followed by expansion of 1.2% next year, according to new projections by the Brussels-based executive of the trading bloc, published on Monday. While the commission had in November also forecast a contraction for Germany, it now sees the EU’s biggest economy growing 0.2% this year.

Credit cards are becoming increasingly useless in Venezuela because of high inflation and government restrictions, hurting people already struggling to meet daily needs on low salaries, banking industry sources, analysts and consumers said, Reuters reported. The country's government imposed strict lending requirements during Venezuela's economic collapse - allowing banks to lend a maximum of 27% of their cash flow - sending local business owners abroad to seek loans.

Japan’s currency is resisting the urge to join in on a period of relative calm, Bloomberg News reported. Volatility has stayed high ever since the Bank of Japan lifted the cap on Japanese bond yields in December. Uncertainty about the outlook of future policy moves is keeping yen traders on edge more so than their counterparts who trade other global assets, including Japanese equities. The yen initially strengthened on Friday after a report that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will nominate Kazuo Ueda to take the helm of the central bank.

A Russian scheme to grant loan payment holidays to troops fighting in Ukraine, and for banks to write off the entire debt if they are killed or maimed, has added to growing pressure for the remaining overseas lenders in Russia to leave, Reuters reported. Almost a year since Moscow launched what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine, a handful of European banks, including Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International and Italy's UniCredit, are still making money in Russia.

India's bankruptcy court has admitted McLeod Russel India, the world's largest tea producer, under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), the Economic Times of India reported. The Kolkata bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has appointed Ritesh Prasad Adatiya as the interim resolution professional (IRP). This came on a plea by the IL&FS Infrastructure Debt Fund, after McLeod Russel defaulted on dues of over ₹347 crore in November 2019.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.’s Canadian division will shut down its stores under court protection after the company received an unusual lifeline earlier this week to save its U.S. operations from bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The troubled home-goods retailer on Friday filed its Canadian division for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, Canada’s rough equivalent of chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Britain's economy showed zero growth in the final three months of 2022 - enough for it to avoid entering a recession for now - but faces tough prospects in 2023 as households continue to wrestle with double-digit inflation, Reuters reported. Monthly gross domestic product data for December - when there were widespread strikes in the public sector, rail and postal services - showed a 0.5% contraction, the Office for National Statistics said, larger than the 0.3% forecast.

Cut off from global credit markets, Argentina’s government is selling ever more local currency bonds, amassing a debt load that already totals 33 trillion pesos ($174 billion) and is rising almost exponentially, Bloomberg News reported. In one week, the Treasury will seek to roll over 300 billion pesos of debt, offering higher interest rates and shorter maturities to entice investors as they have in each of the previous four months.