Headlines

A mainland Chinese court accepted a liquidation application filed against a China Evergrande Group unit earlier this month, triggering a formal legal process that ratchets up the pressure on the defaulted developer to either restructure or face liquidation in its main base of operations under a worst-case scenario, Bloomberg News reported. The Intermediate People’s Court of Guangzhou City, where Evergrande is based, accepted the application filed against Guangzhou Kailong Real Estate as of Aug. 9, according to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing late Monday.

China is considering a new funding option for local governments to buy unsold homes after a series of rescue packages failed to prop up the market, Bloomberg News reported. The latest proposal would allow local governments to fund their home purchases by issuing so-called special bonds, the proceeds of which are currently restricted to uses including infrastructure and environmental projects.

Twenty-five years after a group of friends decided to get into the whisky business during an apres-ski hot tub party, Sweden’s Mackmyra Distillery has filed for bankruptcy, WhiskyCast.com reported. The petition was filed yesterday in Gävle District Court, with a trustee to be appointed soon. In a statement on the Mackmyra web site, chairman Petter Ski said that the decision to shut down the distillery was not an easy one. “It is with great sadness that we must state that it is unfortunately not possible to continue the company’s operations," Ski said.

Creches face going "insolvent" if the Irish government fails to provide sufficient funding to providers, it has been warned, the Irish Examiner reported. Federation of Early Childhood Providers (FECP) chairwoman Elaine Dunne said that many more creches and playschools would depart from the core funding model if changes are not made. Currently, childcare providers who accept core funding cannot increase existing prices beyond a strict limit of €33.30 per week. They have argued they cannot continue to operate without additional funds.

Inflation in Canada decelerated to the slowest pace in more than three years, keeping the central bank on track to cut rates for a third straight meeting next month, Bloomberg News reported. The consumer price index rose 2.5% in July from a year ago, following a deceleration to a 2.7% pace a month earlier, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday in Ottawa. That matched the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Turkey’s central bank extended its interest-rate pause for a fifth month and said it was placing even more importance on expectations for prices before discussing easing, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Committee, led by Governor Fatih Karahan, kept the one-week repo rate at 50% on Tuesday. “The alignment of inflation expectations and pricing behavior with projections has gained relative importance for the disinflation process,” the MPC said. The lira slipped 0.3% to 33.84 per US dollar at 3:30 pm in Istanbul.

Sweden’s Riksbank lowered borrowing costs for a second time since May and sketched out more easing than previously expected as inflation has fallen below its target and the largest Nordic economy is sputtering, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank, which cut its benchmark rate to 3.5% from 3.75% in a decision announced on Tuesday, said it could consider as many as three more reductions this year. Its previous guidance had implied a maximum of two cuts after today.

Nigeria’s top finance regulator plans to license providers of virtual assets including cryptocurrencies to tap opportunities and protect investors as adoption rates surge in the West African nation, Bloomberg News reported. The Abuja-based Securities and Exchange Commission is looking to issue its first licenses for digital service and tokenized assets this month, Director-General Emomotimi Agama said. “Being a crypto enthusiast and fintech enthusiast, I can tell you without doubt that this is going to happen sooner than you think,” Agama said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

The European Commission on Tuesday proposed final duties of up to 36.3% on imported electric vehicles made in China, as part of the highest profile EU probe of alleged Chinese subsidies which has provoked threats of retaliation from Beijing, Reuters reported. It has also launched investigations into whether Chinese clean tech producers are dumping subsidised goods on EU markets and whether Chinese-owned companies unfairly benefit from subsidies while operating inside the European Union. The EU executive says its aim is to prevent unfair competition and market distortion.