Headlines

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pushed back on Monday against calls from companies to improve trade ties with the European Union and liberalise immigration to help boost growth, saying Brexit had already benefited the country, Reuters reported. Sunak told business leaders at a Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference he was "unequivocal" that Britain should pursue its own agenda on regulation and migration.

Greece's economy should grow by 1.8% next year, at a slower pace than initially expected, as soaring energy costs and higher inflation are seen hurting tourism and curbing domestic demand, the government's 2023 final budget projected on Monday, Reuters reported. Next year's growth estimate was downwardly revised from the draft budget submitted to parliament in October. Authorities expect economic output to increase by 5.6% in 2022, better than forecast in the draft budget due to stronger tourism revenues.

The Bank of Israel is still in the process of front-loading interest rates and will likely raise rates to above 3.5%, Deputy Governor Andrew Abir said on Monday after a half-point rate increase to 2.75%, Reuters reported. Abir told Reuters that the central bank preferred "to err on the side of making sure we get inflation down" with its monetary policy. That means, he said, that the benchmark rate would likely go above the bank's own economists' forecast of 3.5%. Read more.

More sovereign defaults are "probable" next year among small emerging market countries, ratings agency Fitch said in its 2023 outlook on Monday, citing a likelihood of sudden jumps in borrowing costs, loss of market access and urgent funding needs, Reuters reported. Meanwhile the Group of 20 leading economies' debt restructuring process, the Common Framework, which is underway in Zambia and Ethiopia and has concluded in Chad, has proven ineffective at faciliating restructurings and is unlikely to improve next year, the ratings agency added.

The board of a Swiss-based trust fund managing some $3.5 billion in frozen assets seized after the Taliban took power last year is meeting in Geneva for the first time on Monday, a Swiss government spokesperson confirmed, Reuters reported. The frozen central bank reserves were recently transferred from Washington into the 'Fund for the Afghan People' where U.S. officials say it will be shielded from the Taliban. The latter has condemned the transfer, calling it a violation of international norms. The agenda of the meeting is not yet public.

Investors are slowly coming to terms with the sheer size of the UK government’s borrowing needs over the next few years and it doesn’t look pretty, Bloomberg News reported. Net gilt supply in the next fiscal year is likely headed for an all-time record, according to bank estimates. For Citigroup Inc. strategists, the increase means the market needs to find twice as much new private cash to absorb it as it has over the last eight years combined.

Italy's new right-wing government plans to announce some 30 billion euros in new spending on Monday in a budget for next year, mainly focused on curbing the impact of high energy prices while postponing some of its most lavish election promises, Reuters reported. The continued energy crisis, triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, means Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her allies will not be able to make good on their more extravagant electoral campaign promises, including swingeing tax cuts. "We won't be able to do everything, all at once.

The rise of trade barriers against China and other countries over the past year could cost the global economy $1.4 trillion, on top of the severe damage being done by the war in Ukraine, the head of the International Monetary Fund said, Bloomberg News reported. “What I am hoping to see is some reversals in policy blocks towards China and globally,” Kristalina Georgieva told Bloomberg Television’s Stephen Engle in an interview in Bangkok on Saturday. “The world is going to lose 1.5% of gross domestic product just because of division that may split us into two trading blocs.

Oil tanker tycoons are enjoying a surge in revenue as the sanctions triggered by Russia’s war are redrawing the global trade in crude. And it’s set to last, Bloomberg News reported. The disruption is fairly simple. Europe, for decades the top buyer of Russian oil, is banning purchases from Moscow next month and has already been cutting back. Those cargoes are instead flowing out to Asia. The result is ships sailing thousands of miles further, driving up a vital aspect of demand.

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the government will fulfill its external debt commitments including the repayment of a sukuk bond that’s due in the first week of December, Bloomberg News reported. “There is no chance of default. Repayment will be done on time,” he said in a televised message on Saturday, adding that arrangements for debt repayments for next year have been done “in principle.” Dar estimated the country’s current account deficit would be at $6 billion at the end of June 2023, half that of an earlier projection.