Headlines

Insolvency appellate tribunal NCLAT on Friday directed Jet Airways' new owner -- Jalan-Kalrock consortium -- to pay the unpaid provident fund and gratuity dues of employees of the carrier, which is preparing to restart operations, the Times of India reported.

Saudi Arabia's crown prince on Sunday launched an initiative to attract investments in supply chains to and from the kingdom, with an aim of raising an initial 40 billion riyals ($10.64 billion), Reuters reported. The initiative by Prince Mohammed bin Salman will include allocating about 10 billion riyals in incentives for supply chain investors, state news agency SPA reported, without elaborating.

Colombia's central bank board will raise the benchmark interest rate at its meeting next week, which is likely its penultimate increase in a cycle meant to counteract inflation, analysts said in a poll on Friday, Reuters reported. Twelve of 14 analysts surveyed said the seven-member board will increase borrowing costs by 100 basis points to 11%, while one analyst predicted a 75 basis point raise and another projected a 50 basis points uptick. If the majority prediction is met, it would be the highest rate since July 2001.

Turkey’s central bank has slashed interest rates for the third month in a row, making its biggest drop this year despite sky-high inflation that is squeezing people’s finances as it follows President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s unorthodox economic views, the Associated Press reported. The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey on Thursday lowered the benchmark rate by a massive 1.5 percentage points, to 10.5%. The bank cut rates by 1 percentage point each in August and September. The bank had kept the rate at 14% for eight months, pausing a previous round of cuts that triggered a currency crisis.

Argentina’s next government needs to unwind currency controls and let the exchange rate trade freely, according to Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, one of the main opposition leaders seen as a likely presidential contender next year, Bloomberg News reported. “You have to aim for that,” Larreta said in an interview on the sidelines of the C40 World Mayors Summit in Buenos Aires. “What you have to do and how fast depends on the situation. You’d have to see how much foreign reserves the central bank has when you take over.

Hungary will include variable-rate loans to small- and medium-sized businesses in a scheme designed to cap loan rates and avoid a recession, Minister for Economic Development Marton Nagy said, adding banks could "easily" bear the cost of the measure, Reuters reported. With inflation above 20% and still rising, and the economy slowing, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government faces the challenge of curbing price growth while trying to stave off a recession. It has already capped the price of fuel and basic foodstuffs as well as mortgage rates. Energy bills are also capped for most households.

Liz Truss said on Thursday she would resign as prime minister, brought down by her economic programme that sent shockwaves through the markets and divided her Conservative Party just six weeks after she was appointed, Reuters reported. A leadership election will be completed within the next week to replace Truss, who is the shortest serving prime minister in Britain's history. George Canning previously held the record, serving 119 days in 1827, when he died.

Domestic builders are facing growing concerns over the possibility of a series of bankruptcies amid worsening investor sentiment in the wake of the recent slump in the real estate market, according to industry officials on Thursday, the Korea Times reported. Late last month, Wooseok Construction, a medium-sized builder based in South Chungcheong Province, failed to repay its debt in time. If the company fails to make the payment again, it will be forced into bankruptcy.

China on Monday suddenly delayed the release of its economic data—including September housing sales—that was scheduled for this week. But there is little doubt that the property market is still in a dire shape and likely won’t get better without more determined help from Beijing, the Wall Street Journal reported. While defaults for property developers in China have become a common event, the recent one from CIFI Holdings still rocked the market. The company said last week that it missed an interest payment on a Hong Kong dollar-denominated convertible bond.

National Asset Reconstruction Company of India (NARCL), the government-promoted bad bank, has given lenders of Meenakshi Energy a Rs 900 crore binding offer to acquire its debt, said two people aware of the development, the Economic Times of India reported. The thermal power company promoted by Hemant Kanoria and his family entered corporate insolvency in November 2019.