Headlines

Global economic growth is slowing more than was forecast a few months ago in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as energy and inflation crises risk snowballing into recessions in major economies, the OECD said on Monday, Reuters reported. While global growth this year was still expected at 3.0%, it is now projected to slow to 2.2% in 2023, revised down from a forecast in June of 2.8%, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

China’s central bank took another step to shore up the yuan, making it more expensive for traders and institutions to bet against the currency after it weakened rapidly against the dollar, the Wall Street Journal reported. The People’s Bank of China said on Monday that financial institutions selling foreign-exchange forward contracts will be subject to a 20% risk-reserve ratio, up from zero currently. The change, which will kick in on Sept. 28, will make it costlier for banks—and correspondingly, their clients—to sell yuan to buy dollars in the derivatives markets.

As the euro has fallen below parity with the dollar and the British pound plunges toward a one-for-one exchange rate as well, another currency is also weakening against the dollar: China’s renminbi, the New York Times reported. For Shanghai trading on Monday morning, China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, fixed the initial value of the renminbi at more than 7 to the dollar for the first time in more than two years.

Suncor Energy Inc. is pushing ahead with a bond buyback as oil prices near this year’s lows amid recession worries, Bloomberg News reported. Calgary-based Suncor plans to buy up to C$1.75 billion ($1.27 billion) of securities from 10 series of outstanding notes in US and Canadian dollars, the company said in a statement Monday. Cenovus Energy Inc., another large Canadian oil company, did a similar offer earlier this month.

Russia's National Settlement Depository has demanded that the European Union recognise sanctions imposed on it as illegal and pay for any legal costs incurred, a filing on the EU's Official Journal dated on Monday showed, Reuters reported. Owned by Moscow Exchange, the NSD, Russia's domestic paying agent, is equivalent to the Euroclear and Clearstream clearing houses, and plays an important role in the country's financial system as a key intermediary with international markets.

Interpol has issued a “red notice” for the search and arrest of Do Kwon, the South Korean co-founder of Terraform Labs, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office said on Monday, the New York Times reported. The South Korean authorities had requested assistance from the global police agency to trace Mr. Kwon’s whereabouts earlier this month. Mr. Kwon and his company faced investigations by the South Korean government after the value of his cryptocurrencies, Luna and TerraUSD, plummeted and contributed to a $300 billion crash across the crypto economy in May.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has dismissed an appeal by Siemens Ltd against the invocation of its bank guarantees by Meenakshi Energy. Meenakshi Energy Ltd (MEL) which is presently facing insolvency proceedings, was setting up a 700 MW thermal plant, in which Siemens was a sub-contractor for the project, the Economic Times of India reported.

Laurentian University expects to ask for creditor protection to be extended to Nov. 30 at an upcoming hearing, according to court documents filed on Friday, Sudbury.com reported. The “stay of proceedings” protecting the insolvent university from its creditors currently expires Sept. 30. Laurentian University has been undergoing court-supervised restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (or CCAA) since declaring insolvency in February 2021.

Britain's new finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng unleashed historic tax cuts and huge increases in borrowing on Friday in an economic agenda that floored financial markets, sending sterling and British government bonds into freefall, Reuters reported. Kwarteng scrapped the country's top rate of income tax, cancelled a planned rise in corporate taxes and for the first time put a price tag on the spending plans of Prime Minister Liz Truss, who wants to double Britain's rate of economic growth.

Garuda Indonesia can look forward to almost US$400 million in net profit next year and more in the following years, the government forecasts, pointing to a turnaround for the debt-laden national flag carrier, The Star reported. Following years of hefty losses, the airline operator would achieve $399 million in profit, which would increase to $647 million in 2026, according to the Finance Ministry’s projection.