Headlines

Serbia has started discussions with the International Monetary Fund to receive financial assistance as the southeastern European country faces soaring borrowing costs on international bond markets, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Officials in Belgrade are currently in talks to receive a so-called stand-by arrangement, a financial lifeline to help manage balance of payments imbalances for a short period, usually less than two years.

Russia's economy is not likely to return to pre-war levels before the end of this decade as the Ukraine war and stricter sanctions worsen long-standing economic deficiencies, Scope Ratings said in a report seen by Reuters on Friday, Reuters reported. By the end of 2023, gross domestic product (GDP) will be about 8% below where output was in 2021, according to the credit rating watchdog's forecast. The Russian economy expanded by 4.7% in 2021, according to federal statistics service Rosstat.

Much of the outward business of government in Britain is grinding to a halt during 10 days of national mourning until the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, when schools, doctors offices and many shops will close. But through it all, the financial markets have been grumbling with an unease about Britain’s economic outlook, the New York Times reported. High inflation and low economic growth are expected to continue, joined by vast borrowing to finance the new government’s plan to freeze energy bills while it cuts taxes.

Many Chinese in their 20s and 30s are cutting spending and saving cash where they can, rattled by China's coronavirus lockdowns, high youth unemployment and a faltering property market, Reuters reported. This new frugality, amplified by social media influencers touting low-cost lifestyles and sharing money-saving tips, is a threat to the world's second-largest economy, which narrowly avoided contraction in the second quarter. Consumer spending accounts for more than half of China's GDP.

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka will make a presentation to its international creditors on Friday, laying out the full extent of its economic troubles and plans for a debt restructuring and multi-billion dollar International Monetary Fund bailout, Reuters reported. Years of economic mismanagement combined with the COVID-19 pandemic have left Sri Lanka in its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948, causing it to default on its sovereign debt. The country's Ministry of Finance said in a statement via legal firm Clifford Chance that an online call on Sept.

Australians looking to buy a new home could actually benefit from rising interest rates as they lower the price of housing enough to ultimately result in lower mortgage payments than they would otherwise face, a top central banker said on Monday, Reuters reported. Speaking at a housing conference, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Assistant Governor Jonathan Kearns said the 225 basis points of rate hikes already delivered could lower prices by at least 15 percent over a two-year period, while also cutting borrowers' maximum loan size by around 20 percent.

Germany is in advanced talks to take over Uniper SE and two other large gas importers in a historic step to avoid a collapse of its energy market, Bloomberg News reported. State ownership of Uniper, VNG AG and Securing Energy for Europe GmbH, formerly Gazprom Germania GmbH, is the main solution under discussion, the people said. The government is considering buying Fortum Oyj’s controlling stake in Uniper for a nominal price and would then inject billions of euros into the company through a capital increase. That move would dilute the stakes of Uniper’s remaining outside shareholders.

A painful push by businesses to cut their natural-gas use is bringing Europe closer to its goal of weaning itself off Russian energy. Getting consumers to follow suit might prove more difficult, the Wall Street Journal reported. Businesses, facing skyrocketing prices during a widening economic conflict running in parallel with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have ratcheted down their gas use in recent months. The reduction has exacted a significant economic cost, with slowing production at chemical plants and closed metals factories now widely expected to tip Europe into a recession.

The French economy will slow sharply next year in the face of Europe's energy crisis, with a risk of a "limited and temporary" recession in the worst-case scenario, the central bank said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The euro zone's second-biggest economy is on course for an expansion this year of 2.6% but growth will slow to 0.5% in 2023, the Bank of France said, under its reference scenario based on recent oil and gas futures prices.

The world may be edging toward a global recession as central banks across the world simultaneously hike interest rates to combat persistent inflation, the World Bank said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The world's three largest economies - the United States, China, and the euro area - have been slowing sharply, and even a "moderate hit to the global economy over the next year could tip it into recession," the bank said in a new study.