Headlines

Russia is set to shut its key Nord Stream natural-gas pipeline Wednesday for maintenance, leaving Europe guessing again about whether supplies will restart, as temperatures fall and demand for the fuel grows, the Wall Street Journal reported. Whatever the outcome, European officials and energy executives say the continent faces years of high energy prices and possible shortages as efforts to replace Russian imports clash with limited supplies elsewhere and regulations that discourage hydrocarbon usage.

Sri Lanka’s president said yesterday that his bankrupt country’s talks with the International Monetary Fund for a rescue package have successfully reached final stages as he presented an amended budget that seeks to tame inflation and hike taxes, the Associated Press reported. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister, said in a speech in Parliament that his government will soon start negotiating debt restructuring with countries that provide loans to Sri Lanka.

Italy has picked a group led by U.S. private equity fund Certares, backed by Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines Inc., for exclusive talks on buying a majority stake in ITA Airways, the Treasury said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The offer, details of which were not made public, would leave the Treasury with "at least" a 40% stake in ITA and the right to appoint the company's chairman and exercise a veto on certain "strategic choices", a source told Reuters.

The Canadian economy accelerated in the second quarter as the nation benefited from surging commodity prices and got a boost from the lifting of Covid lockdowns, though signs are emerging the momentum is waning, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product rose at a 3.3% annualized rate after a 3.1% increase in the first three months of the year, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday. Growth was led by stronger household consumption and business spending on inventories. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected 4.4% annualized growth in the second quarter.

Brazil's government debt fell to its lowest level since the start of the coronavirus pandemic amid favorable fiscal data, central bank data showed on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The country's debt as a share of gross domestic product dropped to 77.6% in July, from 78% in June, the lowest figure since March 2020, when it reached 77.03%. At the peak of the spending spree to fight the pandemic, the indicator reached 89% of GDP.

Transport for London on Tuesday reached a multi-billion-pound bailout deal with Government that will avoid the capital’s transport system falling into “managed decline,” the Evening Standard reported. But London Mayor Sadiq Khan warned that Tube fare rises and some cuts to buses were still on the horizon as the settlement leaves TfL with a “significant funding gap”. City Hall bosses have been locked in intense negotiations with Government staff for weeks to secure an agreement.

Global funds that invested in China Evergrande Group's bonds have come up with their own debt restructuring plan for the property developer and demanded that its chair repay liabilities with his own fortune, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, according to Reuters. With more than $300 billion in liabilities, Evergrande, once China's top-selling developer, has been at the centre of the crisis and its debt restructuring plan is seen as a possible template for others.

China is set to step up scrutiny of companies seeking to sell offshore debt, as defaults worsen to record levels and concerns mount about the fallout from dollar strength, Bloomberg News reported. Borrowers including financial firms will be required to register, report and receive approval for issuance of offshore debt with tenors longer than one year from the National Development and Reform Commission, according to a draft for comments posted on the NDRC website and dated Aug. 26. The opinion consultation period is from that day to Sept. 26.

China's three biggest airlines posted on Tuesday a combined 28.4 billion yuan ($4.12 billion) second-quarter loss, wider than in the first quarter, due to major travel disruptions including a strict COVID-related lockdown in Shanghai, Reuters reported. The country's policy of localised lockdowns in response to case numbers that are small by global standards has forced carriers to frequently press the stop button on domestic travel, the main driver for revenue amid border policies that have all but grounded international travel.

Japan's Ministry of Finance (MOF) has raised its assumed interest rate used to calculate debt servicing costs in its budget request for the next fiscal year, a senior ministry official said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The ministry has set the assumed interest rate at 1.3%, up from 1.2% the previous year, reflecting rises in long-term rates, the official told reporters. It marks the first increase in assumed interest rates since fiscal 2007/08 when the assumed rates increased to 2.9% from 2.7%, the official said.