Headlines

Sri Lanka’s new president said the country has experienced the worst of its economic crisis and that restoring political stability will allow it to begin turning a corner, starting with finalizing negotiations for an International Monetary Fund bailout that had stalled due to recent turmoil, the Wall Street Journal reported. “I think we’ve already hit the bottom,” Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an interview Sunday with The Wall Street Journal.

Zambia's sovereign dollar-denominated Eurobonds gained more than 1 cent in the dollar on Monday, after a pledge on Saturday by bilateral creditors to negotiate debt relief cleared the way for a $1.4 billion deal with the IMF, Reuters reported. Its 2024 maturity was up 1.417 cents at 8.46 GMT, according to Tradeweb data, while the 2027 issue was up 1.242 cents. Bonds were bid between 58.5 cent and 59.2 cents - still trading at distressed levels - but at their strongest in a month. There was no trading data available for the issue that matures in September 2022.

Russia's economic contraction will deepen in the third quarter of 2022, while its strong current account surplus, the key driver of the rouble's recent rebound, will shrink in the second half of this year, the central bank said on Monday, Reuters reported. Russia's export-dependent economy is plunging into recession after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, triggering sweeping financial and economic sanctions from the West.

Pakistan sees a way out of its current economic crisis without descending into default, thanks to progress on a stalled International Monetary Fund loan as well as spending cuts, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said, Bloomberg News reported. “With the commodity super cycle and Russia-Ukraine war, oil prices skyrocketing and gas going as high as ever been in history, Pakistan and other emerging countries have been facing the worst crisis,” he said in a phone interview.

Brazil posted a lower than expected trade surplus of $5.444 billion in July, official data showed on Monday, with growth in imports again strongly outpacing that of exports, Reuters reported. The figure came below the median forecast of a $6.993 billion surplus in a Reuters poll. Imports rose 41.6% in July over the same month last year, to $24.511 billion, the Economy Ministry said. Exports grew by 23%, to $29.955 billion, added the ministry, stressing that higher prices boosted the results in both cases.

Some holders of Ecuador's sovereign dollar-denominated bonds maturing in 2030, 2035 and 2040 have received interest payments which had been due on the securities on July 31, Reuters reported. A Luxembourg bailiff had ordered banks to freeze assets held by Ecuador at accounts in the country as a result of a dispute over a $391 million settlement award that Anglo-French oil company Perenco says remains unpaid, a document seen by Reuters show.

Corporate insolvency numbers in Scotland increased by 49.1% from the same time last year with 243 insolvencies in the last quarter, Accountancy Daily reported. This figure was up from 163 in the first quarter of the year with personal insolvencies rising by 8.1% over the same period. Corporate insolvencies include compulsory liquidations, creditors’ voluntary liquidations, and receivership appointments. Compulsory liquidations rose by 37.5% between Q1 2021 and Q1 2022 Creditors’ voluntary liquidations increased by 51.9% in the same period.

Crypto lender Vauld, which halted withdrawals earlier this month, is facing hostile action from multiple creditors, according to a new affidavit reviewed by Moneycontrol. As per the affidavit, Vauld has received two demand letters and two civil claims from four creditors. One of the letters demanded $340,000 in payment plus interest from Vauld, while the claim amounts of the other creditors were not mentioned in the affidavit. The lender owes $402 million to creditors, of which, $363 million belongs to individual retail investors.

A group of ex-Greensill Capital employees sued the defunct firm in London, accusing management of unfairly keeping them in the dark about the company’s “imminent danger of collapse,” Bloomberg News reported. A group of 277 employees -- less than half the UK workforce -- are claiming £4.5 million ($5.4 million) for not being consulted properly on their redundancy. They say the firm did not tell them about potential job-loss risks despite being aware of its obvious financial problems. A judge will decide Thursday whether the claimants are entitled to that level of award.

A regulatory breakthrough is expected to slash costs for investors trading over-the-counter derivatives in China, the latest step in opening up the nation’s capital markets to foreign investors, Bloomberg News reported. A Chinese law that takes effect Monday enforces a mechanism used around the world for determining payouts if a derivative counterparty defaults, bringing the standards there in line with those used in other major markets.