Headlines

Euro zone finance ministers said on Monday the fight against inflation was the current priority despite dwindling growth in the bloc, as they are set to be informed of a deteriorating economic outlook by the European Commission, Reuters reported. At a regular monthly meeting of ministers, the EU executive commission will give an update of its economic forecasts, showing slower growth and higher inflation, the commission's vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis said on the sidelines of the meeting.

Sri Lanka's parliament will reconvene on July 15 and a new president will be elected on July 20, the parliamentary speaker said on Monday, as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa plans to resign on Wednesday amid a devastating economic crisis, Reuters reported. "Nominations for the next president will be presented to parliament on 19 July. On 20 July parliament will vote to elect a new president," Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said in a statement.

Sri Lanka's central bank governor signaled on Monday he would stay in the job but warned that prolonged political instability in the country may delay progress on negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package, Reuters reported. Governor P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, who has been holding bailout talks with the IMF since taking office in April, had told reporters in May he could resign if there was no political stability in the island nation of 22 million that is facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades.

Argentina's new economy minister Silvina Batakis said on Monday she would target cutting the country's high fiscal deficit, pledging "order and balance" in a bid to tame spiraling inflation, tumbling markets and growing pressure on the peso, Reuters reported. Batakis, who took over last week after an abrupt shake-up at the ministry, said Argentina will move toward positive interest rates, maintain plans to cut energy subsidies and stick with goals agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Zambia is cancelling more than $2 billion worth of projects financed by commercial loans to reduce the risk of accumulating more non-concessional debt, the ministry of finance said, Reuters reported. In 2020, Zambia became the first nation to default in the COVID-19 era. At the end of 2021, its external debt stood at $17.27 billion, of which China held $5.78 billion, and it is in negotiations with creditors and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to lift itself out of this debt hole.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) said on Monday it would propose "robust" global rules for cryptocurrencies in October, following recent turmoil in markets that has highlighted the need to regulate the "speculative" sector, Reuters reported. The FSB, a body of regulators, treasury officials and central bankers from the Group of 20 economies (G20), has so far limited itself to monitoring the crypto sector, saying it did not pose a systemic risk.

China unveiled tighter rules late on Thursday to better regulate its $1.3 trillion credit card industry, urging lenders to adopt a "prudent" growth strategy, and monitor risks more closely, Reuters reported. Banks are also barred from using the number of cards issued or market share as main performance metrics, and are required to cap the number of dormant cards at 20% of total, according to rules jointly published by China's central bank, and the country's banking regulator.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Chennai, has asked ASG Hospital for the sources of funds for its about ₹520-crore bid for Vasan Health Care Pvt. Ltd. under the corporate insolvency and resolution process, the Hindu reported. According to the legal proceedings, the committee of creditors had approved the Rajasthan-based ASG Hospital’s resolution plan with 97.9% voting in favour of the bid and sought the NCLT’s approval. At Friday’s hearing, the resolution professional told the NCLT that the bid was three times more than the liquidation value.

Unregulated lenders in Mexico that specialize in loans to low-income people grew at a breakneck pace over the past decade, until accounting irregularities at three Deloitte-audited firms threw the sector’s credibility into question, the Wall Street Journal reported. The three lenders—Crédito Real SAB de CV, AlphaCredit Capital SA de CV and Grupo Finmart—have discredited some financial statements as unreliable. All retained the same auditor for years: Deloitte Mexico, the Mexico City-based unit of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.

Commodity investors looking to China to reverse the severe rout in global metals markets may be disappointed, with Beijing unable to deliver the kind of investment splurge that powered past bull markets, Bloomberg News reported. Authorities are mulling a plan to let local governments sell 1.5 trillion yuan ($220 billion) of special bonds in the second half. This potential boost for infrastructure spending helped commodities pare some of their steep losses in recent weeks.