Headlines

Brazil's trade surplus reached $8.814 in June, official figures showed on Friday, below market expectations, Reuters reported. The reading was the second best for the month of June, after last year, since the figures were recorded in 1989. According to the Economy Ministry, exports grew 15.6% from June last year, to $32.7 billion, while imports jumped 33.7% to $23.9 billion. Global inflationary pressures have been boosting the value of tradable goods, amid rising food and energy prices and disrupted supply chains with the Russia-Ukraine war.

Colombia’s central bank delivered its biggest interest rate increase in over two decades, potentially putting itself on a collision course with President-elect Gustavo Petro, though it signaled the pace may not be kept in future decisions, Bloomberg News reported. The board unanimously raised rates by 150 basis points to 7.5%, Governor Leonardo Villar told reporters after a policy meeting Thursday. That’s the largest hike since the bank implemented its inflation-targeting strategy in 1999.

Ghana slashed its plan to borrow as much as $750 million from international banks because of surging borrowing costs, according to a finance ministry official with knowledge of the matter, and will also tap the International Monetary Fund to bolster its finances, Bloomberg News reported. The West African nation will borrow $250 million from banks at an interest rate of about 8.4% to fund budget needs such as roads, railways, energy and health.

A delegation from the International Monetary Fund will visit Tunisia on Monday to start negotiations over a loan programme, a central bank official told Reuters on Friday, Reuters reported. This follows the completion of technical talks between the IMF and Tunisia, said Zied Mouhli, a central bank spokesperson. Tunisia, which is facing a financial crisis, is seeking to reach a loan deal in return for an unpopular reform package to shore up its struggling public finances.

Remittances sent to Mexico, a major boon for Latin America's second-largest economy and especially for low-income families, reached an all-time high of $5.17 billion in May, central bank data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. It was the first time monthly remittances surged past the $5.0 billion mark and compares with $4.72 billion in April and $4.53 billion in May 2021.

German gas giant Uniper SE is in talks with the government over a potential bailout package of as much as 9 billion euros, ($9.4 billion), Bloomberg News reported. The government is looking at applying a set of measures, including loans, taking an equity stake and also passing part of the surge in costs onto customers. Uniper declined to comment. The company, which is one of the biggest importers of Russian gas, said last week it was in talks with the government to secure liquidity. Its shares sank 28% on Monday, taking the company’s market value to 4.14 billion euros.

Singapore’s top financial regulator reprimanded the cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, saying that it supplied false information to officials and managed more assets than allowed, the Wall Street Journal reported. The firm, which was recently ordered to liquidate by a court in the British Virgin lslands, previously gave false or misleading information to regulators when it transferred management of its fund in September 2021 to an entity in the offshore tax haven, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said Thursday.

A new federal private member’s bill aims to protect your pension in the bankruptcy process if your employer ends up as the next Nortel or Sears Canada, the Toronto Star reported. It’s the latest in a string of attempts to change Canada’s laws to give underfunded pension plans with insufficient assets to cover their liabilities a “super priority” over large creditors and the payout of executive bonuses in a bankruptcy or insolvency process.

Canada's British Columbia province said on Wednesday it reached a C$150 million ($116.50 million) settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma Canada over healthcare costs related to the opioid crisis, Reuters reported. Purdue had been named as one of more than 40 defendants - drugmakers and distributors - in a proposed class-action lawsuit brought by British Columbia in 2018 on behalf of all provincial and federal Canadian governments.

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is seeking new investors to aid its new business plan after the airline gained creditors' support to restructure its Rp 142 trillion (US$9 billion) of liabilities, the Jakarta Post reported. The State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Ministry has been in talks with several foreign airline companies and financial investors to invest in Garuda, Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, Deputy SOEs Minister said on Tuesday.