Headlines

Sanctioned Russian lender Sberbank PJSC caused the bankruptcy of the Antipinsky Oil Refinery in Western Siberia, according to Swiss trader New Stream Trading AG, Bloomberg reported. Sberbank “had full control of the management of Antipinsky” from mid-November 2018 and took steps leading to it “procuring the breaches” of the refinery’s existing contracts, NST said, quoting from a ruling by a tribunal constituted under the London Court of International Arbitration.

Global energy markets that have thrown up plenty of anomalies in 2022 as flows get rerouted and prices jump just saw a fresh quirk: India, typically Asia’s leading gasoline and diesel exporter, has been forced to step up imports of the fuels, Bloomberg News reported. Gasoline imports are set to rise to about 37,000 barrels a day in the first half of July, an eight-month high, according to preliminary data by Vortexa Ltd. Diesel imports, meanwhile, are set to surge to the highest since February 2020 at about 69,000 barrels a day in the period. Refiners such as Indian Oil Corp.

Japan's factory output posted the biggest monthly drop in two years in May as China's COVID-19 lockdowns and semiconductor and other parts shortages hit manufacturers, adding more pressure on an economy struggling to mount a strong recovery, Reuters reported. The decline also highlights the challenge the world's third-largest economy faces in overcoming supply disruptions and persistently high prices of raw materials and energy that analysts say could weaken global demand.

Euro zone unemployment fell to a new record low in May as the economy continued to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, even if inflation exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine is expected to dampen growth, Reuters reported. The European Union's statistics office Eurostat said on Thursday that unemployment in the 19 countries sharing the euro fell to 6.6% of the workforce in May from a revised 6.7% in April. The 6.6% rate is the lowest rate since records dating back to 1998, just before the official launch of the euro in January 1999.

Brazil's federal government posted a bigger-than-expected primary budget deficit in May as net revenue fell during the period, official figures showed on Wednesday, Reuters reported. According to the Treasury, the budget deficit reached 39.4 billion reais ($7.55 billion) last month, worse than the median forecast of a 30.3 billion reais deficit in a Reuters poll. Net revenue fell 3.3% in real terms over May of last year, as transfers to states and municipalities surged 35.4% on the same basis.

European Union negotiators on Wednesday reached a provisional agreement on anti-money laundering rules for cryptocurrencies that would spur crypto firms to check their customers' identities, in the latest regulatory tightening of the freewheeling sector, Reuters reported. The rules, opposed by major U.S. exchange Coinbase Global Inc, would also require crypto firms to report suspicious transactions to regulators to help crack down on dirty money, the European Parliament and Council said in a statement on Wednesday. Regulation of the $2.1 trillion crypto sector remains patchy across the world.

The Spanish government has rejected state aid for Abenewco1, a unit of Spanish engineering and energy group Abengoa, moving it closer to bankruptcy proceedings, Reuters reported. The company had requested a temporary state aid package worth 249 million euros ($263 million) to stay afloat while it evaluates a takeover bid from Los Angeles-based private equity fund TerraMar Capital LLC worth 200 million euros. A source from Spain's state vehicle SEPI said that because the viability of the company and the repayment of the loan were not guaranteed, the firm was not subject to state aid.

Canada’s banking regulator moved to rein in a number of home-loan products that have exploded in popularity during the country’s pandemic housing boom as the market starts to turn, Bloomberg News reported. Consumers who hold mortgages that are combined with a revolving home-equity line of credit and exceed a 65% loan-to-value ratio must use some of their principal payments to pay down their mortgage balance until it’s below that threshold, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said in a statement Tuesday.

Sri Lanka’s economy fell back into contraction last quarter as the country battled its worst economic problems since independence, with emergency aid to stabilize the island nation proving elusive, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product declined 1.6% in the quarter ended March from a year earlier, the Department of Census and Statistics said in a statement on Tuesday. That’s shallower than a 3.6% contraction seen by economists in a Bloomberg survey and compares with a revised 2% expansion in the previous quarter.

Colombia's fiscal rule committee said on Tuesday the country's finances are still not in order despite upticks in predicted tax revenue, and there is risk of an eventual increase in debt and spending, Reuters reported. The expert Autonomous Fiscal Rule Committee (CARF), charged with evaluating public finances, added in a statement there should be a change in the country's accounting to include fuel subsidy deficit.