Headlines

The Czech central bank delivered what may be the last in its series of massive interest-rate increases, but mounting inflation risks pose a dilemma for newcomers who will take control of the policy board next month, Bloomberg News reported. Policy makers lifted the key rate by 125 basis points to 7% on Wednesday, in line with most analyst forecasts and bringing cumulative tightening to 6.75 percentage points over the past year. Still, the koruna weakened because the decision was smaller than market bets for a hike of as much as 150 basis points.

Russian officials are considering ways to keep the ruble on a tight leash without abandoning inflation targeting as they hunt for tools to tame the currency’s surge after sanctions ended the central bank’s ability to intervene directly, Bloomberg News reported. Rather than removing a commitment to target price growth, officials would need a new mechanism as long as sanctions on the central bank are in place, according to people familiar with the matter.

Turkey is planning to offer local-currency liquidity to foreigners at the same rate as domestic investors, so long as the funding doesn’t reach those betting against the lira, Bloomberg News reported. Under a program designed by the Treasury and Finance Ministry and expected to go into effect early next month, offshore investors will be able to access a new swap line with a maturity of at least three to six months to buy local assets, according to an official with direct knowledge of the matter.

The Art Gallery of Sudbury can continue to operate out of the Bell Mansion until 2025, under the terms of an agreement reached with Laurentian University, CTVNews reported. Laurentian has also agreed not to sell the art to help settle its debts as it works its way through insolvency under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. After that process is completed, LU has agreed to give the AGS 90 days notice if it intends to sell the collection. The future of the AGS was in question after its assets were included in Laurentian University's insolvency declaration.

Brazil's antitrust watchdog on Wednesday approved the sale of state-run oil firm Petrobras' 51% stake in gas company Gaspetro with no restrictions, Reuters reported. Petrobras is selling the stake to Compass, which is controlled by energy company Cosan, for 2.03 billion reais ($394.15 million), according to a statement from Compass when the deal was announced last July. Japan's Mitsui & Co. owns the remaining 49% stake in Gaspetro, a holding company which controls 18 distributors of piped natural gas. The watchdog's Wednesday decision came on a 4-3 vote.

Katie Price has seemingly swerved bankruptcy proceedings for a third time this year, with her court case reportedly being moved to February 2023, the Daily Mirror reported. The 43-year-old former glamour model was due to face a judge over the £3.2million bankruptcy debts she has but the hearing, which was reportedly meant to have taken place at London’s Royal Courts of Justice on June 7, has now been pushed back into next year.

Two of Asia’s financial hubs aimed to reinvent the SPAC. So far, it is proving slow going, the Wall Street Journal reported. Exchanges in Hong Kong and Singapore have always said they aim for quality not quantity with their rules for blank-check companies, touting better investor protection than in the U.S. But as the U.S. SPAC business has lost momentum, global banks and international investors have grown more cautious about their involvement in these vehicles.

China’s property sector started to crumble under the weight of its huge debts. What was already shaping up to be the country’s worst housing market in years suffered another blow when a new variant of the coronavirus triggered widespread lockdowns and brought the economy to a standstill, the New York Times reported.

Brazil’s central bank said an extension of its aggressive tightening cycle with another interest rate hike in August is needed to assure that high inflation forecasts will fall back around their target, Bloomberg News reported. Policy makers discussed signaling a steady interest rate for a “sufficiently long” period but concluded another hike would still be needed, according to the minutes of their June 14-15 meeting, when the board raised borrowing costs to 13.25%.

Miners Vale SA and BHP Group said in a joint statement on Monday they are not interested in selling their joint venture Samarco, after reports of the interest of Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN), Reuters reported. "BHP Brasil and Vale say Samarco is not for sale and reaffirm its support for the restructuring plan filed by the employees' unions," the companies said in a joint statement. The statement added the companies are "focused on the mediation hearing in the bankruptcy process" scheduled for Tuesday.