Headlines

Argentina's monthly inflation clocked in at 5.1% in May, still painfully high but below expectations and slower than the two previous months as the South American grains producer battles to bring down consumer prices, Reuters reported. That was below the median forecast of 5.2% that local and foreign analysts polled by Reuters gave. The rate was 6% in April and a year-high 6.7% in March. The annual inflation rate, however, is expected to top 70% by the end of the year.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador criticized the use of monetary policy to curb inflation, saying high interest rates stop economic growth, one week before the nation’s central bank may deliver its biggest hike yet, Bloomberg News reported. AMLO, as the president is known, likened repeatedly raising rates to turning off the engine of a car when it overheats and said he would rather focus on increasing production to avoid supply shortages.

Canadian businesses operating in critical infrastructure sectors would be required to report cyber attacks to the federal government and would have to fortify their cyber systems under a new law introduced on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The legislation identifies finance, telecommunications, energy and transportation sectors as being vital to national security and public safety, but stops short of naming any companies.

The operator of Istanbul's second-largest airport Sabiha Gokcen is seeking relief from its current contract after the pandemic hit and is close to reaching a deal with the Turkish government, a top company official said. ISG, the operator, is fully owned by Malaysia Airports Holdings and has a 20-year contract with the government to run Sabiha Gokcen airport until 2034. The contract was worth 1.93 billion euros ($2.01 billion). "We are discussing with the government some forms of relief due to the pandemic," Mohammad Nazli Abdul Aziz, executive director of the operator, ISG, told Reuters.

The South Korean government reached a deal with truckers to extend a minimum-wage plan, ending a weeklong strike that had snarled supply chains in one of Asia’s export powerhouses, the Wall Street Journal reported. The truckers union agreed to return to work immediately after reaching a deal with the transport ministry late Tuesday, bringing a close to the standoff over wages that had been aggravated by rising fuel prices. Under the deal, the transport ministry will extend a minimum-wage plan that was set to expire at the end of the year.

France's economy should avoid falling into recession during the current quarter after contracting in the first three months of the year, the central bank said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The euro zone's second-biggest economy will grow around 0.25% in the three months to the end of June from the first quarter when it shrank 0.2%, the Bank of France said, revising its second quarter estimate marginally higher from 0.2% last month.

LATAM Airlines Group SA, the largest air transport group in Latin America, yesterday asked a bankruptcy judge to approve $2.75 billion in new loans to fund the company's exit from chapter 11, Reuters reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Garrity in Manhattan will review the request during a court hearing on June 23.

The Noida authority on Monday said that it has written to the Centre and Uttar Pradesh government, seeking revision in the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016, the Hindustan Times reported. The authority has asked to be included in the category of financial creditors for easier recovery of dues from defaulting realtors facing corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). “We have written to the Uttar Pradesh and central government seeking revision in the provisions of IBC-2016.

European Union financial services chief Mairead McGuinness on Tuesday urged the bloc's lawmakers to agree on bank capital rules to keep the sector resilient as it emerges from the pandemic and markets fragment due to war in Ukraine, Reuters reported. The EU is approving a law to implement capital requirements agreed at the global Basel Committee of banking regulators, but intends to deviate from some of the Basel norms for exposures to residential real estate and unrated companies.

Polish President Andrzej Duda has signed into law regulations replacing the controversial body disciplining judges with a new accountability panel in the hope it will persuade the European Union to release billions of euros in pandemic funds frozen over Poland’s political control of the judiciary, the Associated Press reported. Duda signed the changes into law late Monday, his office said.