Headlines

Argentine economy minister Martin Guzman said late on Friday that a $45 billion debt deal with the International Monetary Fund will not be modified, following a meeting with IMF head Kristalina Georgieva, Reuters reported. "We are not going to change the goals of the program with the IMF," Guzman told local media. The South American country's center-left Peronist government led by President Alberto Fernandez struck a staff-level agreement with the international lender at the beginning of March to avoid a default.

Germany’s Finance Minister Christian Lindner highlighted the risk of stagflation as the country faces up to the economic perils posed by the conflict in Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported. “The danger of stagflation is real,” he said Saturday in a virtual speech at a party conference of his liberal Free Democrats, referring to the risk of rapidly rising inflation hitting as economic growth drops.

Germany will increase borrowing plans by nearly 40 billion euros ($43 billion) this year to cushion the effect of the war in Ukraine, taking the total for net new debt to almost 140 billion euros, Bloomberg News reported. The adjustment is needed to help finance a range of government measures designed to offset the economic impact of the war and surging energy prices on companies and consumers, said the people, speaking on condition of anonymity before the fiscal plan is presented to the cabinet on Wednesday.

The Association of Banks in Lebanon said on Saturday it “completely rejects” the government’s latest draft of a financial recovery plan meant to pull the country out of an economic meltdown, Reuters reported. In a statement shared with Reuters, the ABL called the plan “disastrous” and said it would leave banks and depositors shouldering the “major portion” of losses. The government estimates that the financial sector's losses amount to $72 billion.

India's top retailer Reliance on Saturday called off its $3.4 billion deal with Future Group, saying it "cannot be implemented" after Future's secured creditors rejected it, Reuters reported. The deal was at the centre of legal battles since 2020 after Future's partner Amazon.com Inc legally blocked it, citing violation of certain contracts. Future denied any wrongdoing. In a stock exchange filing on Saturday, Reliance said the deal now cannot go through as "the secured creditors of FRL (Future Retail) have voted against" it.

Air Lease Corp. said on Friday it would write off the value of the 27 jets it has remaining in sanctions-hit Russia, a move that is expected to lead to charges of about $802 million, Reuters reported. Global aircraft leasing companies have been scrambling to repossess more than 400 jets worth almost $10 billion from Russian airlines, which have mostly been unresponsive to demands for surrendering the jets. "It is unlikely that the company will regain possession of the aircraft that have not been returned and that remain in Russia," Air Lease said in a statement.

Russian households withdrew foreign currency worth $9.8 billion from their accounts in March and banks cut new corporate lending by around one third, the central bank said on Wednesday, as western sanctions over events in Ukraine spooked consumers, Reuters reported. "The quarter was difficult, to put it bluntly. It was very worrying at certain moments, but most importantly, the situation managed to stabilise," said Alexander Danilov, director of the central bank's banking regulation and analytics department. "The banking sector faced significant outflow of the population's funds ...

As Russia teeters on the brink of a historic default, foreign investors in the country's debt have few palatable options to recover their money: bet on costly legal action, trust bilateral agreements will stand, or sit on their hands, according to a Reuters analysis. Foreign creditors would typically try to band together to negotiate, go to court or in some cases seek arbitration in cases of default, but Western sanctions in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and the peculiarities of Russian sovereign bonds make those options hard at the moment, lawyers said.

A prolonged slowdown in China would have substantial global spillovers, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday, but added that Beijing has room to adjust policy to provide support, Reuters reported. The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its growth forecast for China this year to 4.4%, well below Beijing's target of around 5.5%, on the risks of widespread COVID-19 lockdowns and supply chain disruptions. In a video speech to the annual Boao Forum for Asia, Georgieva said China's actions to counter its economic slowdown are vital for the global recovery.

China's securities watchdog is holding regular talks with U.S. regulators over audit cooperation and expects a deal soon, a Chinese regulatory official said on Thursday about a dispute that could lead to delistings of U.S.-listed Chinese companies, Reuters reported. The comments by Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), represent the latest gesture from Beijing that it is willing to solve the long-standing dispute with Washington.