Headlines

Irish retail sales rose in February as Covid-19 restrictions were lifted and consumers spent more in bars, and on hardware and electrical goods, the Irish Times reported. Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures show retail volumes were up 0.9 per cent month on month. The sectors with the largest monthly increases were bars (13.9 per cent); hardware, paints and glass (7 per cent); and electrical goods (4.8 per cent). Sales volumes, however, in department stores declined by 5.4 per cent.

Sri Lanka will have to undergo debt restructuring as strongly suggested by the International Monetary Fund in order to secure financing from creditors, according to Citigroup Global Markets, Bloomberg News reported. The prescription follows IMF’s observation that fiscal consolidation efforts alone to pare debt to safe levels would be too large to be economically and politically feasible. While the IMF didn’t specify what a safe level is, Citi sees reduction to a 79.7% public debt ratio witnessed between 2010-18 as a good benchmark from 119% level last year.

Ghana reopened its land and sea borders on Monday after a two-year closure as it lifted some coronavirus restrictions in an attempt to bolster a flagging economy, AFP reported. President Nana Akufo-Addo also announced in a televised address on Sunday night that the wearing of masks in the West African country is no longer mandatory as active Covid-19 cases drop below 100. Afuko-Addo said outdoor functions can resume at full capacity as long as all persons are fully vaccinated. From Monday, fully vaccinated travellers will no longer have to take Covid tests to enter the country.

Tennis great Boris Becker, who is on trial in London accused of failing to hand over his assets after he was declared bankrupt, has told a jury about his struggles with money including payments for an “expensive divorce” and debts when he lost large chunks of his income after retirement, the Associated Press reported. Becker said Monday that he wasn’t able to earn enough to pay his debts because of bad publicity when his reputation declined. He said that he had “expensive lifestyle commitments” including a house in Wimbledon that cost 22,000 pounds ($28,800) in rent each month.

Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, will host an online fund-raising event for Ukrainian refugees on April 9, the New York Times reported.

Some holders of a $3 billion Russia bond received an overdue interest payment, signaling that the heavily sanctioned nation will once again sidestep a default, Bloomberg News reported. The $66 million interest payment started showing up in accounts on Thursday, according to two international bondholders, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. The payment was in dollars, one of the people said. A third bondholder reached Thursday said they had yet to see the payment.

German business morale plummeted in March as companies worried about rising energy prices, driver shortages and the stability of supply chains in the wake of the war in Ukraine, pointing to a possible future recession, a survey showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The Ifo institute said its business climate index dropped to 90.8 in March from a downwardly revised 98.5 in February. A Reuters poll of analysts had pointed to a March reading of 94.2.

Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte’s Mediterranean Shipping Co. will take a minority stake in Moby SpA as the ailing ferry company aims to settle a dispute with creditors and restructure its debt, Bloomberg News reported. MSC, one of the world’s largest container shipping companies, will provide fresh funds to Moby to pay off the administrators of Tirrenia, a unit it bought out of insolvency in 2011, according to a joint statement late Thursday. The firms didn’t disclose the size of the capital increase.

Realty developer Supertech has been declared insolvent after the Delhi bench of the National Company Law Tribunal admitted a petition filed by the Union Bank of India for non-payment of dues, the Economic Times of India reported. The NCLT has appointed Hitesh Goel as the insolvency resolution professional (IRP). The company which was under stress and was in the process of demolishing two illegal towers at its Noida project following the order of the Supreme Court, has multiple under construction projects in NCR.