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China is seen adding stimulus to stabilize growth next year, with various ministries vowing more proactive measures to reverse the slowdown caused by a worsening property slump, weak consumption and the coronavirus, Bloomberg News reported. As downward pressure on the economy increases, China’s top leaders made ensuring stability their top priority for next year, telling all regions and ministries to share responsibility in achieving that goal. Heeding the call, the central bank pledged to pro-actively introduce monetary policies that are conducive to economic stability.
The Reserve Bank of India’s weekend intervention in RBL Bank has triggered rumors regarding the health of the privately-owned lender, Asia Times reported. The central bank on Dec. 25 appointed its own staffer, Chief General Manager Yogesh Dayal, as an additional director on RBL Bank’s board for a two-year term. At the same time, RBL Bank said its Chief Executive Officer Vishwavir Ahuja will go on leave and Executive Director Rajeev Ahuja will take over as interim chief.
The European Union's relationship with Switzerland could fall apart if negotiations over Switzerland's place in the EU internal market fail, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said, Reuters reported. Brussels has pushed for years for a treaty to cap an array of bilateral accords and require the Swiss to routinely adopt changes to single market rules. Talks between Bern and its biggest trading partner broke off in May over concerns about yielding too much sovereignty to the bloc.
Creditors of Brazilian iron ore pellet-producer Samarco Mineração rejected the company’s proposal to restructure its debt under a bankruptcy protection plan, mining giant Vale said in a statement, bnamericas.com reported. A 50/50 joint venture between Vale and BHP, Samarco filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year to avoid early payment to some bondholders in an effort to preserve its cash flow and resume full production. The company currently has debts of 50bn reais (US$8.8bn), of which 26bn reais are in outstanding bonds and 24bn reais are owed to Vale and BHP.
Edison Motors is acquiring SsangYong Motor, the South Korea-based automobile manufacturer that has gone bankrupt, and it was reported that the deal may be completed this week, Economic Times reported. Sources stated that the merger is likely to be sealed in a few days, with Jan. 7 being the latest. "We need to adjust the contents of the contract, but if the discussion goes well, it can be done within this month," an official from Edison Motors said in a statement.
Kazakhstan’s cryptomining industry was initially boosted by China’s tightening grip on digital asset regulation, but some seven months down the line, it’s emerging that Kazakh-based miners are fed-up with electricity shortages, cryptoslate.com reported. Some miners report nearing bankruptcy due to the national grid’s inability to supply consistent power. Just as the country was emerging as a significant global cryptomining hub, it seems as though things have gone south as miners begin to leave. China had banned financial institutions from dealing with crypto transactions this past May.
Turkey’s lira snapped a five-day rally, challenging government assurances that it’s on a more stable footing after measures were introduced a week ago to stem its collapse, Yahoo Finance reported. The currency slipped 7.2% to 11.4665 per dollar as of 6:37 p.m. in Istanbul after trading as weak as 11.5831 earlier. The decline took the lira’s drop this year to more than 35%, the sharpest depreciation of any emerging-market currency during 2021.
China Evergrande Group said it has resumed construction at most of its housing projects as authorities push the debt-laden developer to pay migrant workers and deliver apartments, Bloomberg News reported. Nearly 92% of Evergrande’s property projects have so far restarted, compared with just about 50% at the beginning of September, according to a company statement released Sunday night. The number of workers involved in the projects that have resumed building has risen 31% from September to 89,000.
China’s central bank pledged greater support for the real economy, and said it will make monetary policy more forward-looking and targeted Bloomberg News reported. There will be more “proactive” use of monetary policy tools, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement on Saturday. It added that there will be “good use” of the monetary policy tools’ quantitative and structural functions, referring to the adjustment of liquidity in the market and policies targeted at certain groups. The monetary policy committee held a meeting on Friday that was chaired by Governor Yi Gang.