Headlines

The Sri Lankan government campaign toward organic farming lasted only seven months, but farmers and agriculture experts blame the policy for a sharp drop in crop yields and spiraling prices that are worsening the country’s growing economic woes and leading to fears of food shortages, the New York Times reported. Prices for some foodstuffs, like rice, have risen by nearly one-third compared with a year ago, according to Sri Lanka’s central bank. The prices of vegetables like tomatoes and carrots have risen to five times their year-ago levels.

Petroleos Mexicanos will sell between $700 million and $1 billion in dollar-denominated bonds as part of a government effort to shore up the state oil giant’s finances, Deputy Finance Minister Gabriel Yorio said, Bloomberg News reported. The issuance is part of a government rescue plan announced earlier Monday that includes a $3.5 billion cash injection, which the producer will use to pay down obligations and embark on a series of bond buybacks. The overall deal will result in Pemex’s net debt falling by about $3.5 billion, Yorio said by telephone.

China’s exports rose by double digits in November but growth declined, while imports accelerated in a sign of stronger domestic demand, the Associated Press reported. Exports rose 21.4% over a year earlier to $325.5 billion, decelerating from October’s 27.1% growth, customs data showed Tuesday. Imports surged 31.7% to $253.8 billion, up from the previous month’s 20.6% rate. China’s exports have been boosted by foreign demand at a time when other global competitors are hampered by anti-coronavirus controls.

Germany’s soon-to-be finance minister, Christian Lindner, suggested that the euro region should be careful to prevent swelling government debt burdens from dictating the path of monetary policy, Bloomberg News reported. “Debts in the European Economic and Monetary Union have increased sharply due to the pandemic,” Lindner, the chairman of the pro-business Free Democrats, said at news conference in Berlin on Tuesday. “That’s why we are sensitive to avoiding a situation of fiscal dominance in the future,” he added.

Canada will soon crack down on COVID-19 mandates, forcing banks, telecommunications companies and all other federally regulated workspaces to ensure their employees are inoculated, Ottawa said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan made the announcement two months after the government said it would oblige the public sector and employees working in the federally regulated air, rail and marine transportation sectors to get their shots.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said his government would present a new package of pandemic restrictions this week in response to the new Omicron coronavirus variant and was considering how to handle the approaching Christmas holidays, Reuters reported. "Tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow at the latest, we will present a second (package) related to the Christmas situation, and as reaction to the virus' Omicron mutation because the situation is indeed not looking good... We have many deaths," Morawiecki told a news conference.

President Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that the U.S. and its allies would meet a military escalation into Ukraine with a series of actions, including strong economic measures, bolstering Ukrainian defenses and fortifying support for Eastern European nations, as allies work together to prevent renewed conflict in Eastern Europe, the Wall Street Journal reported. For more than two hours on Tuesday, the leaders held a secure video call to address what the U.S. has described as large and unusual troop movement near Russia’s border with Ukraine in recent weeks. The U.S.

China Evergrande Group’s stocks and bonds fell to historic lows, after Chinese authorities stepped up their involvement in the company’s affairs and the indebted developer moved closer to a reorganization of its hefty international debt, the Wall Street Journal reported. Evergrande was also running up against a payment deadline, as it has done several times in recent months. The 30-day grace period on $82.5 million in interest payments from two sets of dollar bonds issued by Evergrande’s Scenery Journey Ltd. unit ends Monday, said Iris Chen, a credit analyst at Nomura. Ms.

Troubled Chinese developer Yango Group Co. received a reprieve after its parent company got bondholders’ approval to delay payment of a local bond due next week, Bloomberg News reported. Holders of the 400 million yuan ($63 million) bond issued by Fujian Yango Group, parent of Yango Group, on Friday supported a proposal to extend principal payment of the debt due Dec. 7 by a year, according to a filing on the Shanghai Clearing House. The agreement, reached at a second meeting with bondholders, came after negotiations failed last week.

Sunshine 100 China Holdings issues update on 10.5% senior notes due 2021, with outstanding principal amount of notes and any accrued but unpaid interest due on Dec. 5, according to a filing, Bloomberg News reported.