Headlines

The International Monetary Fund approved a new tranche of aid to Ukraine and extended a $5 billion loan program by six months as the country pledged to progress in implementing reforms, Bloomberg News reported. The program “aims to help the authorities address the effects of the Covid-19 shock, sustain the economic recovery, and move ahead on important structural reforms to reduce key vulnerabilities,” the Washington-based lender said in a statement on its website Monday.

The Turkish lira’s freefall shattered records Tuesday as Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s intensifying campaign for lower interest rates plunges the country deeper into crisis, triggering an unscheduled meeting between the president and his central bank chief, Reuters reported. The lira, which dropped by more than 15% earlier in the day, was trading 8.2% lower at 12.4062 per dollar as of 5:30 p.m. in Istanbul. The currency’s 11-day losing streak is now the longest in 20 years, and in November alone, it’s lost almost a third of its value.

South Africa’s Government Employees Pension Fund, the biggest investor in Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. debt, said there were significant hurdles to a proposal that its bonds be converted to equity to help rescue the struggling power monopoly, Bloomberg News reported. The initiative, which has been backed by the country’s biggest labor unions, was first examined by the Public Investment Corp., which manages most of the pension fund’s investments, but the GEPF has not been formally approached about a potential swap, its investment chief said.

India is looking to bar most private cryptocurrencies when it introduces a new bill to regulate virtual currencies in the winter session of Parliament, the government said late on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The government will allow only certain cryptocurrencies to promote the underlying technology and its uses, according to a legislative agenda for the winter session that is set to start later this month.

Creditors want to know the identity of the mystery buyer who bought Shandong Ruyi Technology Group Co.’s stake in a large European retailer, because the deal has complicated their efforts to take control and sell the Chinese company’s holdings, Bloomberg News reported. A Paris judge will review Shandong Ruyi’s sale of a 16% stake in retailer SMCP SA, the owner of the Sandro and Maje brands.

Health Minister Jens Spahn called on Tuesday for further restrictions as Germany's rate of coronavirus infections hit a record high and more politicians backed compulsory vaccinations, Reuters reported. The seven-day incidence rate jumped to 399.8 per 100,000 people on Tuesday, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed, the 16th straight day it has hit a record level. As the number of COVID-19 deaths in Germany nears 100,000, the United States advised on Monday against travel there.

Argentina’s economy expanded more than expected in September as tourism, manufacturing and construction picked up, offsetting political volatility that followed the government’s defeat in primary elections, Bloomberg News reported. Economic activity rose 1.2% from the previous month, double the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey. From a year ago, growth slowed to 11.6%, according to government data published Tuesday. The government’s loss in the Sept.

The U.K. government will temporarily run gas and electricity supplier Bulb as the energy crunch deepens, the first forced nationalization of a British company since the 2008 banking crisis, Bloomberg News reported. The government and energy regulator Ofgem will ensure uninterrupted supplies to Bulb’s 1.7 million customers by appointing a special administrator. Costs for running the seventh-largest retailer will be supported by Treasury. The process is being carried out “in the quickest possible timeframe,” a government spokesperson said in a statement.

Some Chinese banks have been told by financial regulators to issue more loans to property firms for project development, two banking sources with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Monday, in efforts to marginally ease liquidity strains across the industry. Chinese authorities have yet to publicly give any signal that they will relax the "three red lines" - financial requirements introduced by the central bank last year that developers must meet to get new bank loans.

China’s central bank signaled possible easing measures to aid the economy’s recovery after a sharp downturn in recent months fueled by a property slump, Bloomberg News reported. In its latest quarterly monetary policy report published Friday, the People’s Bank of China removed from its policy outlook a few key phrases cited in previous reports, including sticking with “normal monetary policy.” That suggests a shift in stance toward more supportive measures, several major banks like Citigroup Inc., Nomura Holdings Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said.