Headlines

Malaysian budget airline AirAsia Group Bhd reported a wider quarterly net loss on Monday, as pandemic restrictions on travel in two of three of its operating markets weighed on revenue, while it logged a foreign exchange loss, Reuters reported. It said that enhanced lockdowns and travel restrictions in Malaysia and Indonesia impacted its aviation revenue, although its Philippines unit had a strong quarter.

Thailand’s unemployment rose to its highest level in more than 16 years after the worst wave of Covid-19 outbreak to hit the nation decimated jobs in the third quarter, Bloomberg News reported. The Southeast Asian nation had 870,000 unemployed people at the end of September, representing a 2.25% jobless rate, according to the National Economic and Social Development Council. It’s the worst showing since 2005 and is higher than the 1.89% posted in the second quarter, official data showed.

The German economy is taking "a breather" as a lack of goods and labour as well as new restrictions designed to fight the coronavirus pandemic put an end to its recent boom, the country's central bank said on Monday, Reuters reported. The Bundesbank also warned that inflation in Europe's largest economy was likely to stay well above 3% for some time and upcoming wage negotiations should deliver large increases. Germany's economy boomed in the first half of the year as services reopened for business.

El Salvador intends to issue the world’s first sovereign Bitcoin bonds and build Bitcoin City, which will be free of income, property and capital gains taxes, President Nayib Bukele announced in the beach town of Mizata to a crowd of cheering Bitcoin enthusiasts, Bloomberg News reported. El Salvador plans to issue $1 billion in tokenized U.S.-dollar denominated 10-year bonds to pay 6.5% via the Liquid Network, according to Samson Mow, chief strategy officer of Blockstream.

Telecom Italia (TIM) has received a 10.8 billion euro ($12 billion) approach from U.S. fund KKR aimed at taking Italy's biggest phone group private, the company said on Sunday, Reuters reported. KKR's move comes as TIM's CEO Luigi Gubitosi battles for survival after coming under fire from top investor Vivendi following two profit warnings in three months. TIM said KKR had set an indicative price of 0.505 euros for its possible buyout offer -- a 45.7% premium to the ordinary shares' closing price on Friday. KKR would also offer the same price for TIM's savings shares.

New Zealand’s central bank is expected to raise interest rates for a second straight month and signal a more aggressive tightening cycle to contain inflation amid a labor shortage, Bloomberg News reported. The Reserve Bank will lift the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 0.75% on Wednesday in Wellington, according to 21 of 23 surveyed economists. Two predict a hike to 1% and investors see a risk the RBNZ will opt for a 50 basis-point increase, but the bank could instead signal faster tightening ahead.

Up and down India in places like small town Vita, the mom-and-pop stores that account for four-fifths of a near-$900 billion retail market - more than $700 billion - are increasingly turning to JioMart to stock up on foreign and domestic brands, Reuters reported. Just as Ambani, India's richest man, has disrupted the country's telecoms industry, the tycoon is intent on shaking up retail distribution, taking on U.S. e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart Inc., expanding fast in India.

Japan’s government agreed on Friday to spend $490 billion on stimulus measures, a move by its prime minister to boost an economy battered by coronavirus restrictions and by a supply chain crunch that has affected the country’s largest manufacturers, the New York Times reported. Japan announced a partial easing of border restrictions this month and has lifted virtually all restrictions on its economy amid a falling virus caseload. And its rate of fully vaccinated people — 76 percent of the population, according to a New York Times tracker — is one of the highest among rich nations.

Financial creditors of two non-bank finance companies of the Srei group — Srei Infrastructure Finance (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance (SEFL) — may evaluate the prospect of a consolidated insolvency proceeding, TelegraphIndia.com reported. The corporate insolvency resolution process has been initiated in the two companies separately and two cases have been admitted with the Calcutta bench of the NCLT after the RBI superseded their boards on October 4, 2021. A consolidated insolvency proceeding may garner more interest among potential bidders than individual companies.

CSA, the Czech flag carrier, has lost 105 million Czech Crown ($4.6 million) in the first nine months of the year. However, it is making sufficient progress in paying off its debts, and so it will remain in the process of business restructuring and will not be declared bankrupt, SimpleFlying.com reported. The insolvency administrator of CSA announced that he was satisfied with the financial state of the Czech flag carrier in a report seen by Simple Flying. CSA will remain in the process of business restructuring and will not enter bankruptcy.