Headlines

World Bank Group President David Malpass said Monday the Earth is seeing "tragic reversals in development" due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, The Hill reported. Malpass gave his assessment at a media roundtable in Washington, D.C., for the 2021 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group, saying some countries are being set back by several years. He said that the World Bank estimates the global economy will grow by 5.7 percent in 2021 and 4.4 percent in 2022.

The voting period for Mt. Gox creditors regarding the proposed the civil rehabilitation plan has now ended, CoinDesk.com reported. The groundbreaking cryptocurrency exchange, based in Tokyo, shut down in 2014 after thousands of bitcoins were stolen by unknown hackers. The process of making the exchange’s victims whole has been a lengthy, drawn-out process, characterized by delays and legal disputes. Friday marked the end of yet one more milestone in the process: It is the deadline for creditors to approve or reject a civil rehabilitation proposal for compensation.

British companies pushed the number of workers on payrolls above pre-coronavirus levels last month, an indication of strength in the labor market that may embolden the Bank of England to raise interest rates, Bloomberg News reported. Payrolls climbed by a record 207,000 last month, according to data from the U.K. tax authority. Separate figures from the Office for National Statistics showed job vacancies rose to 1.2 million, also an all-time high.

European travel is reviving and easyJet is increasing flights between now and December, the British airline said on Tuesday, after running up an annual loss of over 1 billion pounds during the pandemic, Reuters reported. For the autumn period, easyJet said that it would fly 70% of its pre-pandemic capacity, a jump from the 60% it had been aiming for only a month earlier, as demand for holidays surged, particularly in the UK where travel rules have been loosened.

The European Union drew record demand for its debut green bond, in the sector’s biggest-ever offering, Bloomberg News reported. The bloc registered more than 135 billion euros ($156 billion) in orders Tuesday for a sale of 12 billion euros of securities maturing in 2037. Both the demand and size eclipse last month’s debut from the U.K. The transaction is just the first in a 250-billion-euro program of EU green-bond sales earmarked for the coming years.

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the launch of a 1.5 billion yuan ($232.47 million) fund on Tuesday to support biodiversity protection in developing countries. Xi was virtually addressing the COP15 biodiversity summit in Kunming, China, where diplomats, scientists, and conservationists are meeting with the aim of forging a global agreement to halt and reverse the destruction of nature. "Developing countries need help and support and solidarity must be strengthened to allow developing countries to benefit in a fairer way," Xi said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is zeroing in on the ties that China’s state banks and other financial stalwarts have developed with big private-sector players, expanding his push to curb capitalist forces in the economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. Xi, who started his campaign late last year with a regulatory assault on private technology giants, is launching a sweeping round of inspections of financial institutions.

Chinese developer Sinic Holdings said on Monday it would likely default on bonds worth $250 million, as it does not have enough financial resources to the make payments by their maturity date, Reuters reported. The case highlights the impact of China Evergrande Group , which is struggling under $305 billion in debt, on the rest of the high-yield sector as liquidity dries up and sales slow.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG paid off a chunk of the German government’s remaining bailout package, eliminating part of its so-called silent participation support with 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion) of the money it raised in a rights offering last week, Bloomberg News reported. The 2.16 billion-euro equity raise is now completed and new shares issued, Lufthansa said Monday in a statement. The company plans to repay a remaining 1-billion-euro silent participation to Germany’s Economic Stabilization Fund by year-end.

The International Monetary Fund's executive board will issue a statement of support for Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva after reviewing allegations she pressured World Bank staff to alter data to favor China, Reuters reported. The 24-member board reached the decision on Monday after marathon meetings over the past week, where members debated the future of Georgieva, a Bulgarian economist and the first person from a developing country to head the fund. France and other European governments said last week they wanted Georgieva to serve out her term, while U.S.