Headlines

A post-Covid growth surge in the Irish economy is expected to generate 160,000 additional jobs over the next two years, reducing the unemployment rate to below 6 per cent, the Central Bank has said, the Irish Times reported. In its latest quarterly bulletin the regulator predicted turbo-charged growth of 15.3 per cent this year, nearly double its previous forecast in July, and 7.2 per cent next year on the back of a rapid resurgence in consumer spending linked to the unwinding of €16 billion in excess savings built up during the pandemic.

The European Union said on Wednesday it will examine the way its power market is run and consider proposals to revamp regulations within the bloc, as it seeks to keep plans to tackle climate change on track amid record-high energy costs, Reuters reported. European electricity and gas prices have rocketed this year as tight gas supplies have collided with strong demand in economies recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sub-Saharan Africa needs significant additional funding to counter damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, bolster its economic recovery prospects and mitigate threats posed by climate change, according to the World Bank, Bloomberg News reported. The regional economy is expected to grow 3.3% in 2021, after contracting by an estimated 2% last year, the Washington-based lender said Wednesday in its latest Africa Pulse report. It raised its gross domestic product forecast by one percentage point from its April report, largely due to better-than-expected commodity prices.

Bulgaria'seconomy is expected to rebound with growth of 4% this year and accelerating to 4.9% in 2022, the finance ministry said in its autumn macroeconomic forecast on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The small and open economy contracted by 4.2% in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic hit jobs and businesses. The ministry said strong domestic demand in the first half of 2021 has prompted it to increase its GDP growth forecast from an earlier estimate of 3.5%.

Iceland‘s central bank raised borrowing costs for the third time this year, citing a continued housing price rally and concerns of growing inflation expectations, Bloomberg News reported. Policy makers lifted the seven-day term deposit rate by a quarter-point to 1.5%, the highest level since March 2020. In May, Iceland became the first country in western Europe to tighten monetary policy since the pandemic struck. One of the main drivers for inflation is housing prices which have surged close to 15% in the last 12 months, helped by lower borrowing costs.

After two deadly dam disasters that made Vale SA a pariah of the global green movement, Brazil's largest mining company is striving to put the environment and climate at the heart of its business, Chief Executive Eduardo Bartolomeo told Reuters. Bartolomeo, speaking in an interview at the Reuters Impact conference, said the disasters - which killed nearly 300 people and caused huge environmental damage in Brazil - were a wake up call that forced the company to think differently. "I think everybody woke up. I think the incidents, the tragedies, unfortunately pushed us to open up our minds.

Mexican airline Grupo Aeromexico SAB de CV has filed a reorganization plan that includes a financing proposal largely backed by a group of senior noteholders and unsecured creditors and allow the carrier to shed $1 billion from its debt stack, Reuters reported. In court papers filed late Friday, Aeromexico says it is continuing to “actively negotiate with various stakeholders regarding an exit financing package” based on the noteholders and trade creditors’ joint proposal to bring in as much creditor support for the plan as possible.

Beleaguered Italian ferry operator Moby SpA dropped its request for an order blocking Morgan Stanley from trading in the company’s debt or interfering in its restructuring, Bloomberg News reported. Moby told a federal court in New York late Sunday that it was withdrawing its application for a temporary restraining order against the bank, which it accused in a Sept. 27 lawsuit of participating in a secret plan to foil its restructuring in Italy and seize control from other creditors.

Laurentian University president Robert Haché said the university’s insolvency restructuring efforts have already cost the university just over $9.8 million, Sudbury.com reported. He spoke about the costs at the Sept. 28 meeting of the Laurentian University senate. “It is an expensive process,” he said.

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said the nation’s incoming government will seek a new type of capitalism that helps tackle wealth inequality, but on questions around the sales tax, debt and the central bank he sounded like the official he replaced a day earlier, Bloomberg News reported. “I’ll be seeking to bring about a new form of capitalism that creates a virtuous cycle of growth and wider wealth distribution,” Suzuki said at his inaugural press conference Tuesday, a day after succeeding long-serving finance chief Taro Aso.