Thousands of Canadian small businesses face the risk of bankruptcy after the government ended pandemic-era support last month with the economy slowing at a time of high interest rates, Reuters reported. Small firms that employ fewer than 100 people are critical to the Canadian economy as they give jobs to almost two-thirds of the country's 12 million private workers. A spike in bankruptcies, which jumped 38% in the first 11 months of 2023, would weigh on economic growth, lobby groups and economists warn.

Small, loosely-regulated lenders in Canada who rode a pandemic housing boom to offer mortgages at high interest rates are now showing signs of stress as a spike in living costs pushes some homeowners toward a default, Reuters reported. Canada's C$2 trillion ($1.5 trillion) mortgage market is dominated by the "Big Six" major banks that include Royal Bank of Canada and TD Bank.

A former member of the Bank of Canada’s governing body says that he believes the central bank will start cutting interest rates in about six months if inflation pressures ease as expected, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers will wait until they see underlying price pressures cool, even if the economy has entered a period of excess supply, former Deputy Governor Paul Beaudry said. “I wouldn’t see the potential of rate cuts until probably the July decision,” Beaudry said in an interview with Avery Shenfeld, the chief economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

The Canadian economy bounced back sharply in the final quarter of 2023, driven by higher goods production and shipments and stronger U.S. demand, Bloomberg News reported. Preliminary estimates say gross domestic product grew 0.3% in December, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday in Ottawa. That followed a 0.2% expansion in the previous month, exceeding forecasts for 0.1% in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Overall, the industry-based numbers point to growth of 1.2% on an annualized basis in the final three months last year, reversing a third-quarter contraction.

Mexican lender Unifin has concluded its bankruptcy proceedings, the company said in a filing on Monday, following the approval of its plan to restructure debts by a local court, Reuters reported. Unifin's business model focuses on offering specialized financing to companies, as well as car loans. In 2022, a court approved Unifin's voluntary application for declaration of bankruptcy, a move the firm said would help it protect assets and hold talks with creditors. The lender's last published quarterly results from the second quarter of 2022 showed financial liabilities of around $4 billion.

Mexico’s economy slowed more than forecast in the fourth quarter on waning exports and household consumption, fueling bets the nation’s central bank will start interest rate cuts in coming months, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product expanded 0.1% on a quarterly basis, less than the 0.3% median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. From a year earlier, it grew 2.4%, below the 3% median forecast, according to preliminary data released Tuesday by Mexico’s national statistics institute. For for the full year of 2023, Mexico’s economy expanded 3.1%.

A Canadian landlord is sounding out potential buyers for a downtown Toronto office tower, testing a market that’s been largely frozen since interest rates started shooting up nearly two years ago, Bloomberg News reported. Dream Office Real Estate Investment Trust has hired CBRE Group Inc. and Toronto-Dominion Bank to market 438 University Ave., according to marketing documents. The company also remains open to offers for another building at 655 Bay St., which was put up for sale more than a year ago.

Brazilian airline Gol said on Thursday it is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, with a $950 million financial commitment from its controlling shareholder Abra Group, Reuters reported. Abra also controls Colombian carrier Avianca, though the two airlines operate separately. The move makes Gol the latest Latin American carrier to seek bankruptcy protection after a pandemic-related crisis, following the path of its sister company Avianca, Mexico's Aeromexico and Chile-based LATAM Airlines.

An oil trader sued the United Arab Emirates for $2.8 billion over allegations the state directed a smear campaign that pushed his company into bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. The complaint, based on more than 8,000 hacked documents, shines a spotlight on the shadowy world of private intelligence agencies for hire. Oil trader Hazim Nada alleges that his company Lord Energy SA was targeted by a campaign of misinformation orchestrated by Swiss firm Alp Services SA, and ultimately directed by the UAE and its president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed.

The Bank of Canada (BoC) held its key overnight rate at 5% on Wednesday and said that while underlying inflation was still a concern, the bank's focus is shifting to when to cut borrowing costs rather than whether to hike again, Reuters reported. The BoC governing council has held rates steady at four consecutive policy meetings after last hiking in July. Annual inflation in December accelerated to 3.4%, still higher than the central bank's 2% target but below a June 2022 peak of 8.1%.