Jamaica will roll out its digital currency across the country in the first quarter of this year as part of an effort to lower transaction costs and provide financial services to citizens who do not use banks, a central bank official told Reuters. The Bank of Jamaica said in December that it completed a pilot project that issued 230 million Jamaican dollars (US$1.5 million) of the new currency, an effort that comes on the heels of a similar project launched by a group of Eastern Caribbean nations.

Aeromexico on Friday won court approval of its restructuring plan after the airline struck a deal with the remaining holdouts among its creditors, clearing the way for it to emerge from bankruptcy with new controlling shareholders, Reuters reported. "I could not be more pleased to tell you the plan of reorganization is confirmed," U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman said soon after the agreement to pay a settlement to the creditors was announced during a court hearing.

Mexican consumer lender Credito Real S.A. B. de C.V. is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to arrange rescue financing to pay down a 170 million Swiss franc ($180 million) bond coming due next month, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Credito Real, which ranks as Mexico’s largest nonbank lender, has asked Goldman Sachs to seek potential sources of new financing secured by the company’s assets to cover the coming maturity and avoid default, the people said.

A company that operates a P.E.I. fish hatchery and grow-out facility has filed for bankruptcy, owing millions of dollars to multiple levels of government. According to bankruptcy trustee MNP Ltd., Halibut PEI voluntarily filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 14, CBC.ca reported. The company owes $9.5 million to its creditors, including the P.E.I. government, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the Atlantic Fisheries Fund.

Mexico's Deputy Finance Minister Gabriel Yorio said on Friday that talk of a "technical recession" in the country doesn't take into account coronavirus-related economic volatility and global supply chain issues, Reuters reported. Mexico's economy, the second-largest in Latin America, likely shrank 0.2% in December compared with the same month a year earlier, a preliminary official estimate showed last week, stirring concerns the country may have slipped into a recession in the second half of 2021.

The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) board on Friday said it continued to have strong engagement with El Salvador and that no determination had been made on whether it could lend to the country which has made the cryptocurrency bitcoin legal tender, Reuters reported. El Salvador became in September the first country to make bitcoin a legal tender, alongside the U.S. dollar. The IMF has pressed El Salvador to backtrack on the bitcoin move, citing financial, economic and legal concerns.

Grupo Aeromexico SAB cut a last minute deal with the main group of its unsecured creditors, easing the way for the airline to seek final approval to exit bankruptcy from a judge in New York, Bloomberg News reported. The official committee of unsecured creditors in the company’s Chapter 11 case agreed to join more senior debt holders who back the plan, including Apollo Global Management Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. In return, unsecured creditors will get a note for $40 million, contingent on future performance.

The Bank of Canada's decision to delay a rate hike for five more weeks will add fuel to Canada's scorching housing market as buyers scramble to clinch deals before borrowing costs rise, realtors said, Reuters reported. The Bank of Canada held its overnight rate at a record low 0.25% on Wednesday, but warned multiple increases would be coming soon. The U.S. Federal Reserve separately also said it would start hiking soon. Canada's housing market has been on tear throughout much of the pandemic, with prices up 39% nationwide from February 2020 to December 2021.

The Bank of Canada held interest rates unchanged but signaled it could tighten monetary policy in coming weeks to contain the highest inflation in three decades, Bloomberg News reported. Policy makers led by Governor Tiff Macklem left the central bank’s main policy rate at 0.25%, where it’s been since March 2020, amid uncertainty stemming from the resurgent coronavirus.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday accused conservative politicians of stoking fear that COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truck drivers are exacerbating supply chain disruptions and fueling inflation, Reuters reported. The United States imposed a mandate, meant to aid the fight against the fast spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus, on Jan. 22, while Canada's started on Jan. 15. The trucking industry has warned the measure will take thousands of drivers off the roads during what is already a dire labor shortage in the industry.