In the realm of global economic policy, Friday Nov. 13, 2020, was meant to be about hope — not the trigger for another pandemic-era fright. That’s when Group of 20 finance ministers announced final agreement on a blueprint for the US, China and other relatively new creditor countries like India to cooperate on debt relief for more than 70 low-income nations facing a collective $326 billion burden, and deliver it in a “timely and orderly” way, Bloomberg News reported.
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North America
Resources Per Country
- Anguilla
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bermuda
- British Virgin Islands
- Canada
- Cayman Islands
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- El Salvador
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe
- Guatemala
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- Montserrat
- Netherlands Antilles
- Panama
- Puerto Rico
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- United States
- United States Virgin Islands
President Biden and his top officials vowed this week to introduce additional sanctions aimed at impeding Russia’s war efforts against Ukraine. But the administration’s focus is increasingly shifting to the role that China has played in supplying Russia with goods that have both civilian and military uses, the New York Times reported. As one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of products like electronics, drones and vehicle parts, China has proved to be a particularly crucial economic partner for Russia. Beijing has remained officially unaligned in the war.
Canadian inflation pressures eased in January, leaving the Bank of Canada some room to hold interest rates at current levels next month even after a blockbuster jobs report, Bloomberg News reported. The consumer price index rose 5.9% from a year ago, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday in Ottawa, slower than the 6.1% gain expected in a Bloomberg survey of economists and down from 6.3% in December. On a monthly basis, the index rose 0.5% in January, versus expectations of 0.7%.
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The Japanese subsidiary of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX said it started allowing customers to withdraw their assets on Tuesday, a relatively quick reboot that Tokyo regulators see as the fruit of their strict crypto laws, the Wall Street Journal reported. The situation in Japan contrasts with the U.S. and other countries, where most FTX customers are a long way from getting access to their assets more than three months after the exchange’s U.S. bankruptcy filing. Japan, which was burned by the collapse of the early cryptocurrency exchange Mt.
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The Bank of Mexico's monetary tightening cycle is nearing its end and nominal interest rates could top out between 11.25% and 11.75%, at which point rates would be kept steady to allow them to take effect, deputy bank governor Jonathan Heath said, Reuters reported. Banxico, as the Mexican central bank is known, has raised its benchmark interest rate by 700 basis points since its rate-hiking cycle started in June 2021, as inflation surged far beyond its target of 3%, plus or minus 1 percentage point.
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Mexican airline Aeromar announced the "definitive end" of operations on Wednesday, as the heavily indebted company failed to reach agreements with providers and a rumored potential investor, Reuters reported. The struggling company is the latest in a string of Mexican airlines hit with major financial woes in recent years, following Interjet in 2020 and Aeromexico, which came out of bankruptcy proceedings last March. Like its peers, Aeromar was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, but had shown signs of financial struggles before.
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Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.’s Canadian division will shut down its stores under court protection after the company received an unusual lifeline earlier this week to save its U.S. operations from bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The troubled home-goods retailer on Friday filed its Canadian division for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, Canada’s rough equivalent of chapter 11 bankruptcy.
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The United States is violating the principles of market economy and international trade rules in considering a ban on Chinese citizens buying property in the United States, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday, Reuters reported. "Generalizing the concept of national security and politicising economic, trade and investment issues violate the rules of market economy and international trade rules," spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing.
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In what could be the first sign of the start of a new phase of the turbulent period in Metro Vancouver’s housing market, Coromandel Properties is insolvent, based on its new filing in the Supreme Court of British Columbia seeking protections, Daily Hive Urbanized reported. The major local real estate developer, which primarily pursues condominium projects, said that it is looking to reposition itself through the stream of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).
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The Bank of Canada wants to reinvigorate its interest-rate setting process, bringing an outside voice to the table next month amid a broader effort to bolster its credibility, Bloomberg News reported. HEC Montréal economics professor Nicolas Vincent will become the first “non-executive” member of the central bank’s six-person governing council ahead of its March 8 decision. He is set to serve as part-time deputy governor for two years, with an option for a third, instead of the longer, full-time terms typically given to policymakers.
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