Cuba’s already cash-strapped economy shrank 11% in 2020 due to the pandemic, tougher U.S. sanctions and domestic inefficiencies, Economy Minister Alejandro Gil said on Thursday, forecasting 6% to 7% growth for next year, Reuters reported. Addressing a year-end session of the Communist-run country’s parliament, Gil said it would take the next two years for the state-run economy to recover from this year’s sharp contraction.

The United States and United Kingdom subsidiaries of Montreal-based flexible workspace company Breather have reportedly filed for separate insolvency processes, amid financial troubles and significant downsizing happening at the startup, BetaKit reported. According to The Globe and Mail, the subsidiaries filed for insolvency this week, around the same time Breather decided to pull out of hundreds of leases. The 315 office spaces Breather leased in the US and 40 in the UK will be assigned to third parties to “wind them down” and repay creditors.

Dominion Diamond Mines ULC said on Monday it reached a deal to sell its Ekati mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories to holders of its second lien notes, eight months after seeking bankruptcy protection amid a worldwide upheaval in the diamond industry, Reuters reported. Closely held Dominion, owned by the Washington Companies, filed for creditor protection in April, citing disruption to the global diamond trade caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Global debt is set to reach $200 trillion, or 265% of the world’s annual economic output, by the end of the year, S&P Global has forecast - although it doesn’t expect a crisis any time soon, Reuters reported. The credit ratings giant said it amounted to a 14-point rise as a percentage of world GDP, having been amplified by both the economic plunge caused by COVID and the extra borrowing that governments, firms and households have had to resort to. “Global debt-to-GDP has been trending up for many years; the pandemic simply exacerbated the rise,” S&P’s report said.

Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal (BMO) beat analysts’ estimates for fourth-quarter profit as they set aside less funds than expected to cover potential loan losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported. Canadian banks have braced for higher loan losses this year and 2021 as the pandemic ravages the global economy and leads to lower household income, with a plunge in oil prices also likely to result in higher defaults in the energy sector. Both banks reporting on Tuesday, however, put aside far less than analysts had expected in the quarter to Oct.

A Bahamian broker/dealer’s liquidator has voiced concern that its majority shareholder and then-senior management removed over $8m in the two-and-a-half years prior to its insolvency, The Tribune reported. Ed Rahming, the Intelisys (Bahamas) founder and managing director, in his second report to the Supreme Court hinted he was exploring the possibility of initiating legal action against Pacifico Global’s majority shareholder, Arturo Klein, to at least recover some of the $4.263m paid out to him. “The liquidator has noted...

Canada’s Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group said on Tuesday it had emerged from bankruptcy, after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the famed circus operator to cancel shows and lay off artists earlier this year, Reuters reported. The once high-flying Cirque, which grew from a troupe of street performers in the 1980s to a company with global reach, has slashed about 95% of its workforce and suspended shows due to the pandemic. It had filed for bankruptcy protection in June and reached a new purchase agreement with secured lenders shortly after.

The massive policy response from the Bank of Canada and the federal government successfully prevented the country’s financial system from buckling, though vigilance is still needed, according to a top central banker, Bloomberg News reported. Signs of overwhelming financial strain are few, and the risk of a wave of consumer defaults seems low, Deputy Governor Toni Gravelle said in remarks via video conference to the Autorite des marches financiers.

Mexican carrier Grupo Aeromexico will continue to reactivate travel destinations throughout next year, an executive told Reuters on Monday, adding that there is still much uncertainty stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. The country’s largest carrier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court earlier this year and has since tried to shore up its finances.

The number of insolvency filings in Canada jumped in September to the highest since the pandemic began, in what may be the first sign of long-anticipated strains in household finances from the crisis, Bloomberg News reported. The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada reported 7,658 consumer insolvency filings, up 18.5% from August. That’s the biggest monthly increase since 2017, and the most since March when widespread lockdowns were imposed to control the spread of Covid-19.