Businesses in Belize facing financial trouble will soon have more options to recover under the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Act, 2025, according to Greater Belize Media. The law replaces the more than 120-year-old Bankruptcy Act and introduces modern rules for both individuals and companies.

Retail sales fell 0.8 per cent to $69.6 billion in July as shoppers spent less at supermarkets and grocery stores, Statistics Canada said on Friday, The Canadian Press reported. However, the agency said its advance estimate for August pointed to an increase of one per cent, though it cautioned the figure would be revised. Statistics Canada said that retail sales in July were down in eight of the nine subsectors it tracks with motor vehicle and parts dealers as the only group to increase with a gain of 0.2 per cent.

A U.S. judge upheld the validity of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA's 2020 bonds on Thursday, in a blow to the company, which had argued that the defaulted bonds were not properly issued, Reuters reported. The bonds are secured by a majority stake in U.S. refiner Citgo , which is owned by PDVSA. The company defaulted on the bonds in 2019, putting the refiner at risk of seizure by creditors. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan ruled that the bonds were indeed properly issued under Venezuelan law.

Ocean shipping companies say importers and exporters won’t have to pay surcharges when new fees are imposed next month on Chinese ships at U.S. seaports, the Wall Street Journal reported. Some businesses fear price increases are coming anyway. Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, which represents American farmers, said ocean carriers can’t pass on extra costs today because trade flows are falling and carriers are fighting for market share. They will have to pass on those new costs eventually, he said.

The Bank of Canada reduced its key policy rate to a three-year low of 2.5% on Wednesday, the first cut in six months, citing a weak jobs market and less concern about underlying pressures on inflation, Reuters reported. The 25-basis-point cut had been widely expected by markets. The central bank paused its easing campaign in March after reducing rates by a total of 225 basis points in nine months, starting in June last year. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said the damaging effect of U.S. tariffs meant considerable uncertainty remained.

The Mexican government turned to international debt markets for the second time this week to prop up flagging state oil producer Pemex, launching $8 billion in bonds on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The fresh offer, reported by IFR, LSEG's fixed-income news service, will help Pemex pay for a $9.9 billion bond buyback launched earlier this month. That buyback offer was oversubscribed by the early tender deadline of Monday, Pemex said. Tuesday's federal bond launch was split into $1.5 billion in notes due 2031, $4 billion maturing in 2033 and $2.5 billion maturing in 2025, IFR reported.

Mexico has started a public consultation process to gather information on the functioning of the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA), the government's official gazette said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The evaluation is being carried out ahead of trade deal's planned review, Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said in a video shared on his social media. The USMCA, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement in 2020 and was negotiated during U.S. President Donald Trump's first term, requires the three countries to hold a joint review after six years.

Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris has filed an arbitration demand accusing his former financial advisor, Thomas St. John, of stealing $22.5 million intended for real estate investments, MusicBusinessWorldwide.com reported. The legal action, filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that St. John directed the funds instead toward a Hollywood “boondoggle” development project. The timing of Harris’s legal action is particularly striking. It arrives just a few months after US-based company, Thomas St.

The end of a duty exemption for small shipments to the United States was the last straw for Canadian luxury fashion retailer Ssense, according to a court filing in the company’s bankruptcy-protection case, Bloomberg News reported. A group of creditors led by Bank of Montreal were seeking repayment from Ssense under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and force a sale of the company. Both sides reached an agreement instead to have Ssense file the application for creditor protection, Justice Andres C. Garin of the Quebec Superior Court said in an order.