German business morale plummeted in March as companies worried about rising energy prices, driver shortages and the stability of supply chains in the wake of the war in Ukraine, pointing to a possible future recession, a survey showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The Ifo institute said its business climate index dropped to 90.8 in March from a downwardly revised 98.5 in February. A Reuters poll of analysts had pointed to a March reading of 94.2.
Read more
Russia
After losing two years to the COVID-19 pandemic, shopkeepers in the heart of the Turkish Riviera had hoped for a strong tourism season this year to help keep their businesses afloat. But Russia’s war in Ukraine is fast dampening their spirits, the Associated Press reported. “We’re trying to earn our bread through tourism, but it looks like the war has finished off this (tourism) season, too,” Devrim Akcay said outside his clothing shop in the resort town of Belek, along the Mediterranean coast’s Antalya province.
Read more
Russian steel giant Severstal was racing against the clock on Wednesday to avoid becoming the country's first major corporate default since the Ukraine crisis began, with international payment lines snarled by sanctions, Reuters reported. Severstal, whose main shareholder Alexey Mordashov is one of a number of wealthy Russians now sanctioned by the European Union, has until the end of the day to get an already overdue $12.6 million loan 'coupon' payment to its creditors.
Read more
Foreign holders of Russia’s sovereign bond maturing in 2029 are watching as the latest debt payment from the sanctioned nation draws closer to completion, Bloomberg News reported. The $66 million coupon due March 21 was processed Tuesday by Russia’s National Settlement Depository, it said in a statement. Earlier in the day, the Finance Ministry said it had transferred the cash to the NSD, thus meeting its obligations “in full.” Four bondholders in Europe said they hadn’t received the payment as of 3.40 p.m. in London.
Read more
Annual inflation in Russia accelerated to 14.53% as of March 18, its highest since November 2015 and up from 12.54% a week earlier, the economy ministry said on Wednesday, as the battered rouble sent prices soaring amid unprecedented Western sanctions, Reuters reported. Inflation accelerated sharply as the currency fell to an all-time low earlier in March and demand for a wide range of goods, from food staples to cars, rose sharply on expectations that their prices will rise further.
Read more
EU companies affected by sanctions imposed on Russia can get up to 400,000 euros ($440,360) in state support and compensation up to 30% of energy costs under looser EU state aid rules, the European Commission said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. From airlines to carmakers to tourism businesses, thousands of companies across the 27-country bloc have reported severe disruption due to the sanctions. Companies in the agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture sectors can get up to 35,000 euros while businesses facing a liquidity crunch can get state guarantees on loans, subsidised loans.
Read more
Russian shopping malls are facing a drop in rental income of around 30% to 50% this year due to international brands shuttering their operations, leaving many facing bankruptcy, a report from Forbes Russia has found, European Supermarket Magazine reported. Marks & Spencer, H&M, Nike, Mango, ASOS and Farfetch are among the international brands that have ceased operations in Russia due to the conflict in Ukraine, with CBRE analysts estimating that the share of closed stores stands at 15% by brand and 20% by area, Forbes said.
The apartments typically go unused, instead acting as an investment vehicle to hold onto money, Africa Business Insider reported. They're often held through a trust or shell company to hide the identity of the true owner. In a small city in South Florida called Sunny Isles Beach, luxury condos tower over the Atlantic Ocean. But high above the busy streets, not all of the city's multi-million dollar apartments light up at night.
A Moscow court said on Monday that Meta was guilty of "extremist activity," but the ruling will not affect its WhatsApp messenger service, focusing on the U.S. firm's already-banned Facebook and Instagram social networks, Reuters reported. Meta did not respond to requests for comment after Moscow's Tverskoi District Court said in a press statement that it had upheld a lawsuit filed by state prosecutors on banning the company's activities on Russian territory.
Russian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been hit by a tsunami of problems in just the first few weeks of the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine, and entrepreneurs that have spent years building up their business are already going to the wall thanks to the multiple shocks hitting the markets, IntelliNews reported. Anecdotal evidence from conversations between bne IntelliNews and business people in the Russian capital is pouring in of widespread difficulties as the war in Ukraine goes into its fourth week.