Governments owe an unprecedented $91 trillion, an amount almost equal to the size of the global economy and one that will ultimately exact a heavy toll on their populations, CNN reported. Debt burdens have grown so large — in part because of the cost of the pandemic — that they now pose a growing threat to living standards even in rich economies, including the U.S. Yet, in a year of elections around the world, politicians are largely ignoring the problem, unwilling to level with voters about the tax increases and spending cuts needed to tackle the deluge of borrowing.

Avianca Group plans to confidentially file for an initial public offering in the U.S., the holding company for the Colombian airline said on Monday, Reuters reported. The Bogota-based airline, with over 100 years of operation since 1919, is moving ahead with its listing more than two years after it emerged from bankruptcy. Avianca — which serves domestic markets of Colombia, Ecuador and Central America — was one of the major Latin American airlines that filed for bankruptcy during the pandemic, hurt by a downturn in travel demand.

A former executive of Brazilian retailer Americanas accused of connection with an alleged billion-dollar accounting fraud landed at an airport in Sao Paulo on Monday and handed over her passport to the country's federal police, Reuters reported. Anna Saicali was one of the main targets of raids launched by Brazil's police last week as part of their probe into the 25.3 billion-real ($4.53 billion) accounting scandal that led Americanas to file for bankruptcy in January 2023. A court in Rio de Janeiro ordered Saicali's arrest while the former executive was abroad.