By Reuters Staff
4 Min Read
BEIRUT, April 2 (Reuters) - Lebanon will run out of money to fund basic imports by the end of May and delays in launching a plan to reduce subsidies are costing $500 million a month, the caretaker finance minister, Ghazi Wazni, said.
As Lebanon’s economy crumbles, the central bank has asked the caretaker cabinet to decide how to gradually lift subsidies to ration remaining foreign currency reserves, Wazni told Reuters on Thursday.
“The government must speed this up. The cost of wasting time is very high. With every delay, it becomes higher,” he said.
Lebanon’s financial meltdown is fuelling hunger and unrest in the country’s gravest crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war.
The state bank has missed debt repayments since 2020 Plan to spilt loan yet to be agreed by lenders (Adds financial details, comment from investor)
JOHANNESBURG, March 31 (Reuters) - South African cash-strapped Land and Agricultural Development Bank missed a March 31 deadline to conclude a debt restructuring plan with lenders, the state-owned company said on Wednesday.
In April 2020 the country’s largest agricultural-focussed lender defaulted on some repayments on its 50 billion-rand ($3.38 billion) debt, triggering credit downgrades and fears of cross default on the debt of other state firms.
The government stepped in, giving the Land Bank a bailout of 3 billion rand last year and 7 billion rand last month while the bank negotiated with a consortium of its lenders on a “liability solution” that would determined a new schedule of repayments.
African economies are expected to grow by an average of 3.4% this year, the African Development Bank said, as the continent recovers from its worst contraction in half a century.
Set to ease up to 25 bln euros in sales in 2021 - KPMG Italy refuses to extend measure to unlikely-to-pay (UTP) loans
ROME, April 2 (Reuters) - Italy expects the European Commission to approve this month a one-year extension of a state guarantee scheme that has played a key role in freeing Italian banks from bad debts, two sources close to the matter told Reuters.
The move would extend the scheme introduced in 2016 until May 2022 and comes as banks are expected to face a surge in problem loans once governments withdraw measures deployed to keep firms afloat through the pandemic.
Italy has guaranteed more than 170 billion euros ($199.87 billion) in debt that banks extended to virus-stricken firms.
Fund managers positive on high-yield credit in China Indonesian government bonds also popular with investors Important to monitor default risk in China
TOKYO, March 9 (Reuters) - Global investors fleeing a shakeout in U.S. and other developed market bonds are finding harbour in the higher yields and relative stability offered by Asian junk-rated debt.
The rise in long-term yields in major economies to multi-year highs is reminiscent of the 2013 taper tantrum, except that India, Indonesia and others in Asia aren’t seeing the selloff in bonds and currencies they did back then.
Now, with the backing of stronger economies, less profligate governments and healthier current accounts, the region is becoming a refuge for yield seekers.