Bloomberg Multilateral institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) need an urgent revamp in order to remain relevant, European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker Pablo Hernandez de Cos said. European Union officials, he said, are the best placed to undertake that rethink. “One of the biggest challenges confronting the WTO and, in general, the system of international institutions, is how ...

Bloomberg Italy’s crippling public debt is set to keep expanding amid chronically low economically growth, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said. Saddled with Europe’s largest debt burden, the country has benefited from the European Central Bank’s expansionary monetary policy and a period of relative political stability to bring down yields. But its interest costs are still higher than its economic ...

Bloomberg Concern at the Bank of Japan (BOJ) over the effectiveness of prolonged low interest rates appears to be growing, with one board member indicating that a policy review may be needed, a summary of views from the central bank’s January meeting signalled. The member said active discussions over policy are taking place in the US and in Europe given ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG said employee pay raises for 2020 won’t take effect until April 1, postponing increases that typically show up at the start of the year. “We will continue to compensate employees for their qualifications, experience and skills, commensurate with the requirements, size and scope of their role,” the company said. “The only thing that will change is ...

Bloomberg Former European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi will get Germany’s highest honor this week, though probably not its undying love. German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier will give the country’s Order of Merit to the Italian, whose ultra-loose stimulus, including quantitative easing and negative interest rates, embittered many citizens in the euro region’s biggest economy. Unlike his predecessors, Jean-Claude Trichet ...

Bloomberg The Philippine peso and Indonesia’s rupiah are Asian carry trades most insulated from the coronavirus outbreak, as the pandemic shows no sign of abating. That’s based on comparative performance before and after January 20, when concerns about the disease escalated with reports that human-to-human transmission was occurring. The top performers were the onshore yuan, rupiah and the offshore yuan, ...

Bloomberg Airlines across the globe suspended more flights to China, as governments clamped down on travel to help stop the spread of the deadly Wuhan virus. British Airways halted daily routes to Beijing and Shanghai from London’s Heathrow airport, after UK officials advised against non-essential travel. The UK flag carrier said it would reassess over the next few days. Hong ...

Bloomberg South African Airways’s (SAA) business-rescue team said it’s been given access to 3.5 billion rand ($239 million) from the state-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to avert the airline’s collapse. The team will immediately draw down 2 billion rand from the facility, they said in a statement. SAA has already cancelled some flights this month to save cash ...

Bloomberg De Beers sold the most diamonds since April in a sign the industry is starting to recover from a slump in demand last year, though the market will require more evidence of a sustained rebound. The Anglo American Plc unit sold $545 million of diamonds in its first sale of the year, traditionally one of the strongest buying periods ...

Bloomberg Island Express Helicopters Inc, the California-based charter company involved in the latest crash that killed retired basketball star Kobe Bryant, has been involved in four previous crashes over the past 35 years, two of them fatal, according to government records. While the company hasn’t had an accident since 2008, it was cited in 2016 for failure to perform mandatory ...