Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) sees ‘downside risks’ to the global economic rebound it forecast for this year and next, and is concerned that new coronavirus variants may hinder the recovery, its chief economist said. “Most of the overall risks are to the downside,” Gita Gopinath said in a virtual speech to an International Finance Forum conference in Guangzhou …

Bloomberg European Union (EU) legislators are looking to tighten the region’s planned green bond standards and make it harder for issuers of environmentally-friendly debt to overstate their promises to investors. Sellers of European green bonds and sustainability-linked bonds should develop a transition plan indicating how they will adhere to a 1.5°C global warming scenario and reach climate neutrality by 2050, …

Bloomberg Italy’s Finance Ministry said that it plans to spend about 2.8 billion euros ($3.2 billion) from the 2022 budget to help shield consumers from surging energy prices. The support will target the first quarter of the year, and will include 800 million euros of savings from a tax overhaul and unspent cash from previous months, according to people familiar …

Bloomberg Boeing Co’s 737 Max jets may resume commercial flights in China by the end of this year or early 2022, the nation’s Civil Aviation Administration said, a day after issuing an airworthiness directive that paved the way for the single-aisle workhorse to return to the Chinese skies after an almost three-year grounding. China will also start introducing new Max …

Bloomberg State-owned Kazakh airline Air Astana is considering an initial public offering, according to four people familiar with the talks, who asked not to be identified as the information is not public. The company has approached banks, although talks are still at an early stage for a share sale, the people said. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic that’s hit air travel …

Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd plans to hire hundreds of pilots next year, amid reports of a rising number of resignations as Hong Kong’s Covid policies severely constrain manpower and weigh on morale at the airline. “We plan to employ several hundred pilots in the coming year, many of whom have already expressed an interest in being part of the …

Bloomberg Avianca Group International Ltd is emerging from bankruptcy with plans to compete with low-cost carriers on price while keeping parts of the business that made it Latin America’s second-largest airline before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Chief Executive Officer Adrian Neuhauser said the company was able to slash debt and build up liquidity during an 18-month Chapter 11 reorganisation that …

Bloomberg Amazon.com’s Whole Foods Market illegally banned employees from wearing “Black Lives Matter” masks and punished workers who did, US labour board prosecutors alleged. The grocery store chain maintained appearance rules at US locations to prohibit staff from displaying Black Lives Matter messages on their apparel, the National Labor Relations Board’s San Francisco regional director said. The filing also accuses …

Bloomberg Hermes International is set to join one of Europe’s main equity benchmarks, an inclusion that will further bolster the French luxury company’s visibility among investors. Hermes, the maker of Kelly and Birkin handbags will replace Universal Music Group NV in the Euro Stoxx 50, index operator Qontigo said in a statement. The change will be effective as of December …

Bloomberg Westpac Banking Corp agreed to pay A$113 million ($80.6 million) in penalties after the Australian regulator alleged the lender had widespread compliance failures that included charging dead people. The case includes a claim that Westpac charged more than A$10 million ($7.01 million) in fees for financial advice to over 11,000 deceased customers over a 10-year period, according to a …