Saturday, November 30
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian finance ministry announced that the United States granted Ukraine $1.15 billion as a component of the PEACE in Ukraine program. The PEACE (Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance) in Ukraine initiative has served as the primary financing mechanism from the World Bank for Kyiv amid Russia's conflict with Ukraine.
Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Sam Bankman-Fried's hedge fund, testified that Bankman-Fried instructed her and others to defraud FTX exchange customers. Ellison revealed Bankman-Fried's obsession with a rivalry against Binance and his belief that he could become the US president. She also disclosed her involvement in fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and money laundering alongside Bankman-Fried and others.
Senior executives from multilateral development banks are set to meet with credit ratings agencies to discuss how to value callable capital in their capital adequacy frameworks. The World Bank's lending capacity could increase by $900 billion if the ratings agencies modified their processes. The banks aim to preserve their AAA credit ratings to continue borrowing at low rates and pass on savings to developing countries.
G24, a group of developing nations, has endorsed the recommendations of an independent expert group on multilateral development bank reform. They expressed strong support for the strategy and quality of the recommendations, hoping they would influence G20 ministers, especially those from advanced economies.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has instructed Bank of Baroda to suspend onboarding new customers on its mobile app 'bob World' due to supervisory concerns. Bank of Baroda has stated that it has taken corrective measures to address the concerns and is working to rectify any remaining issues. The RBI's action follows similar measures taken against HDFC Bank in the past due to technical outages.
The net direct tax collection increased by 21.82 per cent to over Rs 9.57 lakh crore till October 9, helped by good inflow from corporates and individuals, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday.The net collections have reached 52.5 per cent of the full-year budget estimates (BE) of Rs 18.23 lakh crore.The provisional figures of Direct Tax collections up to October 9, 2023, continue to register steady growth, the statement said.
The Reserve Bank said that starting October 2024, the strict supervisory norms under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) Framework will apply to government-owned non-banking financial companies. This extension of the framework aims to facilitate timely supervisory intervention and prompt remedial actions for restoring the financial health of these NBFCs.
Approximately half of the Nifty50 stocks, including prominent names like Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Tata Consumer, and Hindustan Unilever, have exhibited underperformance in comparison to the Nifty benchmark over the last two years.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its growth forecasts for China and the euro area, while maintaining its forecast for global GDP growth in 2023 at 3.0%. The IMF cited the uneven recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and last year's energy crisis as factors contributing to the low and divergent global growth. The IMF also expressed concerns about risks related to the real estate crisis in China.
Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings is facing its first-ever default and has hired advisers, indicating that the company may be headed for a major restructuring. Country Garden has $11 billion of offshore notes outstanding and has experienced a decline in contracted sales, causing concern about the impact on China's property sector. The company's shares dropped 8.3% on the news. Country Garden has engaged advisers to evaluate its capital structure and liquidity and formulate a solution.
