Weekly Market Update - 18 April 2022

Elon Musk Makes $43 Billion Bid

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk offered to take Twitter Inc. private in a deal valued at $43 billion, lambasting company management and saying he’s the person who can unlock the “extraordinary potential” of a communication platform used daily by more than 200 million people.

Source: Bloomberg

Boris Johnson To Visit India

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to make a long-delayed trip to India this week in a bid to strengthen security ties with the country. He will meet his counterpart Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Friday, with talks focused on defence and trade. It will be Mr Johnson's first major trip to India as PM after previous visits were postponed due to Covid.

The UK has been trying to persuade India to reduce its reliance on Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine. Last month, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss visited India in an attempt to get the country to impose stronger sanctions against Russia and to cooperate more closely on trade, defence, energy and food security.

Source: BBC

Sri Lanka Debt Default Near

Sri Lanka is about to default on its debts, two of the world's largest credit rating agencies have warned. Fitch Ratings lowered its assessment of the South Asian nation, saying "a sovereign default process has begun". S&P Global Ratings made a similar announcement and said that a default is now a "virtual certainty".

This week, Sri Lanka said it will temporarily default on its foreign debts as it faces its worst economic crisis in more than 70 years. Meanwhile, faced with mass protests over major power cuts and the soaring cost of food and fuel, officials have urged Sri Lankans working abroad to send money home.

Source: BBC