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Governments on both sides of the Atlantic have announced ambitious infrastructure spending commitments. But they will have to negotiate a much-changed bank lending market to realize their plans. Louise Bowman reports.

Caution rules to get paper away in reopening debt markets.

The exploitation of natural gas resources looks set to transform Papua New Guinea’s wealth profile and social structure. The downside is the possibility that its undeveloped infrastructure and institutions will be unable to cope with rapid change. Chris Wright reports.

CMBS: We can’t work it out

People wanted to believe ponzmeister Madoff because they crave stable, compounding returns. After his spectacular fall from grace, calls to shine a light on the opaque world of hedge funds will be irresistible.

Brazil’s federal power holding group, Electrobras, has approved its 2009-12 strategic plan for R$30.2 billion ($13.2 billion) of investments.

Thailand’s lessons for the west

Latvia’s Parex bank, which was rescued by the government in December after it hit liquidity problems, has agreed a loan restructuring agreement with foreign creditors. The bank is restructuring two loan facilities worth €775 million in total as part of a state-funded agreement. One loan, for €500 million, was due in June and the €275 million facility was due in February. The new terms means that the bank will stagger repayments to nearly 60 different banks over three years. The first tranche, for €232.5 million, was due last month. Parex is only paying a small restructuring fee but its benchmark borrowing costs will rise more than five times. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is to take a €100 million stake in Parex too.

The Venezuelan government has started to delay payments to contractors and oil service companies, indicating that the collapse in oil prices is finally taking its toll on president Hugo Chávez’s wallet.

China’s banks are lending a hand to support the government’s efforts to stimulate the economy. But do they risk losing an arm and a leg if the economy fails to grow as expected? Sudip Roy reports from Beijing.

China Life is the world’s biggest life assurer and China’s largest institutional investor. Its president talks to Sudip Roy about the challenges the company faces.

The ECB could soon take the unprecedented step of buying private debt. But opinion is sharply divided as to whether such quantitative easing will work.