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Biofuels have swollen thanks to policies to combat climate change — even though often, they do not help the problem and can make it worse. This is a shocking record, born of ignorance, both accidental and wilful.

Indian debt issuers have started 2019 with a bang, rolling out more than $3bn of bonds in January. Will the country eclipse the dismal dollar bond volumes it managed last year? Don’t bet on it. As a divisive election looms, it is more likely that Indian issuance will disappoint for a second year running.

In this round-up, China and the US will talk in Beijing at the end of the week, China’s interbank payment and settlement system survived the Lunar New Year red packet frenzy and a draft of the foreign investment law will be submitted in early March.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is well aware of the fact that €400bn borrowed under TLTRO II will no longer be counted as stable funding from June, so a new financing package is certain to be announced in the next month or two. But issuers waiting for a handout are going to be disappointed by what follows and will be obliged to tap capital markets, just as conditions deteriorate.

GlobalCapital revealed the winners of its 2018 Loan Awards at its annual Syndicated Loans and Leveraged Finance Awards Dinner at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower in London on February 6. The complete results are below. GlobalCapital congratulates all the winners and nominees.

With SSA primary market conditions red hot, it would be wise for French public sector borrowers to crack on with their funding ahead of a double whammy of risk events in May.

In this round-up, Bloomberg Barclays confirmed the upcoming inclusion of Chinese bonds in its indices, the People’s Bank of China will auction CNH bills in mid-February, and industrial profits in China confirmed poor ending for the economy in 2018.

In this round-up, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued plans to merge two long-standing access schemes for foreign investors, the United States Justice Department unveiled charges against Huawei just as trade talks were set to begin, and JP Morgan (JPM) received approval to offer Hong Kong funds in China.

Pacific Gas & Electric has gone bankrupt with $52bn of debt, blaming forest fires that seared California during 2018. Vale, with $11bn, has been downgraded to the bottom edge of investment grade after its horrific dam burst last Friday.

Everyone new to banking has a steep learning curve. But when you live in Asia long enough, you realise the really steep curve comes in trying to understand traditional holiday-related etiquette.

Rabobank, Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt and Société Générale issued most highly rated deals this January and BNP Paribas has, on average, worked on the most highly rated deals so far this year according to GlobalCapital's BondMarker.

The US sanctions slapped on Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) this week look similar to those that have just been removed from Russia’s EN+ and Rusal. The move indicates that the US believes in the effectiveness of sanctions and is happy to keep deploying them. Emerging markets investors should beware.