Friday newspaper round-up: Evergrande, furlough cost, digital lateral flow test

(Sharecast News) - The troubled property company China Evergrande Group has come up with the money to pay a $83.5m bond interest payment that it missed in September, according to reports. The company, which has debts of around $305bn, wired the $83.5m payment and noteholders will receive it before Saturday, China's state-backed newspaper Securities Times said on Friday, citing relevant channels, according to Bloomberg. - Guardian Britain's foremost business lobby group has warned Rishi Sunak that his tax and spending plans risk undercutting government ambitions for a green, high-wage economy by discouraging the necessary investment. Ahead of the chancellor's budget next week, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said there were fundamental inconsistencies in the government's economic strategy that needed urgent attention. - Guardian

A digital lateral flow test that sends results to health authorities via a smartphone app is the first to receive certification, its British backers have claimed. The test reads the result using artificial intelligence and sends the findings directly to a body such as Public Health England. The user is emailed a Covid certificate within minutes. - Telegraph

The furlough scheme cost taxpayers £69 billion over an 18-month period, making it the biggest intervention in the UK jobs market in peacetime. Official figures published by the Office for National Statistics yesterday revealed the final cost of the scheme, which finished at the end of September and was a key part of the government's efforts to prop up the economy during the pandemic. The bill rises to £97 billion when grants to the self-employed are included in the calculation. - The Times

The City regulator wants to extend the reach of rules aimed at holding bosses to account by widening them to cover payments firms and credit rating agencies. The Financial Conduct Authority said yesterday that it was seeking to broaden the senior managers' regime, a set of rules created after the 2008 banking crisis to impose accountability on individual executives. About 47,000 financial services firms, including banks, insurers and asset managers, are subject to the regime. - The Times