Asia Pacific

Indian budget carrier Akasa Air has been forced to cut flights in the short-term after many of its pilots quit abruptly, sparking a legal dispute in court where the company has warned that further resignations may even force it to shut down, Reuters reported. A small set of pilots "abandoned their duties" and left without serving their mandatory contractual notice period, causing a disruption of flights, but the airline is on course to invest in growing its operations and ordering more planes, CEO Vinay Dube told employees in an email on Tuesday.

China's economic slowdown is polarising government advisers over the best way forward, with advocates of structural reforms now emerging from the shadows in a challenge to others calling for more state spending to shore up faltering growth, Reuters reported. The rare debate among advisers, who influence policy-making but do not wield direct power, comes as global markets scramble for clues on how authorities will halt a downturn that has left millions without jobs, forced investors to flee and the yuan to tank.

Turkey’s central bank delivered another sizable interest-rate hike, matching expectations but disappointing a market that was pricing in more aggressive moves to curb inflation running at almost 60%, Bloomberg News reported. The lira reversed gains after the Monetary Policy Committee raised rates for a fourth straight time to bring its benchmark to 30% from 25%.

China will speed up the introduction of more policies to consolidate its economic recovery, state media CCTV reported on Wednesday, citing a cabinet meeting chaired by Premier Li Qiang, after the economy showed tentative signs of stabilising, Reuters reported. With a flurry of support steps kicking in, the $18 trillion economy showed better-than-expected figures including bank lending, industrial production and consumption gauges last month, but the wobbling property sector still weighs on its economic outlook.

New Zealand’s economy probably emerged from a shallow recession in the second quarter as a surge in immigration fueled growth, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product increased 0.4% in the three months through June, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. From a year earlier, the economy expanded 1.2%, the survey shows. Statistics New Zealand publishes the report at 10:45 a.m. Thursday in Wellington.

Chinese developer Sunac China Holdings has filed for chapter 15 protection from creditors in a U.S. bankruptcy court, court documents showed, Reuters reported. Creditors of Sunac China Holdings approved its $9 billion offshore debt restructuring plan on Monday, marking the first approval of such debt overhaul by a major Chinese property developer.

China’s giant housing industry is lurching into a new crisis that threatens to be the country’s worst yet, the Wall Street Journal reported. Two years ago, the debt-laden developer China Evergrande Group spiraled into insolvency, bursting the country’s real-estate bubble and setting off a chain of developer defaults and business losses. The industry’s troubles have dragged down China’s economy. Now China’s largest privately run property developer, Country Garden, is struggling to survive.

The involvement of two Chinese state-owned financial firms in Zhongrong International Trust Co's operations and management may diffuse risk at the troubled shadow bank but does little to ease concerns about missed payments, analysts and investors said, Reuters reported. The shadow bank, which traditionally had sizable real estate exposure, missed payments on dozens of so-called trust products since late July, roiling markets and raising fears that China's financial system may be at risk from the property sector crisis.

Distressed Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings Co. faces two more tests Monday: an initial deadline to pay dollar bond interest and the end of creditor voting on its request to extend payment on a yuan note, Bloomberg News reported. Holders of that local bond due Oct. 21 have until 10 p.m. Beijing time Monday to vote on the proposal to stretch payment by three years. If they reject it, Country Garden would need to pay the 492 million yuan ($67.6 million) of outstanding principal next month, its largest near-term maturity just as it’s struggled to make smaller payments.

China’s central bank announced a policy change on Thursday that will allow the country’s banks to lend more money, but a nationwide economic slowdown has left many companies and households wary of borrowing, the New York Times reported. The move is the latest in a series of economic stimulus measures by the Chinese government as growth has failed to rebound strongly this year as many expected after nearly three years of stringent pandemic-control regulations.