New Zealand's central bank cut its policy rate by 25 basis points to a three-year low of 3.00% on Wednesday, and flagged further reductions in coming months as policymakers warned of domestic and global headwinds to growth, Reuters reported. The central bank's dovish tone caught markets offguard and sent the New Zealand dollar tumbling 1.2% to a 4-month low at $0.5817, while two-year swap rates slumped as deep as 2.93% -- their lowest level since early 2022.

Reliance Communications (RCom) has accused Swedish telecom giant Ericsson of misusing India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) as a coercive tool for debt recovery, ElectronicsforYou.biz reported. The allegation was made before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Mumbai, where RCom is seeking a refund of ₹550 crore paid to Ericsson under a 2018 settlement. Senior counsel Gaurav Joshi, appearing for RCom, argued that the IBC was being misapplied by Ericsson as a substitute for debt enforcement.

Embattled Chinese property developer Country Garden said on Monday it had reached an agreement with a core group of bank creditors that holds 49% of its offshore debt, marking another step in its $14.1 billion restructuring plan, Reuters reported. Once China's largest developer, the company defaulted on $11 billion in offshore bonds in late 2023, adding to a sector-wide crisis that had already seen high-profile failures, including of China Evergrande Group.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, a total of 309 closures of comprehensive construction companies in South Korea were reported from January to July this year, Chosun Biz reported. This marks an increase of 4.74% compared to the same period last year (295 cases). This means that, on average, about 1.5 construction companies have closed each day this year. Looking at the number of closure reports from comprehensive construction companies on an annual basis, the figure increased from 170 in 2022 to 360 in 2023, and then decreased to 295 last year.

India expects consumption tax cuts announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give a boost to the economy without hurting the government’s fiscal deficit, helping to offset the fallout from higher U.S. tariffs, Bloomberg News reported. Officials in New Delhi said on the weekend that the proposed changes to the goods and services tax — which will see the number of tax categories reduced to two from four — would benefit a broad range of sectors, including consumers and small businesses.

Hong Kong's debt-laden developers and their creditors are set to face intensifying financial pressure as bond maturities are slated to jump by nearly 70% next year amid falling sales and valuations for the city's economically crucial property sector, Reuters reported. Road King last week became the first city-based developer to default on bond coupons since China's property debt crisis began in 2021, following the first loan default by listed peer Emperor International earlier this year.

Crypto users might be tempted to cash in on near-peak prices in the Land of Smiles as early as this month, as regulators plot out a new payments sandbox, DLNews reported. Thailand’s government is reportedly preparing to unveil the TouristDigiPay initiative that would allow foreign visitors to convert digital assets into Thai baht for use at local merchants. Crypto users might be tempted to cash in on near-peak prices in the Land of Smiles as early as this month, as regulators plot out a new payments sandbox.

The Chinese economy slowed noticeably in July, according to official statistics released on Friday, highlighting a complex set of challenges facing China amid growing global tensions over trade, the New York Times reported. The government attributed the slowdown partly to the trade war with the United States, though China’s economy is still suffering the overhang of a four-year-long crash in real estate values. What’s more, officials recently have taken deliberate steps to slow its factories as many countries have begun imposing tariffs on China’s massive and still rising exports.