Japan’s prime minister insists he will raise consumption tax to 10 per cent next year and has hinted that another economic stimulus package is being planned, the Financial Times reported. Shinzo Abe said before leaving for Washington he would press ahead with the tax rise unless there was a natural disaster or economic blow as big as the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. But Mr Abe also began to prepare for another fiscal stimulus, already under discussion within his party, and warned of downside risks to the global economy.

Global miners have bought back billions of dollars of their debt in a display of financial strength designed to address investor concerns over their leverage as they try to deal with the after-effects of the commodities slump, the Financial Times reported. Miners including Barrick Gold and Anglo American completed $2.5bn of bond repurchases this month. They join other miners including Vedanta Resources, Glencore and Fortescue Metals Group to have bought back part of previously issued debt in recent months.

The southern Chinese city of Shenzhen has raised deposit requirements for some home buyers, the latest in a series of measures being introduced across the country to calm property markets, according to the official Xinhua news agency, the Irish Times reported. Authorities in Nanjing, in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu, issued similar measures on Monday, underlining how the government’s tightening campaign has spread to more “second tier” cities.

Skymark Airlines Inc. exited bankruptcy administration and forecast its first operating profit in three years after reducing its fleet, cutting routes and securing new funding, The Japan Times reported on a Bloomberg News story. The carrier expects to report ¥1.5 billion ($13 million) in operating profit and sales of ¥70 billion for the year ending March 31, Skymark said in a statement Monday. Skymark also said it’s targeting an “early relisting” of its shares after filing for bankruptcy protection last year. Private equity firm Integral Corp.

Japan’s prime minister insists he will raise consumption tax to 10 per cent next year and has hinted that another economic stimulus package is being planned, the Financial Times reported. Shinzo Abe said before leaving for Washington he would press ahead with the tax rise unless there was a natural disaster or economic blow as big as the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. But Mr Abe also began to prepare for another fiscal stimulus, already under discussion within his party, and warned of downside risks to the global economy.

The debt restructuring of a leading Chinese steel company has caught the attention of the market in what some analysts see as a landmark case for reform of the troubled sector, the South China Morning Post reported. Bohai Steel, a steelmaker based in northeast China Tianjin is struggling with debt of 192 billion yuan (HK$228.96 billion). Analysts believe the lack of a government bailout may signal China’s desire to develop a test case for other loss-making state-owned enterprises and local governments to follow.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank shouldn’t be seen as an attempt to upend existing multilateral development lenders, nor should it be a hot spot for conflict between China and the U.S., the AIIB president said Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Beijing-based infrastructure bank, which was conceived as China’s answer to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, has faced skepticism, particularly from the U.S., over how it is managed and whether it has a political agenda to advance Beijing’s interests.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Foxconn Technology Group’s flagship company, on Sunday denied media reports that the bailout of Sharp Corp. will be approved and signed on March 31, a day after Hon Hai’s board meets, Bloomberg News reported. Progress in talks to acquire troubled Japanese electronics maker Sharp will determine whether the deal is discussed at the board meeting, which will go ahead as scheduled, Hon Hai said in a statement to the Taiwan stock exchange.

Mongolian Mining Corp. didn’t make principal and interest payments on a $200 million loan facility and wasn’t able to get a temporary waiver from banks, triggering a cross-default on its bonds, Bloomberg News reported. The miner failed to make the payments on the loan facility taken from BNP Paribas SA and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. in March 2014, and didn’t get a waiver from the lenders, according to a stock exchange filing. The situation constitutes a cross-default event in the terms of other indebtedness including its $600 million of 8.875 percent notes, it said.

Confronted with a plunge in its stock markets last year, China’s central bank swiftly reached out to the United States Federal Reserve, asking it to share its playbook from dealing with Wall Street’s “Black Monday” crash of 1987, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.