The Bank of Korea raised its benchmark interest rate Thursday, while the government issued a package of steps to stabilize consumer prices, moves that show the concern among policy makers about building inflationary pressures as the economy recovers, The Wall Street Journal reported. The central bank's surprise decision to raise its policy rate by 0.25 percentage point to 2.75% and the government's set of measures, including a freeze on public-service charges such as those for electricity and gas, show how the authorities now view inflation as one of their main policy challenges.

China went from scooping up the most Japanese debt in a year to selling the most, exiting the world’s lowest yields as forecasters expect the yen to retreat further from the 15-year high seen in November, Bloomberg reported. The country sold a net 81.3 billion yen ($979 million) of Japanese bonds in November, Japan’s Ministry of Finance said yesterday. China had been set for the biggest yearly increase since at least 2005 before unwinding with net sales in three of the four months through November.

Indonesia's troubled budget-carrier PT Mandala Airlines will temporarily cease operations Thursday, while it plans to restructure its debt and seek strategic investors, the company said Wednesday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. "We will file a debt restructuring request to the Commercial Court tomorrow [Thursday]. This is the best step to safeguard Mandala's future," the airline's President Director Diono Nurjadin told a news conference. "We will cease operations temporarily so we can focus on debt restructuring and invite several potential investors," Nurjadin added.

Receivers have been appointed to the $500 million Raine Square office/retail tower project in Perth, which was being jointly developed by rich list member Luke Saraceni and fellow property developer Hossean Pourzard, SmartCompany.com.au reported. Major lender Bankwest – which has also signed on as the 20-storey tower's major tenant – called in receivers Mark Korda and Cliff Rocke of insolvency firm Korda Mentha in conjunction with fellow lender Bank of Scotland.

Five candidates, including midsized domestic non-bank financial institutions and foreign investment funds, are being considered for the role of rehabilitation sponsor for failed consumer lender Takefuji Corp, the Nikkei business daily reported. Candidates are to submit offer prices and final business plans by end February and the sponsor is expected to be finalized in March, the paper added. The five candidates have been selected from 14 in the first round of bidding in December through an examination of their submitted business plans, the business paper said.

The convoluted saga of debt-laden Australian shopping-center owner Centro Properties Group has taken yet another twist: Most of the banks set to decide Centro's fate by December have been replaced by hedge funds and other opportunistic investors, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Gone are most of the lenders that originated Centro's roughly $5.5 billion in unsecured debt coming due at the end of this year, having sold their positions in recent months.

New Zealand likely avoided a recession last year due to a recovery in business confidence led by exports, consumer spending and construction, economists say. A net 8 percent of companies surveyed expect the economy will improve over the next six months, up from 6 percent in the third quarter, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research said today in Wellington, Bloomberg reported. Home-building approvals rose 8.8 percent to a four-month high of 1,268 in November, Statistics New Zealand said in a separate report.

Tasmania's largest private ambulance service is facing insolvency, ABC News reported. Ambulance Private's owner blames the State Government and says Ambulance Tasmania will need millions of dollars to pick up the thousands of patients his company transports every year. A State Government review in 2007 recommended Ambulance Tasmania stop outsourcing non-emergency patient transport to private companies and set up its own business unit. As a result, Ambulance Private's managing director David Watson says his company will go under within a week.

The Indian Railways’ great “turnaround story”, which was making waves in business schools till a few months back, now appears headed towards an ignominious end, IndianExpress.com reported. A sharp decline in earnings and a serious escalation in expenditures are threatening to push India’s transport behemoth to near-bankruptcy.

One of China's biggest cities is finalizing plans for a new tax on high-end residential real estate, state media reported, a long-discussed measure to escalate the fight against rising property prices that have fueled frustration among the country's urban middle class, The Wall Street Journal reported. The mayor of Chongqing, Huang Qifan, has recommended approval of the tax by the municipal legislature, and the Chinese Ministry of Finance has approved the tax in principle, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Sunday.