The United States and Indonesia announced they have signed a trade deal, with Indonesia agreeing to open its borders wider to American goods, the New York Times reported. The deal, announced on Thursday, includes zero tariffs on virtually all U.S. exports to Indonesia and a 19 percent tariff on Indonesian goods. It formalizes an agreement the two countries made last July, making Indonesia the third country in Southeast Asia to lock in lower tariffs after Malaysia and Cambodia. Mr. Trump had threatened Indonesia with a 32 percent tariff at one point last year.

Corporate failures in New Zealand reached their highest level in 15 years in 2025, with construction and hospitality among the hardest-hit sectors, according to a new Deloitte report, InsuranceBusinessMag.com reported. The firm’s New Zealand Insolvency Trends report found that formal appointments – covering liquidations, receiverships, and voluntary administrations – totalled 3,080 in 2025. This represents a 12% increase on 2024 and the highest annual figure since 2010.

The International Monetary Fund faulted China’s economic policies for causing waste at home and damage abroad and called for a reorientation by Beijing to embrace a model based on domestic consumer spending, Bloomberg News reported. "Transitioning to a consumption-led growth model should be the overarching priority,” the IMF’s executive directors said in a statement Wednesday released alongside the Washington-based lender’s annual review of China’s economy, known as an Article IV consultation.

The Philippine central bank cut rates at its first meeting of the year, a widely expected move as weak growth underlines the need for more economic support, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas lowered its benchmark overnight reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 4.25% from 4.50% on Thursday, delivering a sixth straight round of easing. It reduced its benchmark lending rate to 4.75% from 5.00%.

Indonesian and U.S. companies on Wednesday signed deals worth $38.4 billion ahead of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump to sign a final trade pact, the Indonesian government said in a statement, Reuters reported. The 11 deals, signed at a dinner for Prabowo hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, were for partnerships in mining, energy, agribusiness, textiles, furniture and technology sectors, according to the statement.

Higher U.S. tariffs are not the main reason for a surge in Chinese exports to the eurozone, Africa and other parts of Asia, according to economists at the European Central Bank, the Wall Street Journal reported. While President Trump last year hiked tariffs on imports from countries around the world, the duties faced by Chinese businesses are higher than most other countries. That has led to a sharp fall in Chinese exports to the world’s largest economy.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand left interest rates unchanged at its monetary policy meeting and said it expected inflation to retreat soon and for economic recovery to gather pace in the year ahead, the Wall Street Journal reported. “The economy is at an early stage in its recovery. With ongoing strength in commodity prices, economic activity in the agricultural sector and regional New Zealand remains strong,” the central bank said Wednesday. The official cash rate was held steady at 2.25% as expected.

The International Monetary Fund urged Japan to keep raising interest rates and avoid loosening fiscal policy further, warning that trimming the consumption tax would erode its capacity to respond to future economic shocks, Reuters reported. The recommendation came as dovish Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's landslide election win heightens market attention to whether she will push back against further rate hikes by the central bank. It also follows Takaichi's pledge to suspend by two years an 8% consumption tax on food sales.

Two former members of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will examine the status reports of various residential projects of Jaypee Infratech Ltd (JIL), particularly Wish Town township in the city, where around 17,000 homebuyers have been awaiting possession of their flats for years, the Times of India reported. On Thursday, NCLT appointed the two former members — PK Mohanty and Dr Deepti Mukesh — to independently assess the progress of construction and compliance with a resolution plan, approved three years ago, in the insolvency matter of JIL.