Household spending rose for a fourth month in Japan, showing resilience amid persistent inflation as the central bank continues to mull the timing of its next interest rate hike, Bloomberg News reported. Outlays by households adjusted for inflation gained 2.3% from a year ago in August, led by spending on transport and entertainment, the internal affairs ministry reported Tuesday. The result beat the median economist estimate of a 1.2% increase.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has established a new committee for the conduct of financial policy, giving it power over issues around financial stability and prudential issues for banks, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Financial Policy Committee will set debt-to-income and loan-to-value ratios for banks, thus giving it enormous power over the country’s housing sector. The FPC will consist of the RBNZ board chair, the central bank’s governor, and three other RBNZ board members, with up to two members who aren’t RBNZ board members or employees of the RBNZ.

A measure of Australian consumer sentiment slid for a second straight month in October as concerns about family finances returned amid speculation interest rates might not fall any further, a survey showed on Tuesday, Reuters reported. A Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey showed its main index of consumer sentiment dropped 3.5% to 92.1, having fallen 3.1% in September. The reading under 100 means pessimists increasingly outnumber optimists. Sentiment had been slowly picking up mid-year as the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates three times and inflation looked to be cooling.

The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has ruled that legal proceedings under the Negotiable Instruments Act (NIA) for cheque dishonour cannot be suspended merely because loan recovery has been temporarily halted under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), TheLiveNagpur.com reported. Justice M.M. Nerlikar delivered the ruling while hearing a plea filed by Shri Ramdev Cotspin, an Akola-based firm, against Ashok Mehra (Chairman) and Chandraprakash Mehra (Managing Director) of Pacific Cotspin Company, Kolkata.

Vietnam is planning to limit its crypto exchange pilot program to just five licensed operators, pointing to a cautious regulatory approach despite the country's status as a global crypto adoption leader, Decrypt reported. The framework would allow for only five licensed exchanges to operate during the pilot as the Ministry of Finance develops detailed regulations for taxation, compliance, and operational standards, Deputy Finance Minister Nguyen Duc Chi said at a government press conference on Monday, according to a VnEconomy report, a local media publication.

By 2010 almost 1 in 5 companies limped along because of bailouts and other financing relief, rather than tackling their fundamental problems, Bloomberg News reported. In 2008 three economics professors, one from Japan and two from the US, coined a term for these enterprises: “zombie companies.” Now the country’s financial landscape is changing. In March 2024 the Bank of Japan increased interest rates for the first time in 17 years, reflecting an improving economic climate and rising prices.