India's unemployment rate among individuals aged 15 years and above stood at 5.1% in April, the country's ministry of statistics said in a statement on Thursday, Reuters reported. This is the first of what will be India's monthly labour force data reports, which will cover both urban and rural areas. Previously, the government published quarterly and annual employment statistics for urban and rural areas respectively. India's labour statistics have been criticised in the past for long delays and an unrealistic picture of the unemployment in the country.

Ratings agency Fitch on Wednesday downgraded ratings for Chinese property company China Vanke citing liquidity concerns amidst an ailing property sector in the world's second largest economy, Reuters reported. Fitch downgraded long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings (IDRs) for the embattled property developer to 'CCC+' from 'B-'. The agency also downgraded the long-term IDR for the company's unit, Vanke Real Estate (Hong Kong), to 'CCC' from 'CCC+', and its senior unsecured rating and the rating on its outstanding senior notes to 'CCC', from 'CCC+'.

China's new bank loans tumbled more than expected in April as a protracted trade war with the United States further eroded the market's appetite during a typically slow month for loan demand, Reuters reported. Chinese banks extended 280 billion yuan ($38.87 billion) in new yuan loans in April, below analysts' forecasts and plummeting from March's 3.64 trillion yuan, according to Reuters calculations based on data released by the People's Bank of China. Total outstanding yuan loans rose at a record-low annual pace of 7.2% in April.

The temporary reduction in tariffs that the United States and China announced in Geneva on Monday will lift, at least for now, the de facto trade embargo that had been in place between the two countries for the past month, the New York Times reported. It will reduce the chances that American shoppers will face empty shelves during the holiday season and perhaps limit the price increases they will have to endure. It sent stock prices soaring around the world. But the deal does little to clear the cloud of uncertainty that has hung over the U.S.

South Korea has prepared support measures for small and medium-sized firms expected to be hurt by U.S. tariffs, the government said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The measures include financing support worth 4.6 trillion won ($3.25 billion), subsidies to ease the burden of logistics costs, and other policies to help expand export markets.

Australian wages picked up in the March quarter led by government pay rises, data showed on Wednesday, while subdued growth in the private sector suggested a tight labour market was still no bar to a cut in interest rates, Reuters reported. Investors remain confident the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut by a quarter point to 3.85% at its May 20 meeting, due to cooling inflation at home and global uncertainty caused by U.S. tariff policies.

Pakistan has received the second tranche of special drawing rights worth 760 million ($1,023 million) from the International Monetary Fund under the extended fund facility programme, the country's central bank said in a post on X on Wednesday. The amount will be reflected in its foreign exchange reserves for the week ending May 16, the State Bank of Pakistan said. Read more.

A struggling technology company that has ties to China and relies on TikTok made an unusual announcement this week. It had secured funding to buy as much as $300 million of $TRUMP, the so-called memecoin marketed by President Trump, the New York Times reported. GD Culture Group, a publicly traded firm with a Chinese subsidiary, has only eight employees, its public filings show, and recorded zero revenue last year from an e-commerce business it operates on TikTok, the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has dismissed an insolvency petition against PepsiCo India Holdings after observing that provisions of IBC cannot be turned into a debt-recovery proceeding, the Times of India reported. The appellate insolvency tribunal has upheld the earlier order passed by the Chandigarh bench of the National Company Law Tribunal, which had rejected SNJ Synthetic's plea.