China’s central bank held key policy rates steady on Wednesday, a move that could preface a hold on benchmark lending rates later this month, the Wall Street Journal reported. The People’s Bank of China injected 125 billion yuan ($17.28 billion) worth of liquidity via the medium-term lending facility, which charges banks an interest rate of 2.5%. The rate was unchanged from last operation. The MLF is a tool the central bank uses to lend to commercial banks and acts as a guide for the benchmark loan prime rate, which is tied to mortgages and other loans.

The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) allows the withdrawal of the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) against Syska LED Lights Pvt Ltd, the Economic Times of India reported. Earlier, the tribunal had admitted the company under the insolvency resolution process and had appointed Ravi Prakash Ganti as the interim resolution professional for the company. Syska LED Lights is part of the Pune-based SSK Group, an exclusive distributor of Samsung mobiles, accessories and tables for five states in Western India.

Any future foreign-exchange intervention by Japan to support the yen would likely involve tapping its holdings of US Treasuries, according to Bank of America Corp., Bloomberg News reported. Japanese authorities likely stepped in on two occasions in recent weeks to bolster the yen as it reached the weakest levels in several decades versus the dollar, and they probably used their cash reserves to accomplish that.

National Company Law Tribunal yesterday noted that it would take a call on the fate of engine lessors for beleaguered airline Go First after studying the Delhi High Court order, the Economic Times of India reported. The Delhi HC, last month, had allowed aircraft lessors to retake possession of its aircraft telling the civil aviation regulator Director General of Civil Aviation to de-register the 54 aircraft.

China strongly opposed the United States' tariff hikes, its commerce ministry said on Tuesday, vowing it will take resolute measures to defend its rights and interests, Reuters reported. "U.S. raising Section 301 tariffs violates President Biden's commitment to 'not seek to suppress and contain China's development' and 'not to seek to decouple and break links with China'," said a statement by the ministry, adding the move will "seriously affect the atmosphere of bilateral cooperation." U.S.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission has opened discussions with Islamabad on a new loan programme, a Pakistan finance ministry statement said on Monday, Reuters reported. The mission chief, Nathan Porter, met Pakistan's Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb to "kick-start the discussions on further engagement with the fund." Aurangzeb informed the team of improvements in the macro-economic indicators over the course of the standby arrangement and underscored the government's commitment to continue and expand the reform agenda, the ministry said.

Chinese property developer Country Garden made payments on two onshore bonds within a grace period, avoiding default days after the company had said it might turn to a state guarantor for help, the Wall Street Journal reported. The heavily indebted property developer said Saturday that it made interest payments totaling about 65.95 billion yuan ($9.13 billion) on two onshore bonds that had been due last week. Country Garden said that through the efforts of “all parties, the issuer actively raised funds and revitalized the mortgage assets.” It didn’t elaborate.

Two more Chinese cities have unveiled plans to buy up unsold, unfinished or old housing, coming as Beijing shifts its focus to absorbing excess apartment supply as a way to resolve the country’s ongoing property crisis, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, on Saturday said it would help renovate or buy housing inventories and turn them into public housing.

China's finance ministry plans to start raising 1 trillion yuan ($138 billion) in long-awaited, long-term special treasury bonds this week to raise funds it will use to stimulate key sectors of its flagging economy. The finance ministry confirmed what four sources had told Reuters earlier on Monday that the 1 trillion yuan ($138.23 billion) of special government bonds would have tenors of 20 to 50 years and issuance will begin on May 17.

China is taking the rare step of sharply increasing fares for riders on four major bullet train lines, in its broadest move to address rising costs and heavy debts since construction of the system began nearly two decades ago, the New York Times reported. The higher prices for train tickets are part of a push to raise prices for public services. Earlier this year, water and natural gas bills started going up in some cities. Public services in China are heavily subsidized by local governments.