The Japanese government is discussing officially stating that the country’s economy has overcome deflation, Kyodo reported Saturday, Bloomberg News reported. The government will consider making the statement after taking into account this year’s wage negotiations to check if pay is increasing in accordance with rising prices, according to the report. The proposal includes Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other members of the cabinet publicly saying that the country has exited deflation at meetings and press conferences, as well as stating it in monthly economic reports, Kyodo reported.

Deutsche Bank is preparing a liquidation lawsuit in Hong Kong against Chinese developer Shimao Group, two sources said, in a rare move by a foreign firm that comes amid rising credit defaults and China's deepening property sector crisis, Reuters reported. Shanghai-based Shimao is among the many Chinese developers that have defaulted on offshore bonds, after it missed the interest and principal payment for a $1 billion offshore bond in July, 2022.

A small Florida hedge fund that allegedly helped Indian tech firm Think & Learn Pvt hide $533 million must reveal where the money is located or face possible sanctions from a federal judge on Monday, Bloomberg News reported. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey in a Friday hearing dismissed an effort by the investment firm, Camshaft Capital Fund, to avoid answering questions about the cash. The missing money is at the heart of a fight between lenders owed $1.2 billion and Think & Learn, the education-tech startup founded by entrepreneur Byju Raveendran.

Japan’s job market remained tight in January, keeping pressure on companies to pledge solid wage increases in annual negotiations currently underway with labor unions. The unemployment rate fell to 2.4% from a revised 2.5% a month earlier, the ministry of internal affairs reported Friday, sliding to the lowest level since early 2020, Bloomberg News reported. The outcome was in line with economists’ consensus estimates. Another report from the labor ministry showed the job-to-applicants ratio held steady at 1.27 in January, matching the median estimate by analysts.

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng pledged on Friday to provide more opportunities for foreign companies in China as the government tries to restore confidence in the world's second largest economy, the Associated Press reported. Han told an audience of American business people in Beijing that the government would continue to open up more industries to foreign investment and create a market-oriented and law-based international business environment. “China’s development achievements have been made through opening up," he said at an American Chamber of Commerce in China banquet.

Chinese regulators have hit another firm with disciplinary action as they keep cracking down on high-frequency trading as part of efforts to stabilize equities markets, the Wall Street Journal reported. The China Financial Futures Exchange said late Wednesday that Shanghai Weiwan Fund Management recently used high-frequency trading in stock futures to circumvent the trading-limit system trade, making 8.9 million yuan ($1.2 million) in profits. The profits have been confiscated and Shanghai Weiwan is barred from trading for one year, the exchange said.

India’s Adani Group said cash balances have improved and it sees no refinancing risks in the near term as the conglomerate took more steps to shore up its finances following a withering short seller attack last year, Bloomberg News reported. The group’s Ebitda, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization rose more than 60% to 194.75 billion rupees ($2.3 billion) in the third quarter ended Dec. 31 with a bulk of that coming from the transport, infrastructure and energy units of the conglomerate. The group reported an Ebitda of $9.5 billion for the nine months to Dec. 31.

Chinese developer Country Garden said on Wednesday a liquidation petition has been filed against it for non-payment of a $205 million loan, clouding its debt revamp prospects and undermining Beijing's effort to restore confidence in the property sector, Reuters reported. Country Garden said in a regulatory filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it would "resolutely" oppose the petition, which was filed by a creditor, Ever Credit Limited, a unit of Hong Kong-listed Kingboard Holdings. A court hearing had been set for May 17.

Hong Kong has taken a bold step to ease a real-estate slump, scrapping a series of property taxes in an effort to turn around a market that is often seen as a proxy for the city’s beleaguered economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The government has removed longstanding property taxes that were imposed on nonpermanent residents, those buying a second home, or people reselling a property within two years after buying, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said in his annual budget speech on Wednesday.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday told Byju’s to respond to two separate insolvency petitions filed against the troubled edtech firm by US lenders and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Economic Times of India reported.