China’s economy got off to a solid start this year but that momentum may prove hard to sustain as the world’s largest oil importer navigates the conflict in the Middle East and continued pressures at home, the Wall Street Journal reported. Data on Monday showed retail sales got a lift over January-February thanks to the extended Lunar New Year holiday, while industrial production rebounded on surging exports. Fixed-asset investment meanwhile improved after a decline last year.

Australia’s central bank raised interest rates on Tuesday as the conflict in Iran worsened existing concerns around an acceleration in inflation and the country’s reliance on oil imports, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Reserve Bank of Australia increased the official cash rate to 4.10% from 3.85%. That marked the second increase this year and investor bets have shifted toward another rate rise in May as officials battle to rein in price pressures.

Reliance Communications Limited has disclosed that its subsidiary, Reliance Telecom Limited, has had its loan account classified as fraudulent by State Bank of India following a decision by the bank’s fraud identification committee, TipRanks.com reported. SBI intends to report RTL’s name to the Reserve Bank of India in line with regulatory requirements, highlighting legacy credit issues that predate the insolvency process and intensifying scrutiny over the group’s past financing arrangements.

China's economy began the year on a firmer footing as factory output quickened while retail sales and ​investment rebounded in January-February, offering early relief for policymakers as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran injects fresh uncertainty for growth, Reuters reported. The resilience followed a surge in exports driven by booming AI-related ‌technology demand, which also buoyed upstream manufacturing, although analysts cautioned of risks to the outlook from geopolitical tensions, fragile consumer confidence and strains in global trade and energy markets.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is likely to raise interest rates this week to combat a worsening inflation outlook but it needs to dispense with vague messaging and signal forcefully that it won’t tolerate inflation above its target, the Wall Street Journal reported. “The RBA needs to stop equivocating on how long it is going to take to get inflation back to target,” John Simon, a former head of economic analysis at the central bank, said in an interview.

With the conflict in Iran rattling financial markets and oil prices, the Bank of Japan finds itself in a familiar dilemma, weighing a policy pause against the continued push for rate hikes, the Wall Street Journal reported. Escalating tensions in the Middle East have driven up crude prices, complicating the BOJ’s efforts to create stable 2% inflation backed by wage growth and demand, rather than higher costs.

Chinese lenders plan to steer more money toward technology and innovation-oriented firms, bankers say, responding to Beijing's pledge to aggressively adopt artificial intelligence throughout the economy and dominate emerging sectors, Reuters reports. The credit-allocation shift toward tech is ​well underway and is set to accelerate further under the government's plans, unveiled last week, to go all-in on technologies from AI, semiconductors to advanced manufacturing, ‌they said.