China's imports and exports fell much faster than expected in July as weaker demand threatens recovery prospects in the world's second-largest economy, heightening pressure for authorities to release fresh stimulus to steady growth, Reuters reported. The grim trade numbers reinforce expectations that economic activity could slow further in the third quarter, with construction, manufacturing and services activity, foreign direct investment and industrial profits all weakening.

Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings Co.’s stock and bonds plunged as noteholders said they haven’t received coupon payments effectively due Monday, further darkening sentiment in the crisis-stricken property sector, Bloomberg News reported. Some holders of two different notes said they didn’t receive coupon payments as of Tuesday afternoon. The investors asked not to be named as they’re not authorized to speak publicly. The company owed $10.5 million of interest on a dollar bond that matures in 2026 and $12 million on a note due 2030, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Pakistan plans to privatise its loss-making national carrier Pakistan International Airlines, the government said on Monday, as the country also seeks to outsource its airport operations in line with an IMF deal, Reuters reported. The privatisation decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Privatisation chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The committee "after deliberation decided to include Pakistan International Airlines Co.

Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi dismissed the ongoing rumors against its insolvency, which was fueled by total value locked (TVL) data that briefly showed $64 million in outflows between Aug. 5-6 amid ongoing investigations from Chinese authorities, CoinTelegraph.com reported. Outflows from Huobi over the weekend, based on data collected by decentralized finance (DeFi) TVL aggregator DefiLlama, showed the exchange’s TVL falling to $2.5 billion at the time of writing, down from $3.09 on July 6. Moreover, rumors that the exchange’s leadership had been arrested in China first surfaced on Aug.

China’s local government financing vehicles are showing more signs of stress, with a record number missing payments on a popular type of short-term debt last month, Bloomberg News reported. A total of 48 LGFVs were overdue on commercial paper, which typically carries a maturity of less than a year, up from 29 in June, according to a Huaan Securities Co. report citing data from the Shanghai Commercial Paper Exchange. Their missed payments amounted to 1.86 billion yuan ($259 million), versus 780 million yuan in June.

One measure of new foreign investment in China fell to the lowest level in 25 years in the second quarter, fueling concerns about how much geopolitical tensions and the economy’s slowing recovery can hurt business confidence, Bloomberg News reported. Direct investment liabilities — a gauge of foreign direct investment in China — slumped to just $4.9 billion in the April-June period, according to figures released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Friday. That was down 87% from the same period last year and was the smallest amount in any quarter in data back to 1998.

Monetary policy transmission to the real economy in Sri Lanka is still incomplete, the governor of the country's central bank, Nandalal Weerasinghe, said at a LSEG FX Community Event on Monday, Reuters reported. Weerasinghe said he would like to see private sector interest rates come down further and at a faster pace, adding that the domestic debt restructuring is the most important focus for the debt-laden country in the near-term. "We would firstly like to see yields drop in line with policy rates and, from there, decline further. We are waiting to see this reaction from markets," he said.

The Philippine central bank will exercise caution against “too much” monetary tightening to avoid crimping economic growth, according to Governor Eli Remolona, Bloomberg News reported. “If we are going to hike, we have to be very careful not to hike too much,” Remolona said at a briefing in Manila Friday, when asked if the economy can handle more tightening on top of the 425-basis points of increases since last year.

Banks have written off bad loans worth Rs 14.56 lakh crore in the last nine financial years starting 2014-15, Parliament was informed on Monday, the Economic Times of India reported. Out of the total Rs 14,56,226 crore, written off loans of large industries and services stood at Rs 7,40,968 crore. Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) have recovered an aggregate amount of Rs 2,04,668 crore in written-off loans, including corporate loans, since April, 2014 and up to March, 2023, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

Distressed state construction company PT Waskita Karya of Indonesia said it won’t be able to deposit funds for the payment of interest and the repayment of principal for its rupiah bonds due Aug. 6, according to a filing on Friday, Bloomberg News reported. The rupiah-denominated notes of the heavily indebted builder has total outstanding of 135.5 billion rupiah ($8.9 million), according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The failure to make payments came after the company also missed a coupon payment due May 30, Waskita said in a statement.