Pakistan will push back the deadline for companies to express interest in buying national carrier Pakistan International Airlines to May 18, the country's privatisation minister said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The extension, announced in a statement by Minister for Investment and Privatisation Abdul Aleem Khan, came a day before the expressions of interest had originally been due. He said 10 companies had already expressed an interest.

Japan likely conducted its second currency intervention this week, current account figures from the central bank suggest, in another sign of the government’s intensified battle to prop up the yen, Bloomberg News reported. Tokyo’s latest entry into the market was likely around ¥3.5 trillion ($22.5 billion), based on a comparison of Bank of Japan accounts and money broker forecasts. The BOJ reported Thursday that its current account will probably fall ¥4.36 trillion due to fiscal factors on the next business day of Tuesday.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Hyderabad, on Tuesday admitted Aditya Birla ARC's initiation of insolvency process petition against the personal guarantees given by the promoters of KSK Mahanadi Power Company K.A. Sastry and S. Kishore, the Economic Times of India reported. The two promoters had guaranteed upward of Rs 4000 crore for loans sanctioned to KSK Mahanadi. Aditya Birla ARC has largest share of 33.38% in the total claims from KSK Mahanadi Power, which is around Rs 32,000 crore.

China Evergrande Group flagged a delay in publishing its annual results as its liquidators are taking time to "ascertain the current state of affairs" of the embattled property developer, Reuters reported. Preparation of the financial statements of the company for the year ended Dec. 31, 2023, and the publication of the 2023 annual report have been delayed, the cash-strapped firm said in an exchange filing on Tuesday. Evergrande's shares, which were suspended from trading on Jan. 29 this year, will continue to remain suspended.

New Zealand unemployment rate jumped sharply in the first three months of this year as the economy slumbered in an extended recession and high interest rates continued to batter household budgets, the Wall Street Journal reported. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.3% in the first quarter, well up from 4.0% in the prior quarter, Stats NZ said Wednesday. Over the year to the first quarter, the unemployment rate rose 0.9 percentage points.

China Vanke Co. will exit non-core operations and divest assets as the developer seeks to boost liquidity amid the sector’s unprecedented downturn, according to a memo from a shareholder meeting on Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported. The company will “trim down” and adjust its model for raising money, Chairman Yu Liang said in the meeting. It will also exit all businesses except for the three main operations, which focus on property development, real estate management services and rentals.

Distressed developer CIFI Holdings Group Co. said it has reached an agreement with a key creditor group on some terms of a restructuring plan that could cut the principal on its debt by as much as 85%, a reversal from the company’s expectations of “no haircut” a year ago, Bloomberg News reported. Shanghai-based CIFI’s latest proposal involves reducing debt by around $3.3 billion to $4 billion, while asking bondholders to swap existing debt for new notes with tenors ranging from two to six years, according to a Hong Kong exchange filing dated April 29.

Australian low-cost carrier Bonza has gone into administration, a process similar to U.S. bankruptcy, after saying earlier on Tuesday that it was suspending flights amid discussions about the continuing viability of its business, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. A regulatory filing with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission said employees from accounting and advisory firm Hall Chadwick had been appointed as administrators.

Japan intervened to prop up the yen after it hit a multidecade low against the dollar on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The currency has plummeted against the dollar this year, hurt by increasing doubts among traders about the timing of U.S. interest rate cuts. The yen weakened to around 160 per dollar on Monday, but bounced back to around 155 per dollar after Japanese authorities started buying yen and selling dollars, according to the people.

China’s central bank has advised some regional lenders to curtail their ultra-long bond investments to mitigate risks, Bloomberg News reported. City and rural commercial banks in at least two eastern provinces were instructed in recent weeks to avoid significant exposure to these securities. Under the guidance from local branches of the People’s Bank of China, the regional banks have also been asked to reduce duration and leverage on bond holdings.