China’s trade figures for July were a mixed bag, with exports slowing unexpectedly but imports growing at a faster-than-expected clip, signaling some improvement in domestic demand, the Wall Street Journal reported. Outbound shipments rose 7.0% from a year earlier in July, down from June’s 8.6% increase, said the General Administration of Customs on Wednesday. That was below the 9.4% growth expected by economists in a Wall Street Journal survey, but analysts say the outlook for exports still appears bright.

The microfinance sector in India has clamoured for easy credit rating rules from banks for the micro lenders with less than Rs 500 crore portfolio so that these entities get adequate doses of bank loans to grow their businesses, the Economic Times of India reported. The small and medium sized micro lenders are gasping for bank loans as they don't get bank loans as easily as their bigger counterparts with minimum Rs 1000 crore portfolio, even as the sector grew by nearly 25% in FY24 to a cumulative portfolio of Rs 4.3 lakh crore.

China Evergrande Group is seeking to recover $6 billion from its founder and others amid the former property giant’s continuing liquidation, the Wall Street Journal reported. The heavily indebted Chinese developer said late Monday that it is seeking to claw back the money from seven individuals, including founder Hui Ka Yan, his ex-wife, a former chief executive and a former chief financial officer.

A subsidiary of the People’s Bank of China asked rural lenders to be mindful of risks in government-bond trading and refrain from buying the securities in large sizes, Bloomberg News reported. The Jiangsu branch of the monetary authority — located in one of China’s wealthiest provinces and close to financial center Shanghai — this week told rural commercial lenders to control risks associated with their positions in long-term sovereign notes. The banks were told not to aggressively buy the bonds when state lenders are selling them.

The Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates on hold at its August policy meeting, stopping well short of joining other major central banks in talking about coming rate cuts and instead warning that inflation will remain a problem for some time yet, the Wall Street Journal reported. The RBA’s official cash rate was held at a 12-year high of 4.35%, where it has remained since November.

Pakistan has secured commitments from China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to rollover debt for a year, a boost for the nation as it awaits a final approval for its new $7 billion loan program with the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg News reported. The amount of rollovers will be the same as last year, Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told reporters in Islamabad after a parliamentary committee meeting. Pakistan has $12 billion in bilateral loans that have been extended for the past few years.

China Evergrande's electric vehicle group said on Monday a Chinese court had ruled that two of its subsidiaries should enter bankruptcy and be reorganised, sending the EV group's shares plunging 7.9%, the lowest since May 16, Reuters reported. The news about the subsidiaries of the embattled real estate developer's New Energy Vehicle operation came after creditors filed for the proceedings last month. Their filings did not spell out reasons.

China has given the green light to Anbang Insurance Group Co. Ltd. to start bankruptcy proceedings, marking the latest step in the government’s years-long efforts to manage the collapse of the sprawling financial conglomerate, CaixinGlobal.com reported. The National Financial Regulatory Administration, China’s top financial regulator, announced the in-principle approval on Friday.

Turkey’s headline inflation saw the sharpest drop in nearly two years in July, a slowdown largely due to base effects that officials may overlook as they focus on more immediate risks to prices, Bloomberg News reported. Data on Monday showed headline inflation slipped to 61.8% in July, from 71.6% the previous month. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for 62%. Monthly price growth, the central bank’s preferred gauge, came in at 3.23% after a gain of 1.64% in June, more than estimated by analysts.