China is pushing for Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. to lower their bank card transaction fees in the country, a person familiar with the matter said, as part of an effort to facilitate payments for foreign visitors, Bloomberg News reported. The Payment & Clearing Association of China is negotiating with global card issuers including Visa and Mastercard on lowering fees local merchants are charged on foreign card transactions. The association proposed trimming the fee to 1.5% from 2-3%, the person said. The negotiations are ongoing and the fee cut details could change.

Japan’s consumer inflation picked up in May, adding to market expectations for interest rate increases from the Bank of Japan, the Wall Street Journal reported. Overall consumer prices in May rose 2.8% compared with the same period a year earlier, due mainly to higher electricity bills, compared with the 2.5% increase in April, government data showed Friday. Many analysts and traders expect the Japanese central bank to raise its interest-rate target this year, with inflation staying above the bank’s 2% target for more than two years.

Indonesia’s central bank stood pat at its June policy meeting as expected, aiming to keep inflation in check as well as to maintain the rupiah’s stability, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bank Indonesia on Thursday kept its benchmark seven-day reverse repo rate at 6.25%. The central bank also held its overnight deposit facility rate at 5.50% and its lending facility rate at 7.0%. The decision is consistent with the bank’s pre-emptive, forward-looking stance to ensure inflation remains under control and to strengthen the rupiah, Bank Indonesia Gov.

New Zealand’s economy exited recession with modest expansion in the first quarter, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product gained 0.2% from the previous quarter, when it declined 0.1%, Statistics New Zealand said Thursday in Wellington. Economists expected 0.1% growth. GDP rose 0.3% from the year-earlier quarter, beating the 0.2% estimate. The economy is struggling as the Reserve Bank keeps its key interest rate at 5.5%, the highest since 2008, to bring inflation back under control.

China left benchmark lending rates unchanged at a monthly fixing on Thursday, in line with market expectations, Reuters reported. The steady monthly loan prime rate (LPR) fixings underscore that Beijing's monetary easing efforts continued to be limited by narrowing interest rate margins and a weakening currency, despite a flurry of recent data showing more support is needed to shore up an uneven economic recovery. The one-year LPR was kept at 3.45%, while the five-year LPR was unchanged at 3.95%.

China’s government has responded to calls for help from beleaguered solar manufacturers, promising to guide capacity expansions and avoid redundant investments, Bloomberg News reported. The National Energy Administration will monitor solar factory utilization and expansion plans to help improve market conditions, Li Chuangjun, director of the agency’s renewable energy department, said at a press briefing on Thursday. The pledge comes after solar companies called on Beijing to step in after a surge in capacity caused equipment prices and company profits to crater.

China’s Commerce Ministry on Thursday accused the European Union of making unreasonable demands in its investigation into imports of Chinese electric vehicles before announcing it was raising tariffs by as much as 38%, the Associated Press reported. Ministry spokesman He Yadong said that the European side had demanded excessive amounts of information from Chinese automakers and then unfairly accused the Chinese companies of failing to cooperate.

In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court has provided comprehensive clarity on the application of set-offs within the framework of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), particularly during the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP). The recent ruling in the case of Bharti Airtel Ltd and Anr. v Vijaykumar V. Iyer addresses a frequently contested issue, offering a detailed analysis of different types of set-offs and their implications, the Times of India reported.

China’s central bank chief hinted at a blueprint for a new toolkit that could open the door to its biggest policy overhaul in years, as officials try to bolster growth in the world’s No.2 economy, Bloomberg News reported. Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China, gave the clearest signal yet that the authority may start trading government bonds in the secondary market, during a speech in Shanghai on Wednesday. That shift has the potential to rewire how the central bank injects money into the economy and regulate liquidity.

Japan's exports surged 13.5% in May, faster than expected growth helped by a weak yen and strong demand in the U.S. and Asia, the Associated Press reported. Finance Ministry data reported Wednesday showed that the trade deficit totaled 1.22 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), down nearly 12% from 1.38 trillion yen a year earlier. Imports grew 9.5%, year-on-year, to nearly 9.5 trillion yen ($60 billion). Exports totaled 8.3 trillion yen ($53 billion) and grew at the fastest since November 2022.