Japan’s households cut spending again in March as sticky inflation weighed on sentiment and government subsidies capped costs for utilities, although policymakers are looking for historic wage hikes to be a catalyst for a recovery in coming months, the Japan Times reported. Real outlays decreased 1.2% from a year before, falling for the 13th consecutive month, the ministry of internal affairs reported Friday. The result compared with economists’ forecast of a 2.3% drop.

New Zealand manufacturing sector showed tentative signs of recovery in April, despite the economy’s lengthening recession, according to the latest BNZ — BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index, the Wall Street Journal reported. The seasonally adjusted PMI for April was 48.9, up from 46.8 in March, although still lower than the 49.1 recorded in February. The sector has now been in contraction for 14 consecutive months.

China's car exports surged to a record high in April, data showed on Friday, as domestic sales slipped 5.8% from a year earlier amid intensifying price competition and consumers' caution about spending on big items during a shaky economic recovery, Reuters reported. Car exports jumped 38% year-on-year to 417,000 units in April, continuing strong momentum from the previous month which posted a 39% growth in exports, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said.

Downside risks for the Pakistani economy remain exceptionally high, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday, in its staff report on the country, ahead of talks with the fund on a longer term progamme, Reuters reported. An International Monetary Fund mission is expected to visit Pakistan this month to discuss a new programme, ahead of Islamabad beginning its annual budget-making process for the next financial year. "Downside risks remain exceptionally high.

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has registered with India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), a senior FIU official said on Friday, as the exchange seeks to resume operations in the country, Reuters reported. The exchange was barred from operating in India in December for non-compliance with local regulations as part of the financial watchdog's crackdown on offshore crypto exchanges that were operating in the country without registration.

Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings Co. said it cannot meet initial deadlines for interest payments on two local bonds and that a state guarantor would step in — marking the first test of a key government program to shore up builder debt, Bloomberg News reported. The company’s onshore unit cannot make the coupon payments on its 3.95% note and its 3.8% bond by an initial deadline of May 9, according to filings.

For Nazim Salur, it’s the end of a nearly decade-long dream to build a global delivery powerhouse out of Turkey. Getir, the rapid grocery app Salur cofounded from Istanbul in 2015, last week confirmed it will exit its remaining international operations, Bloomberg News reported. Once a poster child of pandemic growth valued at $11.8 billion, attracting investors like ex-Sequoia Capital partner Michael Moritz, Mubadala Investment Co., Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global, the startup is halting operations in the Netherlands, the U.K., U.S. and Germany to focus on its core market of Turkey.

Malaysia’s central bank held its benchmark interest rate unchanged again, extending its policy pause to a year as it keeps a watchful eye on growth and inflation, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bank Negara Malaysia kept its overnight policy rate at 3.00% on Thursday. That’s the same level as in May last year, when the bank delivered a surprise rate hike. Bank Negara reiterated that its policy stance remains supportive of the economy and gave an upbeat view of Malaysia’s economic prospects.

As China’s industrial capacity emerged as a key trade issue, a surge in Chinese bank loans to the sector has often been cited as evidence that Beijing is engaging in a renewed manufacturing push that could flood global markets with cheap goods, Bloomberg News reported. But an examination of those loans by researchers at Rhodium Group showed a significant amount of the money didn’t go into manufacturing at all.

Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda said Wednesday that he is open to the idea of early interest-rate increases if inflation rises at a faster pace than the bank’s projections, the Wall Street Journal reported. “If the outlook for prices is revised upward or if upside risks become high, it will be appropriate for the bank to make an earlier adjustment of the policy interest rate,” Ueda said at an event held by the Yomiuri International Economic Society. The Japanese central bank decided in March to end most of its unconventional easing measures, including negative interest rates.