Singapore's key consumer price gauge rose in March by its fastest pace in a decade, outpacing economist forecasts, driven by higher inflation for food and services, official data showed on Monday, Reuters reported. The core inflation rate — the central bank's favoured price measure - rose to 2.9% in March on a year-on-year basis, the highest since March 2012. A Reuters poll of economists had forecast a 2.4% increase.

China’s economy is a giant, sophisticated machine that requires numerous parts to work together. Behind its 1.4 billion consumers are 150 million registered businesses that provide jobs, food and everything that keeps the machine humming. Now, in the name of pandemic control, the Chinese government is meddling with the economy in ways that the country hasn’t seen for decades, wreaking havoc on business, the New York Times reported.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday announced the indictment of two Europeans for allegedly conspiring with a recently sentenced American cryptocurrency researcher to help North Korea evade U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported. Alejandro Cao de Benos of Spain, who founded a pro-Pyongyang affinity organization, and Christopher Emms of Britain, a cryptocurrency businessman, were accused of recruiting the researcher Virgil Griffith to illegally provide cryptocurrency and blockchain technology services to North Korea. Both defendants are at large.

The International Monetary Fund said on Saturday that its staff held "fruitful technical discussions" with Sri Lankan authorities on the crisis-wracked country's request for an IMF-supported loan program this week, Reuters reported. The Fund said in a statement that the discussions included the need for Sri Lanka to implement "a credible and coherent strategy" to restore macroeconomic stability, and to strengthen its social safety net and protect the poor and vulnerable during the current crisis.

In Japan, where prices have been roughly flat for decades, inflation is finally taking off. But unlike the Federal Reserve in the U.S., the Bank of Japan has resolved to keep interest rates low, helping drive a fall in the yen, the Wall Street Journal reported. On Thursday, the Japanese central bank resumed another bond-buying move aimed at keeping a lid on rates. It promised to purchase unlimited quantities of government bonds to cap the yield at 0.25%—less than one-tenth the return on the equivalent U.S. Treasury bonds.

Indonesia’s pile of pandemic-related corporate debt is offering some investors the chance to cherry-pick cheap assets before a government forbearance program runs out next year, Bloomberg News reported. The two-year-old government plan gives creditors and debtors time to resolve billions of dollars worth of loans to companies including airline PT Garuda Indonesia to prevent wholesale bankruptcies from the Covid-induced slump.

India's top retailer Reliance on Saturday called off its $3.4 billion deal with Future Group, saying it "cannot be implemented" after Future's secured creditors rejected it, Reuters reported. The deal was at the centre of legal battles since 2020 after Future's partner Amazon.com Inc legally blocked it, citing violation of certain contracts. Future denied any wrongdoing. In a stock exchange filing on Saturday, Reliance said the deal now cannot go through as "the secured creditors of FRL (Future Retail) have voted against" it.

A prolonged slowdown in China would have substantial global spillovers, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday, but added that Beijing has room to adjust policy to provide support, Reuters reported. The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its growth forecast for China this year to 4.4%, well below Beijing's target of around 5.5%, on the risks of widespread COVID-19 lockdowns and supply chain disruptions. In a video speech to the annual Boao Forum for Asia, Georgieva said China's actions to counter its economic slowdown are vital for the global recovery.

China's securities watchdog is holding regular talks with U.S. regulators over audit cooperation and expects a deal soon, a Chinese regulatory official said on Thursday about a dispute that could lead to delistings of U.S.-listed Chinese companies, Reuters reported. The comments by Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), represent the latest gesture from Beijing that it is willing to solve the long-standing dispute with Washington.

Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong highlighted rapidly rising private and public debt and an aging population as threats to South Korea’s economic outlook in his inauguration speech. Rhee took office Thursday after being nominated by President Moon Jae-in almost a month ago. He has so far expressed support for higher interest rates to rein in inflationary pressures while pointing to economic risks from the war in Ukraine, China’s virus lockdowns and the Federal Reserve tightening.