China will seize the time window to implement policy measures to support the economy, aiming for an improvement in growth in early 2023, state media on Wednesday quoted the cabinet as saying, Reuters reported. The government in recent months has rolled out a flurry of policy measures to support growth, focusing on infrastructure spending and limited support for consumers, while loosening financing curbs to rescue the property sector. "There is still room for these policies and measures to release their effects," state media quoted the cabinet as saying after a regular meeting.

Sri Lanka's authorities continue to exchange information with bilateral creditors but a formal committee to restructure the country's foreign debt is not yet in place, a source close to the Finance Ministry told Reuters. The island nation held a third round of talks with representatives from creditor countries such as China, Japan and India on Dec. 15 as it aims to restructure its debt amid the worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.

The Bank of Japan said Tuesday that it would tweak its bond buying policies and step up asset purchases — a surprise move as Japan faces economic pressure from rising inflation and a weak yen, the New York Times reported. The change was seen as a sign that Japan might relax its adherence to ultralow interest rates. That commitment has made the country a global outlier as other central banks around the world have pushed up their rates in an effort to battle inflation.

A bankruptcy court has admitted the listed MT Educare, formerly known as Mahesh Tutorials, into the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) and appointed Ashwin Bhavanji Shah as the interim resolution professional for the Mumbai-based coaching firm, the Economic Times of India reported. The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) allowed the company’s operational creditor Connect Residuary to initiate the insolvency proceedings.

The World Bank has cut its China growth outlook for this year and next, citing the impact of the abrupt loosening of strict COVID-19 containment measures and persistent property sector weakness, Reuters reported. The Washington, D.C.-based lender, in a report released on Tuesday, said it expected China's economy to grow 2.7% in 2022, before recovering to 4.3% in 2023 as it reopens following the worst of the pandemic. The bank's expected expansion for 2022 would be well below the official target of around 5.5%.

Japan has kept interest rates below zero this year, where they have been since 2016, even as other major central banks sharply raise their own, the Wall Street Journal reported. The country now finds itself in a dilemma. Inflation is rising, the yen plummeting, and some economists and corporate executives blame the negative rate policy for eroded competitiveness and undisciplined government spending. All that has put pressure on the Bank of Japan to finally raise rates.

China Evergrande Group's shareholding in its property services unit has fallen to 51.71% from 58.18% after forced selling of pledged shares by a third party, a Hong Kong stock exchange filing showed, Reuters reported. The number of Evergrande Property Services Group shares involved was 700 million, and the drop was the result of steps taken on Dec. 14 to enforce rights to the shares held as security against the embattled property developer, the filing said. The last time pledged shares of Evergrande Property Services were enforced was a year ago, when the group's stake decreased from 60.96%.

Relentlessly rising rents, eight consecutive interest rate hikes, surging living costs and devastating natural disasters over the past few years in Australia have inflamed what was already among the world's least affordable rental markets, Reuters reported. Every state capital city is experiencing a decline in rental affordability this year, according to the annual Rental Affordability Index report published by SGS Economics and Planning.

The bankruptcy court has admitted VHM Industries to undergo the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) and appointed Sunil Kumar Agarwal as the interim resolution professional for the Mumbai-based textile manufacturer, the Economic Times of India reported. The decision of the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) came on a petition filed by State Bank of India. The lender had approached the bankruptcy court in 2019 after the company defaulted on dues of more than Rs 221 crore.