Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has urged banks to continue to help borrowers who face financial difficulties, address their repayment issues as well as postpone legal action on errant borrowers, the New Straits Times reported. He said that borrowers who need help should contact their respective banks to discuss the appropriate restructure or rescheduling of debt repayments. He said the government welcomed efforts by the banking sector to continue supporting and helping borrowers by restructuring their debts.

Singapore has introduced a new round of property curbs for its private and public residential markets, a bid to cool a surge in home prices over the past year, Bloomberg News reported. The city state is raising additional stamp duties for second-home buyers and foreigners as well as tightening loan limits for public housing apartments starting Thursday. It will also increase the supply of public and private housing, according to a joint statement by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of National Development and Monetary Authority of Singapore late Wednesday.

The signs of Turkey’s disastrous economy are all around. Long lines snake outside discounted bread kiosks. The prices of medicine, milk and toilet paper are soaring. Some gas stations have closed after exhausting their stock. Angry outbursts have erupted on the streets. “Unemployment, high living costs, price increases, and bills are breaking our backs,” the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions said last month.

India on Wednesday approved a 13-billion-rupee ($170 million) plan to promote domestic RuPay debit cards and low-value digital transactions to boost their use in marginalised populations, in a move that could challenge the clout of rivals like Visa and Mastercard, Reuters reported. Under the plan, the government will pay banks a percentage of the value of transactions done via RuPay debit cards and low-value direct interbank transactions for a year, backdated to begin in April 2021, a government statement said.

Chinese property stocks sank to a nearly five-year low after a deal between two units of Shimao Group Holdings Ltd. heightened corporate governance concerns in an industry already grappling with a liquidity crisis, Bloomberg News reported. Shares of Shimao Group and its property-services unit both tumbled by the most ever on Tuesday, while a Bloomberg index of property stocks dropped 4.3% to the lowest level since February 2017.

China should lower interest rates and boost infrastructure investment to ensure the economy will grow by at least 5% next year, according to an influential Chinese think tank, Bloomberg News reported. Authorities need to boost domestic demand, including consumption and investment, to counter the property slump and any slowdown in exports, Zhang Bin and Zhu He, research fellows at China Finance 40 Forum, wrote in an article Monday.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida indicated he could consider writing guidance for companies on share buybacks, triggering a dip in the nation’s stock market that’s been boosted by such repurchases in recent years, Bloomberg News reported. Kishida said introducing “guidelines” on buybacks would be appropriate, in response to a question in parliament from opposition lawmaker Takayuki Ochiai. The Japanese premier added that caution would be needed in implementing any strict regulations.

Japan pledged $3.4 billion in its largest contribution to the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank, to ensure the recovery of low-income countries from the COVID-19 pandemic, finance ministry officials said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The pledge came as Japan hosted an online meeting on the 20th replenishment of the IDA, brought forward by a year at the initiative of the world's third biggest economy, amid concern about shortage of funds to boost vaccines and medical systems.

A wave of selling swept through Chinese developers’ bonds and shares after the sudden plunge in a major property firm’s notes renewed concern over the health of the sector, Bloomberg News reported. Shimao Group Holdings Ltd.’s dollar notes dropped as much as 12 cents on the dollar, with the selloff spreading to other company bonds including Sunac China Holdings Ltd. and KWG Group Holdings Ltd. Trading was halted in six of Shimao’s yuan bonds after they plunged, with one falling more than 50%.

India is working out a package on an urgent basis to assist Sri Lanka, following finance minister Basil Rajapaksa's New Delhi visit that focussed on measures to tide over an economic crisis that the island nation is facing, the Economic Times of India reported. India is expected to extend a food & health security package to Sri Lanka on an urgent basis, along with an energy security package and currency swap, and also push Indian investments, officials told ET.