Congestion off China's top two container ports Shanghai and Ningbo is worsening following the shutdown of a container terminal in Ningbo where a COVID-19 case was detected this week, Reuters reported. Tighter restrictions to fight China's latest coronavirus outbreak are starting to hit more parts of the economy. The highly transmissable Delta variant has been detected in more than a dozen cities since late July. Forty container vessels were waiting at the outer Zhoushan anchorage on Thursday, up from 30 on Aug.

Japanese wholesale prices rose in July at their fastest annual pace in 13 years, data showed on Thursday, a sign that global commodity inflation and a weak yen were pushing up raw material import costs for a broad range of goods, Reuters reported. There is uncertainty, however, on whether companies will start to pass on the higher costs to households and prop up consumer inflation, which remains stuck around zero due to weak consumption, unlike in other advanced nations, analysts say.

The Philippine central bank held its key interest rate steady for a sixth straight meeting, with the bank’s chief warning that lingering lockdowns to stem the spread of Covid-19 are threatening the economy’s recovery, Bloomberg News reported. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas left the benchmark rate at 2% Thursday, as all 19 analysts in a Bloomberg survey predicted. “The reimposition of quarantine measures to arrest the recent wave of Covid-19 infections could pose a risk to the ongoing economic recovery,” Governor Benjamin Diokno said at a briefing in Manila.

City Developments Ltd, run by Singapore’s richest property dynasty, reported a first-half loss on the fallout from the pandemic and said it is mulling a deeper China presence after being stung by write downs on an earlier investment, Bloomberg News reported. Travel restrictions caused revenues to decline at the firm’s hotel operations and investment properties, while the withdrawal of Covid tax relief plans contributed to a S$32.1 million ($23.7 million) loss in the first six months.

New Zealand said it won’t loosen its stringent border-control and quarantine procedures until next year as it doubles down on its zero-Covid-19 approach to the pandemic, with plans to consider for entry only vaccinated travelers from low-risk countries starting in early 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Pacific nation of some 4.9 million people has been closed to virtually all travelers since March 2020. That approach has been credited for keeping its Covid-19 infection rate among the lowest in the world, with 26 reported deaths since the pandemic began.

Facing possible bankruptcy, the city of Kyoto has drafted a financial restructuring plan that would trim its bureaucracy, reduce the number of elderly residents eligible for bus and subway discounts and cut spending on day care centers, the Japan Times reported. “I deeply regret the fact that we’ve been forced to rely on special measures in order to manage our finances,” Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa said Tuesday when announcing the plan.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Mumbai on August 6 dismissed an application seeking the closure of Rolta India’s Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the Times of India reported. A consortium of lenders to Rolta represented by advocates Rohit Gupta and Nausher Kohli had opposed a plea for closure of the process, saying that they have an outstanding of around Rs 5,400 Crores.

There are seven bidders, including a couple of Asset Reconstruction Companies who have expressed preliminary interest to take over the beleaguered eye care chain Vasan Eye, the Times of India reported. The last date for submission of early interest ended July 19. The NCLT appointed resolution professional had called for early interest for Vasan Eye Care. India’s largest eye care chain Dr Agarwal’s Eye and MGM Hospital’s promoter MK Rajagopalan, Dr GSK Velu’s MaxiVision are among the list of bidders. Dr Amar Agarwal and MK Rajagopalan did not wish to comment on the bid.

China Evergrande Group’s stock and bonds jumped Wednesday after the company said it’s in talks to sell stakes in two of its units, potentially injecting fresh funds into the cash-strapped property firm, Bloomberg News reported. The discussions involve “several independent third-party investors,” the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong exchange late Tuesday. Talks involve Evergrande stakes in its electric vehicle start-up and property services units.