Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised the country would continuing cutting interest rates, suggesting that lower inflation will follow, Bloomberg News reported. “We will lower interest rates as we have done already,” said Erdogan, after the Turkish central bank halted a rate-cut cycle this month that trimmed 500 basis points from the benchmark rate since September. The aggressive easing cycle was accompanied by runaway inflation, which has caused an outcry among Turks who’ve witnessed a deep erosion of their purchasing power in a few months.

Hong Kong's market regulator has fined a Citigroup subsidiary HK$348.25 million ($45 million) for misconduct in its cash equities business and is launching disciplinary proceedings against some former senior managers at the bank, Reuters reported. The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said on Friday that some of Citigroup Global Markets Asia Limited's (CGMAL) trading desks had issued inaccurate "indications of interest" in stocks to generate client inquiries and had also made misrepresentations to customers when executing some trades.

Embattled property developer China Evergrande Group said Wednesday that within six months, it aims to release a global restructuring plan that would respect offshore creditors’ legal rights, after a group of its bondholders threatened last week to sue the company for failing to engage with them, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. During a call with offshore creditors, Evergrande promised to follow the rule of law and respect bondholders’ rights, which in some cases include claims on the company’s secured offshore assets, according to people familiar with the matter.

China Evergrande Group shares slumped on Thursday after the developer's thinly detailed roadmap for restructuring left investors dissatisfied and its indebted peers also fell on concerns higher interest rates would raise financing costs, Reuters reported. Regulatory curbs on borrowing have driven China's property sector into crisis, highlighted by Evergrande, the world's most indebted property firm.

Facing heat from banks for recovery of outstanding dues, Future Retail on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking quashing of lenders' letters threatening initiation of insolvency proceedings by citing its still alive, but mired in cross-country litigations initiated by multinational Amazon, deal with Reliance Retail for sale of assets for nearly Rs 25,000 crore, the Times of India reported.

China Evergrande Group asked international creditors to give the giant property developer more time to get a grip on its complicated financial situation, and warned that drastic legal action could be destabilizing, the Wall Street Journal reported. The plea came days after a group of international bondholders threatened to enforce their legal rights against Evergrande, saying that they had been unable to engage substantively with the troubled Chinese real-estate company for months.

South Korea's economy expanded at the fastest pace in 11 years in 2021 helped by a jump in exports and construction activity, tempering declines in capital investment and a slow recovery in the coronavirus-hit service sectors, Reuters reported. Record exports drove the rebound but swathes of the economy have fallen behind. Jobs are still vanishing across manufacturing and service sectors, a reminder that liberal President Moon Jae-in's promises to boost employment have not materialised.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday recent price rises in the country were driven largely by rising energy and global commodity costs, Reuters reported. "It's desirable to create an environment in which companies can pass on rising costs, raise wages, so that increasing consumption spurs economic growth and inflation," Kishida told parliament. Read more.

Australia's core inflation flew to its fastest annual pace since 2014 in the December quarter as fuel and housing costs led broad-based price pressures, a shock that will stoke market speculation of an early hike in interest rates, Reuters reported. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics out on Tuesday showed the headline consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.3% in the fourth quarter and 3.5% for the year, topping forecasts. The trimmed mean measure of core inflation favoured by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) jumped 1.0% in the quarter, the largest increase since 2008.

Singapore's central bank tightened its monetary policy settings on Tuesday in its first out-of-cycle move in seven years, as global supply constraints and brisk economic demand elevate inflation pressures across the region, Reuters reported. The city-state's trade-dependent economy is highly susceptible to swings in global inflation and the central bank's sudden move comes as price pressures ring alarm bells for policymakers elsewhere in Asia.