Asia

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.

The International Monetary Fund said discussions with Sri Lanka on a potential IMF loan program are at an early stage and any deal would require "adequate assurances" that the island country's debts can be put on a sustainable path, Reuters reported. In a statement emailed to Reuters, IMF Sri Lanka Mission Chief Masahiro Nozaki said that IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva discussed lending options and policy plans with a Sri Lankan delegation on Tuesday.

Debt-ridden Supertech Ltd, which is facing insolvency proceedings, should come up with a settlement plan that entails "definite upfront payment" of dues, according to one of its lender Union Bank of India, the Economic Times of India reported. The bank on whose application the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) decided to initiate insolvency resolution proceedings against Supertech Ltd has made the submissions before appellate tribunal NCLAT.

Differing views between two departments of the Indian government have turned one of the biggest sales of steel mills under the reformed bankruptcy law into a litigation worth $6.3 billion and delayed the entire process. “You purchased a litigation that costs 480 billion rupees,” India’s Chief Justice N.V. Ramana told the lawyer for tycoon Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel Ltd.. The top court gave another week to government’s lawyer to sort out the differences between the country’s anti-money laundering agency Enforcement Directorate and corporate affairs ministry.

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Tuesday the damage to the economy from a weakening yen at present is greater than the benefits accruing to it, making the most explicit warning yet against the currency's recent slump versus the dollar, Reuters reported. The yen's fall has worsened imported inflationary pressures in Japan amid a spike in global commodity and oil costs, and an increase in supply snags, which have intensified in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.

Japan is in the midst of en masse hiring season, when a wave of college graduates join companies in formal ceremonies after sweating through the job-interview gantlet. While this year’s ritual has a different look, with Covid-19 forcing many companies to scale back or go online, the goal has long been the same: to kick off what was often a lifetime devoted to one company, the New York Times reported.

A senior Taiwanese minister has pressed U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to include the island in the United States' forthcoming Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, his office said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Tai last month declined to say if Taiwan would be invited to join the Biden administration's Indo-Pacific economic plan, spurring Senate criticism that excluding the island would be a missed opportunity.

China reported its biggest decline in consumer spending and worst unemployment rate since the early months of the pandemic as Covid lockdowns put a strain on the world’s second-largest economy, adding another threat to global growth, Bloomberg News reported. The figures for March came alongside a stronger-than-expected acceleration in gross domestic product growth in the first quarter to 4.8%, an outcome that doesn’t capture the full extent of the economic damage from Covid lockdowns in financial and trade hub Shanghai and other places from the middle of last month.