British lenders expect loan defaults to rise over the coming months and also plan to rein in mortgage lending by the greatest amount since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a Bank of England survey showed on Thursday, Reuters reported. The BoE's quarterly credit conditions survey showed lenders expect more defaults on mortgages, unsecured consumer lending and business loans in the three months to the end of May, although outright losses on mortgage lending were expected to remain stable.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he spoke with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva about Ukraine's financial stability and the country's post-war reconstruction, Reuters reported. "Discussed with IMF Managing Director Georgieva the issue of ensuring Ukraine's financial stability & preparations for post-war reconstruction. We have clear plans for now, as well as a vision of prospects. I’m sure cooperation between the IMF & Ukraine will continue to be fruitful," Zelenskiy said in a tweet.

Moody's said that Russia may be in default because it tried to service its dollar bonds in roubles, which would be one of the starkest consequences to date of Moscow's exclusion from the Western financial system since President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported. If Moscow is declared in default, it would mark Russia's first major default on foreign bonds since the years following the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, though the Kremlin says the West is forcing a default by imposing crippling sanctions.

An Edinburgh construction agency director has been disqualified from directing a company for six years, EdinburghLive reported. Stephen Mason breached legal obligations by failing to maintain adequate accounting records which were requested when suspicions arose after liquidation. The 45-year-old directed the short lived company, Angel Contracting Limited, which was a recruitment agency that specialised in providing contractors to companies in the construction industry.

Russia's central bank sees room for an interest rate cut as weekly inflation is slowing, Deputy Governor Alexei Zabotkin said on Thursday, Interfax new agency reported, according to Reuters. It will present new economic forecasts to coincide with its next rate-setting meeting on April 29, TASS news agency quoted him as saying. The bank raised the key rate to 20% in an emergency move in late February before cutting it to 17% last week.

Russia has pledged 19.5 billion roubles ($238 million) in state support for airlines to refund passengers flying on routes that have been cancelled due to sanctions, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Thursday, Reuters reported.

The head of the European Central Bank could drop more hints Thursday about when the bank will start raising interest rates, with pressure increasing to follow the United States, United Kingdom and other countries in taking a harder line to combat soaring consumer prices, the Associated Press reported. People in the 19 countries that use the euro currency have seen costs increase for everything from food to fuel as inflation rose to an annual rate of 7.5% last month, the highest since statistics began in 1997.

Ireland’s central bank is weighing whether to reinstate a capital buffer for banks it removed during the pandemic, amid a worsening economic outlook driven by the war in Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank expected to rebuild the counter-cyclical capital buffer (CCyB) “gradually” through 2022 given the Irish economic outlook, it said in November. However in its latest decision on the buffer published on March 24 but not publicized until now, it warned there is “considerable uncertainty” around the economic outlook. The buffer remains at 0%.

People on the streets of Berlin have waved Ukrainian flags in demonstrations of support since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. But those who drove to the rallies did so largely in cars powered by oil from Russia, which provides most of the fuel to the German capital, Reuters reported. Just over a third of Germany's crude oil came from Russia last year, official data shows. Until the invasion of Ukraine in February, the dependence of Europe's largest economy on cheap energy from Russia – in part, a legacy of the Cold War – was not viewed as problematic by the authorities.

The head of the International Monetary Fund warned Thursday that Russia’s war against Ukraine was weakening the economic prospects for most of the world’s countries and called high inflation “a clear and present danger” to the global economy, the Associated Press reported. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the consequences of Russia’s invasion were contributing to economic downgrades for 143 countries, although most of them should continue to grow. The war has disrupted global trade in energy and grain and is threatening to cause food shortages in Africa and Middle East.