Russia's economy has avoided the meltdown many predicted after Moscow sent its forces into Ukraine six months ago, with higher prices for its oil exports cushioning the impact of Western sanctions, but hardships are emerging for some Russians, Bloomberg News reported. After predicting at one point that the economy would shrink more than 12% this year, exceeding the falls in output seen after the Soviet Union collapsed and during the 1998 financial crisis, the economy ministry now expects a 4.2% contraction.

The Moscow Exchange will ban the use of dollars as collateral to underwrite transactions, it said on Monday, as Russia seeks to cut dependence on currencies of nations that have imposed sanctions on it, Reuters reported. A statement posted on the exchange's website said the new policy would come into effect on Aug. 29. It gave no details. Earlier this month the exchange - the country's largest bourse - said it would limit the use of dollars as collateral to 25% from 50%.

Germany wants to create a new financial crime authority that would bundle several fragmented competencies, including sanctions enforcement, said a finance ministry paper on Tuesday, Reuters reported. There are currently more than 300 supervisory bodies across Germany, a figure the finance ministry would like to reduce. With the new authority, the finance ministry hopes to make it easier to tackle complex international money laundering cases, which have long been a weak spot for the country.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would be willing to consider easing the regulatory burden on new gas export facilities to Europe, while indicating the business case for investments may be a difficult one, Bloomberg News reported. Speaking to reporters in Montreal at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Trudeau said the challenge is that any new liquefied natural gas terminal on Canada’s eastern shore would be far from country’s western gas fields.

Greece's exit on Saturday from the European Union's so-called enhanced surveillance framework for its economy ends 12 years of pain and allows the country greater freedom in policy making, its prime minister said, Reuters reported. Greece's economic performance and policies have been closely monitored under the framework since 2018 to ensure it implemented reforms promised under three international bailouts - totalling more than 260 billion euros ($261 billion) - from the European Union and the IMF between 2010 and 2015.

U.K. inflation is on course to hit 18.6 per cent in January — the highest peak in almost half a century — because of soaring wholesale gas prices, according to a new forecast from Citigroup based on the latest market prices, the Irish Times reported. The investment bank predicted that the retail energy price cap would be raised to £4,567 (€5,386) in January and then £5,816 in April, compared with the current level of £1,971 a year — shifts it said would lead to inflation “entering the stratosphere”.

Italy's outgoing government is pressing ahead with plans to sell a majority stake in ITA Airways and hopes to choose its preferred bidder by the end of the month, Reuters reported. The government had aimed to complete the part-privatisation of the successor to Alitalia over the summer, but asked the two rival consortia to review their initial offers as it deemed they did not meet its goals. They have until midnight (2200 GMT) on Monday to do so. Shipping group MSC and Germany's Lufthansa are facing a rival bid led by U.S.

Cineworld Group Plc, the owner of Regal Cinemas, is preparing to file for bankruptcy within weeks after struggling to rebuild attendance from pandemic lows, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The British cinema company has engaged lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis LLP and consultants from AlixPartners to advise on the bankruptcy process, these people said. Cineworld is expected to file a chapter 11 petition in the U.S. and is considering filing an insolvency proceeding in the U.K., they said.

A panel of investors on Friday determined Ukraine had triggered a restructuring event after a two-year sovereign debt freeze, and a default insurance known as Credit Default Swap (CDS) should be payed, Reuters reported. The Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee (CDDC) said that its members voted 'yes' to a question to determine whether a "Restructuring Credit Event" occurred with respect to Ukraine and that a CDS auction should be held, according to a statement on its website. The committee still hasn't decided on the timing of the auction.

A panel of investors said on Friday that it expects to hold an auction to settle credit default swaps (CDS) related to Russia's defaulted debt in the first half of September, as it continues to work on the auction setup, Reuters reported. The Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee (CDDC) said the exact date is yet to be determined, according to a statement on its website. The auction, a usual way to settle CDS, was thrown into chaos in June when Washington said its sanctions on Russia imposed a total ban on U.S. entities buying Moscow's debt.