Consumer inflation in Russia accelerated in April to 17.83% in year-on-year terms, its highest level since January 2002, data showed on Friday, as it got a boost from the volatile rouble and unprecedented western sanctions that disrupted logistics chains, Reuters reported. But monthly inflation slowed to 1.56% in April from 7.61% in March when it staged the biggest month-on-month increase since January 1999, data from the federal statistics service Rosstat showed. Inflation in Russia has accelerated sharply after Russia began what it calls "a special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The World Bank said in a brief released on Wednesday that remittances to Ukraine are anticipated to increase more than 20 percent in 2022 against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of its neighboring country, The Hill reported. “Just as the [low- and middle-income countries] were starting to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the war on Ukraine erupted, altering the global landscape for migration and remittances. Remittances to Ukraine are expected to rise by over 20 percent in 2022,” the World Bank said in its Migration and Development Brief.

CargoLogic Germany applied for insolvency restructuring on May 10, nearly two months after it was banned from operating in German airspace due to its alleged links to Russian Volga-Dnepr Group, Ch-Aviation.com reported. The District Court of Leipzig has appointed Lucas Flöther as the provisional administrator. He has ample experience with distressed airlines, having overseen the insolvencies of Air Berlin, Niki (Austria), Condor, and SundAir. "We are checking whether it is possible to resume flight operations as quickly as possible, taking into account the sanctions.

The Czech branch of the British supermarket chain Iceland has filed for bankruptcy, Expats.cz reported. The chain was heavily impacted by the Covid pandemic and Brexit. The insolvency filing by the company ICL Czech, which operates the Czech branch, follows the news that the chain was closing its Czech stores. Much of the Czech branch's stock was imported from the United Kingdom, and the cost of importing the items increased dramatically due to the UK leaving European Union at the start of 2020.

Tungsram released a statement that the company has filed for bankruptcy protection, Hungary Today reported. The company on Wednesday informed employees, trade unions, works councils and banks of this compulsory measure, as required by law. It was reported that 1,600 employees of the company were laid off at the end of April, 400 of them in Budapest’s Újpest district alone. “Tungsram Operations’ lending partner, Eximbank, exercised its legal right to file for bankruptcy on Wednesday,” the Index article says.

Moscow has imposed sanctions on the owner of the Polish part of the Yamal pipeline that carries Russian gas to Europe, as well as the former German unit of the Russian gas producer Gazprom, whose subsidiaries service Europe's gas consumption, Reuters reported. The entities on a list of affected firms on a Russian government website on Wednesday were largely based in countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, most of them members of the European Union.

European natural gas prices jumped as some shipments from Russia were disrupted, and Germany said Moscow was using energy as a weapon in an escalating clash over supply, Bloomberg News reported. The benchmark contract surged 14% as flows from Russia via Ukraine fell further Thursday following interruptions at a cross-border entry point as a result of the war. It adds to the market’s concerns, as Moscow retaliates to Europe’s penalties with a slew of its own curbs targeting some gas companies in the region.

Britain’s economy grew at the slowest pace in a year during the first quarter as retailers and manufacturers were hurt by supply disruptions and higher prices, raising concerns that the country may be headed for a recession, the Associated Press reported. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, rose 0.8% in the period, slowing from 1.3% in the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics said Thursday. Monthly estimates indicate GDP shrank by 0.1% in March.

Polish central bank Governor Adam Glapinski won parliamentary approval for a second, six-year term despite public anger over surging inflation and rapidly rising interest rates that is starting to chip away at the government’s popularity, Bloomberg News reported. The vote turned into a test of strength for the ruling coalition, which had struggled to secure sufficient support for Glapinski since his nomination by President Andrzej Duda in late January.

Ukraine shut down a pipeline Wednesday that carries Russian natural gas to homes and industries in Western Europe, while a Kremlin-installed official in a southern region seized by Russian troops said the area will ask Moscow to annex it, the Associated Press reported. The immediate effect of the energy cutoff is likely to be limited, in part because Russia can divert the gas to another pipeline and because Europe relies on a variety of suppliers. But it marked the first time since the start of the war that Ukraine disrupted the flow westward of one of Moscow’s most lucrative exports.