Headlines

Argentina’s future program with the International Monetary Fund will be for $20 billion, while executive board approval could take weeks, Economy Minister Luis Caputo said at a conference Thursday, Bloomberg News reported. Caputo stopped short of announcing a formal staff-level agreement, but it’s the most concrete detail of the program after several months of negotiations between the IMF and President Javier Milei’s administration.

Norway’s central bank delayed a long-communicated cut in borrowing costs until later this year as officials responded to a flare-up in inflation, Bloomberg News reported. Norges Bank held the deposit rate at 4.5%, the highest in more than 16 years, as predicted by a majority of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Its path for borrowing costs signals two cuts before the end of 2025, with a gradual decline thereafter.

Brazil’s central bank lowered its economic growth forecast for this year, signaling further interest rate hikes will weigh on activity as policymakers fight inflation that’s speeding up further above target, Bloomberg News reported. The bank expects gross domestic product to expand 1.9% this year, down from the previous of estimate of 2.1%, according to its monetary policy report published Thursday. By comparison, analysts surveyed by the monetary authority see 1.98% growth in 2025.

The Czech central bank reinforced warnings about inflation and an uncertain economic outlook after halting interest rate cuts for a second time in the past three months, Bloomberg News reported. The board viewed its unanimous vote to keep the benchmark rate at 3.75% on Wednesday as a pause, with domestic and foreign risks seen as inflationary, Governor Ales Michl said. The decision followed a string of cuts last year, a pause in December and a quarter-point reduction in February. “We can’t rule anything out,” Michl told reporters in Prague after the meeting.

The European Central Bank should consider holding its key interest rate at its April meeting as it assesses the effect of U.S. tariffs, rate setter Pierre Wunsch said, the Wall Street Journal reported. A pause in April should be “on the table,” Wunsch, who is also the governor of Belgium’s central bank, told CNBC in an interview Thursday. President Trump said Wednesday that he plans to impose 25% tariffs on imported vehicles April 3, while his administration has previously promised new duties on April 2. Tariffs will be bad for growth and probably inflationary, Wunsch said.

The onslaught of contested policies and language by the Trump administration in recent weeks is causing tourists around the globe to either cancel or reconsider travel to the United States, the New York Times reported. A growing number of visitors say they feel unwelcome or unsafe and are reluctant to support the economy of a country that some foreign officials say is waging trade wars and destabilizing its allies. A draft of a new travel ban circulating through the administration could restrict citizens from up to 43 countries, including Belarus, Cambodia and St.

President Trump said he would impose 25% tariffs on all vehicles imported to the U.S., acting on a promise that could further pressure car and truck prices that have been rising for years, the Wall Street Journal reported. Trump posted Thursday on Truth Social that the tariffs, to take effect on April 3, amounted to a “liberation day” for the U.S. The auto tariffs would begin a day after Trump is set to announce a broader slate of trade actions. Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs, slated for April 2, were originally planned to equalize U.S.

One of Switzerland's main political parties could soon propose capping UBS's investment banking activities as part of a regulatory overhaul aimed at making the sector less risky, a senior lawmaker said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), the biggest group in parliament, would pitch the plan as soon as possible if the government proposed that UBS fully capitalize its foreign units, SVP lawmaker Thomas Matter said. Limiting the investment bank could be a way of reducing the amount of extra capital UBS would need to hold, he said.

In the year since Stefan Walter has been in charge of Switzerland’s financial regulator, he’s made a name for himself among the bankers he oversees, Bloomberg News reported. They call him “The Sheriff.” Walter, 60, a German citizen with decades of experience in top-level regulation including in the US, is using a tumultuous period in Swiss finance to establish a forthright, public presence for Finma that few in Zurich or Geneva are accustomed to.

Bank of China Ltd. reported a 2.6% increase in full-year profit as a drop in impairments helped offset pressure from falling interest rates, Bloomberg News reported. Net income rose to 237.8 billion yuan ($32.7 billion) for 2024, it said in a Wednesday filing. The net interest margin narrowed to 1.4% from 1.59% a year earlier, while the non-performing loan ratio slid to 1.25% from 1.27%. Chinese banks have been contending with lower loan yields as authorities since late last year cut mortgage interests and key policy rates to inject momentum to the world’s second largest economy.