Headlines

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.

The Bank of Canada's policy rate, at 1%, is "too stimulative" given soaring inflation and needs to return to more neutral levels "quickly," an official said on Thursday, while downplaying the likelihood of a supersized increase, Reuters reported. Deputy Governor Toni Gravelle, speaking to economists in Montreal, also said the central bank would likely revise up its near-term inflation projections, as the "perfect storm" of global and domestic price increases continue to persist.

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.

Hong Kong dipped into its foreign-exchange reserves for the first time in three years to defend its longstanding dollar peg, acting to shore up the local currency against a surging greenback, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Chinese territory’s de facto central bank, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, on Thursday said it had acted twice to stop the local currency trading beyond the weak end of its permitted range of 7.75 to 7.85 Hong Kong dollars per U.S. dollar. The monetary authority said it had sold U.S.

Services activity in Brazil rose more than expected in March and at a record pace for the month, official figures showed on Thursday, marking a strong recovery from the severe downturn caused by the COVID pandemic, Reuters reported. Services activity increased 1.7% in March from February, more than double the 0.7% growth expected by economists according to a Reuters poll, reaching its highest level since May 2015, the government statistics agency IBGE reported. That put the sector 7.2% above the level of February 2020, before the onset of the pandemic.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, a veteran lawmaker and former premier, has been named Sri Lanka’s next prime minister days after the last incumbent, the brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, resigned in the face of escalating anger with the deepening economic crisis, Bloomberg News reported. The president’s media unit confirmed the appointment Thursday in a text message. No other details were immediately available. The announcement may bring a modicum of stability to the country, which is on the verge of bankruptcy and needs a government to lead bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund.

LATAM Airlines Group SA, the largest air transport group in Latin America, said on Wednesday that it garnered support from almost all of its creditors for a reorganization plan that the company is taking before a U.S. court, Reuters reported. The airline said that the agreement was presented to a Manhattan bankruptcy court that is handling its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, which it filed for in May 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its operations.

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.

Russia's weekly inflation rate eased further in early May, data from statistics service Rosstat showed on Wednesday, after spiking sharply soon after Russia began what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24, Reuters reported. Inflation is slowing even after the central bank lowered its key interest rate to 14% from 17% in April and said it saw room for more cuts, as it tries to manage a shrinking economy and soaring inflation. Inflation was 0.12% in the week to May 6, down from 0.21% a week earlier and well below the 2.22% hit in early March.

As Russia faces another round of payments on its sovereign debt, Biden administration officials are weighing whether forcing Moscow into default for its invasion of Ukraine would really be the best outcome, Bloomberg News reported. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday that the matter is being “actively examined” before a crucial deadline in two weeks, and a decision will be made shortly.