Headlines

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the central bank's monetary policy is aimed at achieving its 2% inflation target, not at manipulating currency rates, brushing aside the view the country must end an ultra-low interest rate policy to stem sharp yen declines, Reuters reported. Kishida also said the recent rise in domestic inflation was due mostly to a global spike in crude oil and raw material costs, rather than the weak yen.

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is likely to raise its inflation forecast for this fiscal year to near 2% at this month's policy meeting as global commodity inflation drives up energy and food costs, Reuters reported. While the upgrade will bring inflation closer to its 2% target, the central bank will stress its resolve to keep monetary policy ultra-loose to underpin a fragile economic recovery.

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.

Easing property curbs may do little to brighten the outlook for Chinese residential sales as weak home-buyer confidence remains a key hurdle, with Covid’s spread adding extra near-term threats, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. China’s central bank reduced the reserve requirement ratio for most banks by 25 basis points Friday, giving lenders a modest cash boost. It also kept the one-year policy interest rate unchanged, disappointing the majority of economists who predicted a cut.

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.

Bank of India has filed an insolvency petition against Future Retail Ltd (FRL) at the bankruptcy court for non-payment of dues, the retailer said in a notice issued to stock exchanges on Thursday evening, the Economic Times of India reported. The company said it defaulted on payment of monies due in terms of framework agreement it entered with the bank. The decision of lenders to file an application with National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will have a bearing on the Rs 24,713-crore offer that Reliance Industries-linked entities made to acquire Future Group companies in August 2020.

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.

Nearly 400 million people are estimated to be under some form of lockdown in China as officials try to stop a fast-moving Omicron outbreak that is beginning to weigh on the world’s second-largest economy, the New York Times reported. Hundreds of thousands of people have been sent to isolation facilities in China, and millions more have been told to stay in their homes. Officials in dozens of cities have shut down normal daily life across the country in a race to track and trace the coronavirus and stamp out China’s worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic.