Headlines

The head of the European Central Bank could drop more hints Thursday about when the bank will start raising interest rates, with pressure increasing to follow the United States, United Kingdom and other countries in taking a harder line to combat soaring consumer prices, the Associated Press reported. People in the 19 countries that use the euro currency have seen costs increase for everything from food to fuel as inflation rose to an annual rate of 7.5% last month, the highest since statistics began in 1997.

Saudi Arabia's consumer price index rose 2% in March from a year earlier on the back of rising transport and food costs, increasing for the seventh consecutive month, government data showed on Thursday, Reuters reported. Food and beverages rose 3% compared to a year earlier, driven by a 2.4% rise in meat prices and 9.4% in vegetable prices, the General Authority for Statistics said in a statement.

Ireland’s central bank is weighing whether to reinstate a capital buffer for banks it removed during the pandemic, amid a worsening economic outlook driven by the war in Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank expected to rebuild the counter-cyclical capital buffer (CCyB) “gradually” through 2022 given the Irish economic outlook, it said in November. However in its latest decision on the buffer published on March 24 but not publicized until now, it warned there is “considerable uncertainty” around the economic outlook. The buffer remains at 0%.

People on the streets of Berlin have waved Ukrainian flags in demonstrations of support since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. But those who drove to the rallies did so largely in cars powered by oil from Russia, which provides most of the fuel to the German capital, Reuters reported. Just over a third of Germany's crude oil came from Russia last year, official data shows. Until the invasion of Ukraine in February, the dependence of Europe's largest economy on cheap energy from Russia – in part, a legacy of the Cold War – was not viewed as problematic by the authorities.

The head of the International Monetary Fund warned Thursday that Russia’s war against Ukraine was weakening the economic prospects for most of the world’s countries and called high inflation “a clear and present danger” to the global economy, the Associated Press reported. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the consequences of Russia’s invasion were contributing to economic downgrades for 143 countries, although most of them should continue to grow. The war has disrupted global trade in energy and grain and is threatening to cause food shortages in Africa and Middle East.

The Turkish lira was on Thursday unmoved by the central bank's decision to hold its policy rate at 14%, while Russia's rouble slipped ahead of planned easing in capital controls next week, Reuters reported. The lira was down 0.2% at 14.61 a dollar after the widely expected central bank move, which came even as annual inflation was estimated to rise beyond the current 61%. The increase in price pressures has been driven by rising energy costs and supply shocks, but inflation should start to ease due to the central bank's actions, it said.

In a scathing report, Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk said she believes the data shows Laurentian University did not have to file for creditor protection under the Companies Creditors’ Arrangement Act (CCAA), Sudbury.com reported.

China's race to stop the spread of COVID-19 is clogging highways and ports, stranding workers and shutting countless factories - disruptions that are rippling through global supply chains for goods ranging from electric vehicles to iPhones, Reuters reported. While some factory owners try to tough it out through "closed loop" management that keeps workers isolated inside, some said that is becoming harder to sustain given the extent of local COVID-19 curbs aimed at heading off the Omicron variant, complicating efforts to procure materials or ship products.

The International Monetary Fund hopes to mobilize around $45 billion for a new trust to help a broader range of countries, including some middle-income economies, deal with climate change and other longer-term challenges, a paper prepared by IMF staff and reviewed by Reuters shows. The IMF's executive board is expected on Wednesday to approve plans for the new Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) that were hammered out by IMF staff after the Group of 20 major economies backed creation of the instrument in October.

Annual inflation in Russia accelerated to 17.49% as of April 8, its highest since February 2002 and up from 16.70% a week earlier, the economy ministry said on Wednesday, as the volatile rouble sent prices soaring amid unprecedented Western sanctions, Reuters reported. Prices on nearly everything from vegetables and sugar to clothes and smartphones have risen sharply in recent weeks after Russia on Feb. 24 began what it calls "a special military operation" in Ukraine.