Headlines

Russia's central bank announced on Tuesday a series of steps to help financial market players such as private pension funds and management companies cope with the current "crisis situation," including relaxing some regulations, Reuters reported. Russia's financial markets have been thrown into turmoil by severe economic sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.

The European Union is discussing a plan to jointly issue bonds on a potentially massive scale to finance energy and defense spending as the bloc copes with the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported. The proposal may be presented after the EU’s leaders hold an informal summit in Versailles, France, that starts Thursday, according to officials familiar with the preparations. Officials are still working out the details on how the debt sales would work and how much money they intend to raise, depending on the guidance they receive from leaders in this week’s meeting.

A group of banks led by UniCredit SpA is considering options including a state-backed guarantee for a 850 million euros ($929 million) bridge-loan for troubled Italian engineering firm Saipem SpA, Bloomberg News reported. The team of banks, which includes Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, started discussing the option in a confidential meeting on Tuesday. The banks plan to ask Sace SpA, Italy’s trade-credit insurer, for the guarantee. No final decision has been taken and the plan could change, according to sources.

Malaysia will allow quarantine-free entry for fully vaccinated travelers from April 1, ending almost two years of stringent border controls introduced to contain the Covid-19 outbreak, Bloomberg News reported. “Citizens with valid travel documents can enter and leave the country as they did before the pandemic,” Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said at a briefing on Tuesday. Foreigners will no longer need to apply for MyTravelPass, which will be abolished next month, he said.

Sri Lanka is effectively devaluing its currency as its foreign reserves dwindle, potentially accelerating the worst inflation surge in Asia as the nation struggles to service its debt and pay for imports, Bloomberg News reported. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka said in a statement late Monday that “greater flexibility in the exchange rate will be allowed to the markets with immediate effect.” The central bank also said it’s “of the view” that transactions would be capped at 230 rupees per dollar, about 12% below the current market level of 201.49 rupees.

Japan's bank lending rose at the slowest increase in a decade in February as immediate pressure for corporates to borrow cash continued to ease amid a broader economic recovery from the pandemic slump, Reuters reported. While the central bank's massive money printing will likely keep funding conditions ultra-loose, the crisis in Ukraine could hurt restaurants and retailers still reeling from the COVID-19 curbs, some analysts say.

As the Russia-Ukraine crisis propels crude oil to its highest level in 14 years, the historic link between the Canadian dollar and energy prices has weakened, leaving the Bank of Canada with one less tool to fight inflation, Reuters reported. The normal tight relationship between the Canadian dollar and oil has typically meant the central bank could rely on a stronger currency to ease inflation pressures brought on by higher energy prices. Gains for the loonie would reduce the cost of Canada's imports.

Ukraine has suffered about $10 billion in damage to infrastructure since Russia invaded the country, Infrastructure Minister Oleksander Kubrakov said on Monday, Reuters reported. He said in televised comments that the figure stood as of Sunday, and added: "The majority of (damaged) structures will be repaired in a year, and the most difficult ones – in two years." Kubrakov said 40,000 people had been evacuated from the eastern city of Kharkiv on Sunday.

Securities traders and hedge funds trying to trade Russian securities that aren’t subject to foreign sanctions over the country’s invasion of Ukraine have been running into the problem that some clearinghouses are still refusing to settle the trades, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Bank of New York Mellon Corp.’s Pershing, one of the main clearinghouses that settle securities trades, told clients on Thursday that both U.S. and non-U.S. custodians, mutual-fund companies and liquidity providers have imposed restrictions “above and beyond” sanctioned Russian securities.

Foreign companies that want to leave Russia will receive fast-tracked bankruptcy protections or can hand their stakes over to local managers until they return to Russia, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said on Friday, Reuters reported. Western sanctions imposed on Russia in punishment for its invasion of Ukraine have prompted dozens of global companies to pause operations in the country and some, including energy majors BP and Shell have said that they will exit the country entirely.