Russia

Annual inflation in Russia accelerated to 16.70% as of April 1, its highest since March 2015 and up from 15.66% a week earlier, the economy ministry said on Wednesday, as the volatile rouble sent prices soaring amid unprecedented Western sanctions, Reuters reported. Inflation in Russia has accelerated sharply in the past few weeks as the rouble's fall to an all-time low boosted demand for a wide range of goods from food staples to cars on expectations prices will rise even more.

Russia said on Wednesday that it made a debt payment in rubles this week, a move that may not be accepted by Russia’s foreign debtholders and could put the country on a path to a historic default, the Associated Press reported. The Ministry of Finance said in a statement that it tried to make a $649 million payment toward two bonds to an unnamed U.S. bank — previously reported as JPMorgan Chase — but that payment was not accepted because new U.S. sanctions prohibit Russia from using U.S. banks to pay its debts.

Britain has frozen the assets of Russia’s biggest bank, banned outward investment to the country and promised to end imports of Russian oil and coal by the end of this year, the Irish Times reported. The measures are part of a new package of sanctions in response to alleged war crimes by Russian forces which Boris Johnson described as coming close to genocide. The move against Sberbank was coordinated with the United States, which also announced on Wednesday that it was freezing the bank’s assets.

Russia's lower house of parliament has passed in a third and final reading on Wednesday a bill on delisting of companies that are registered in Russia and have depositary receipts traded on foreign bourses, Reuters reported. Their depositary receipts will be converted into equities traded in Russia, the bill showed. Several major Russian companies have listings abroad, which has always been a matter of prestige for them. But since Russia began what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24, Western bourses have halted trading of Russian securities.

Despite strict economic sanctions, shrinking currency reserves and nervous banks, Russia has kept up with payments for government debt, confounding expectations from just a few weeks ago, when the ratings agencies believed a default was imminent and the government said it might repay its international loans in rubles, the New York Times reported. “People look at this and are scratching their heads,” said Michael Bolliger, the chief investment officer for emerging markets at UBS Global Wealth Management. He said they were asking: “How is this possible?

At least a hundred companies worldwide have delayed or pulled financing deals worth more than $45 billion since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported. These include initial public offerings, bonds or loans and acquisitions. U.S. equity market deals were the worst hit by global volatility in the first quarter as a crop of firms postponed listings, while Japanese and European debt markets also suffered from delays.

Europe vowed to stay united against Russia's demand that they pay for its gas in roubles, as the threat of an imminent supply halt eased on Friday, Reuters reported. European capitals have been bracing for a disruption to gas imports as Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks retaliation over Western sanctions for the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. Some buyers and governments were working on ways to potentially pay for gas in roubles as Moscow in recent days has raised the spectre of cutting gas supply if its payment terms are not met.

The European Union must discuss an import ban on Russian gas deliveries after Ukrainian and European officials accused Russian forces of committing atrocities near Kyiv, the German defence ministry said on Sunday, Reuters reported. "There has to be a response. Such crimes must not remain without a response," the ministry quoted Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht as saying in an interview.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Thursday that Moscow would impose a moratorium on bankruptcies for a period of six months starting on Friday, Reuters reported. Read more.

Investors are bracing for more losses in Russian debt as expulsion from key indexes in the wake of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine hits an already trampled market, Bloomberg News reported. Russia’s government and corporate bonds are set on Thursday to be removed from the closely-followed JPMorgan Chase & Co. suite of emerging-market bond indexes, known as EMBI, leaving some money managers whose funds track the gauge with little choice but to sell or write down their holdings.