Ukraine

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 World Bank is preparing a $1.5 billion support package for war-torn Ukraine and plans to aid developing countries struggling to keep up with surging food and energy prices, World Bank President David Malpass said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. In remarks at the Warsaw School of Economics in Poland, Malpass said that the bank was helping Ukraine provide critical services, including paying wages for hospital workers, pensions and social programs.

The fallout of the Russia and Ukraine war has just helped tip two of world's poorest countries into full-blown crises, and the list of those at risk - and the queue at the International Monetary Fund's door - will only get longer from here, Reuters reported. They may be far from the fighting in Ukraine, but a mass resignation of Sri Lanka's cabinet on Monday read more and drastic weekend manoeuvres by Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan to avoid his removal read more , show how far the economic impact spreads.

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.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which are exporters of steel products, will have a huge impact on global steel demand and trade if it lasts for a long time, the head of a Japanese steel industry group said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. "Even before the Ukraine crisis, we had faced three risk factors to dent steel demand -- China's slowdown, global chip shortage and soaring energy and natural resources prices," Japan Iron and Steel Federation Chairman Eiji Hashimoto told a news conference.

Russian airlines could be frozen out of the aircraft leasing market well beyond the Ukraine conflict, one of the industry's biggest players warned on Tuesday, blaming what executives have described as a default involving hundreds of Western jets, Reuters reported. Global leasing companies had until Monday to sever ties with Russian carriers under Western sanctions imposed over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, but executives say only a fraction of the more than 400 jets directly involved have been returned.

Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, will host an online fund-raising event for Ukrainian refugees on April 9, the New York Times reported.

German business morale plummeted in March as companies worried about rising energy prices, driver shortages and the stability of supply chains in the wake of the war in Ukraine, pointing to a possible future recession, a survey showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The Ifo institute said its business climate index dropped to 90.8 in March from a downwardly revised 98.5 in February. A Reuters poll of analysts had pointed to a March reading of 94.2.

After losing two years to the COVID-19 pandemic, shopkeepers in the heart of the Turkish Riviera had hoped for a strong tourism season this year to help keep their businesses afloat. But Russia’s war in Ukraine is fast dampening their spirits, the Associated Press reported. “We’re trying to earn our bread through tourism, but it looks like the war has finished off this (tourism) season, too,” Devrim Akcay said outside his clothing shop in the resort town of Belek, along the Mediterranean coast’s Antalya province.