COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s key inflation rate eased sharply to 12 per cent in June from 25.2 per cent in May, the statistics department said on Friday (Jun 30), showing a glimmer of recovery for the crisis-ridden economy. Soaring inflation – which peaked at 69.8 per cent last September – hasContinue Reading
TOKYO: Japanese authorities are facing renewed pressure to combat a continued yen fall driven by market expectations that the Bank of Japan will keep interest rates ultra-low, even as other central banks tighten monetary policy to curb inflation. Aside from verbal intervention, Japan’s government has several options to stem whatContinue Reading
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will announce a reworking of its domestic debt later this week to meet targets set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and aim to turn around its economy, which has been hammered by a financial crisis. A severe shortage of dollars tipped the island nation of 22Continue Reading
COLOMBO: Debt-laden Sri Lanka will unveil its domestic debt restructuring strategy this week, central bank chief P Nandalal Weerasinghe said on Sunday (Jun 25), as the island navigates its worst financial crisis in decades. Sri Lanka will also likely obtain Cabinet and parliamentary approval for the debt restructuring strategy thisContinue Reading
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China signed a US$4.8 billion deal on Tuesday (Jun 20) to build a 1,200-megawatt nuclear power plant, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said, hailing the investment by a country that Pakistan views as its most dependable ally. Work on the Chashma 5 project would begin immediately, Sharif saidContinue Reading
WHICH INVESTORS WILL TRADE ON THE DUAL COUNTER? The first batch of investors could be holders of offshore yuan deposits in Hong Kong, which totalled 833 billion yuan (US$117 billion) at the end of April, as they look for potentially higher returns in the stock market. Yuan holders in China’sContinue Reading
HONG KONG: China’s gradual internationalisation of its currency will shift to its next leg on Monday (Jun 19) when two dozen Chinese companies start trading in their home currency in Hong Kong’s stock market. Hong Kong stocks such as Alibaba and Tencent are among the 24 stocks which will beContinue Reading
BEIJING: China firmly opposes some EU countries’ ban on Huawei and said the European Commission has no legal basis nor factual evidence to prohibit the Chinese telecom giant, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday (Jun 16). EU industry chief Thierry Breton on Thursday urged more EU countries toContinue Reading
SHANGHAI: China’s e-commerce platforms are competing fiercely in the country’s first major shopping festival after the pandemic, offering steep discounts to entice frugal consumers in more worrying signs for an economy struggling to build momentum. The 618 festival, named after the founding date of JD.com but embraced by all platformsContinue Reading
TikTok is owned by Chinese technology giant ByteDance. Overall, the GMV of the region’s nine top e-commerce platforms was valued at almost US$100 billion in 2022, up 14 per cent on-year, led by Singapore-based Shopee and Lazada, a subsidiary of China’s Alibaba Group. Shopee, a unit of Singapore’s Sea, accountedContinue Reading