Lunar New Year holiday trips inside China surged 74 per cent from last year after authorities scrapped Covid-19 curbs that had stifled travel for three years, media reported on Saturday.

Taiwanese shipping giant Evergreen Marine has rewarded employees with massive year-end bonuses worth between 10 and 52 months of salary each, after posting bumper 2022 profits.

After three years of dealing with some of the world’s toughest Covid-19 curbs, there are early signs that Chinese consumers are gearing up to go out and spend again, particularly in major cities and tourist hot spots.

China’s foreign exchange reserves rose in December, official data showed on Saturday, as the dollar fell against other major currencies.

The Singapore dollar is set to end the year as Asia’s most resilient currency against an exceptional surge in the United States dollar.

Three Japanese insurance companies will stop insuring ships for damage in all Russian waters due to the war in Ukraine, potentially affecting Japan’s energy imports including liquefied natural gas (LNG), the Nikkei newspaper said on Saturday.

Global ratings agency S&P Global on Thursday cut Pakistan’s long-term sovereign credit rating by one notch to “CCC+” from “B” to reflect a continued weakening of the country’s external, fiscal and economic metrics.

The number of passenger movement at 20 Indonesian airports during the Christmas and New Year holiday this year is expected to reach 2.54 million passengers, PT Angkasa Pura II (AP II) predicts, as the state-owned operator readies its service to accommodate the end-of-year peak season.

China is working on a more than 1 trillion yuan ($143 billion) support package for its semiconductor industry, three sources said, in a major step towards self sufficiency in chips and to counter U.S. moves aimed at slowing its technological advances.

China’s industrial firms saw overall profits decline further in the January-October period as Covid-19 outbreaks flared up and cities imposed new virus curbs, including targeted lockdowns, dampening economic activity.

Japanese inflation hit a four-decade high last month, government data showed Friday, fuelled by high energy costs and a weak yen and ramping up pressure on the central bank to move away from its ultra-loose monetary policies.

Chinese consumers clutched their wallets tight in this year’s Singles Day and continued seeking relatively economical home brands over pricier expensive labels, as strict COVID-19 curbs and economic uncertainty weighed on the shopping extravaganza.

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka slashed fuel prices on Monday, the second cut in as many weeks, after the World Bank warned that the economy will shrink an unprecedented 9.2 per cent this year.

Visa regulations for foreign workers in the agricultural and fisheries sectors will be eased as part of efforts to address labor shortages in rural areas.

Chinese local governments may relax the floor on mortgage rates for first-time home buyers in some cities in phases, the central bank said on Thursday, in a bid to prop up property prices and revive a flagging engine of the world’s second-largest economy.

The United States and South Korea agreed on Saturday to implement liquidity facilities to stabilise financial markets if needed, Korea’s finance ministry said after a teleconference between finance chiefs of the two countries.

Japanese crude oil imports from the Middle East in August rose 12.1 per cent from a year earlier to 2.82 million barrels per day (bpd), equivalent to 13.88 million kilolitres, with Japan’s dependence on the region reaching 94.5 per cent, the industry ministry said on Friday.

The UAE and Oman are exploring investment opportunities worth 30 billion dirhams and will increase bilateral economic cooperation in strategic sectors, according to a statement released during President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed’s visit to the Sultanate.

The government yesterday urged Malaysia to speed up the signing of a free trade agreement as it looks to retain preferential market access after the graduation from the grouping of the least-developed countries.  

The dollar lost a little of its strength Tuesday after starting the week by surging against major peers, including a record high versus the pound, but while equity markets stabilised, sentiment remained dampened by recession fears.