China has punished a number of local officials with demotions or dismissal for falsifying economic data, the country’s statistics bureau said on Friday, as part of an effort to curb data fraud as the economy falters.

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka sharply hiked fuel prices to a record high on Tuesday, causing further pain to the country’s 22 million people in its worst crisis since independence.

Palm oil prices in domestic wholesale and retail markets have started cooling off after Indonesia announced that it would resume exports of the product.

Sri Lanka’s inflation hit a seventh consecutive record high in April as a petrol shortage worsened and food prices rose sharply, official data showed Monday.

Turkey is ready for energy cooperation with Israel after years of enmity, reviving a project to pipe Israeli gas to Europe as Ankara seeks to reduce its dependence on Russia.

Chloe Kou, a 28-year old beauty brand marketing manager from Shanghai, won’t be buying her usual  “one or two” high-end handbags this year. Instead, she plans to save not spend, and that is a problem for luxury brands.

China has lifted a ban on Canadian canola imports, a Canadian official said Thursday, calling it  “very good news” for producers that Ottawa argued had been caught up in a diplomatic row.

China is quietly ramping up purchases of oil from Russia at bargain prices, according to shipping data and oil traders who spoke to Reuters, filling the vacuum left by Western buyers backing away from business with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in February.

Japan’s core consumer prices posted their biggest jump in seven years in April, official data showed Friday, as global commodity prices soared and the yen slumped against the dollar.

China’s slowing economy will struggle to stage the kind of stunning recovery it achieved from the early depths of the pandemic two years ago, as its formidable export machine teeters and options to revive investment and consumption dwindle.

China’s economic activity cooled sharply in April as widening Covid-19 lockdowns took a heavy toll on consumption, industrial production and employment, adding to fears the economy could shrink in the second quarter.

Recent rate hikes from the Federal Reserve have come at a bad time for Hong Kong which, thanks to its US dollar peg, must follow suit despite its own flagging economy.

State-owned oil producer Saudi Aramco on Sunday reported an almost 82 per cent rise in first-quarter net profit, broadly in line with analyst forecasts, helped by strong oil prices.

Japan’s household spending dipped 2.3 per cent in March from a year earlier as the cost of fuel and other items surge, though the fall was smaller than expected.

Malaysia’s commodities ministry has proposed cutting export tax on palm oil by as much as half to help fill a global edible oil shortage and grow the market share of the world’s second-largest palm oil producer.

Bitcoin slumped below $30,000 for the first time since July 2021 on Tuesday as cryptocurrencies track sinking markets with investors spooked by aggressive US monetary tightening and surging inflation.

China’s export growth slowed to single digits, the weakest in almost two years, while imports barely changed in April as tighter and wider Covid-19 curbs halted factory production and crimped domestic demand, adding to wider economic woes.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr looked on course for a huge victory in the Philippines presidential election on Monday, after an unofficial tally of two thirds of the votes showed the son of the notorious late dictator surging ahead of his nearest rival.

President Xi Jinping has offered state backing for tech, infrastructure and jobs to revive China’s economy, but analysts warn growth will continue to wilt until Beijing drops its rigid virus controls.

China’s central bank said on Friday it launches a 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) relending facility to support the transport, logistics and storage sectors which have been hit hard by Covid-19.