The China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is considering granting $100 million in emergency support to Sri Lanka, the country’s finance ministry said on Sunday.

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka announced Tuesday it would sell long-term visas to attract desperately needed foreign currency after the island nation ran out of dollars to pay for food and fuel.

Indonesia is prepared to widen its ban on exports of refined palm olein if it faces domestic shortages of derivatives used in the production of cooking oil, according to details presented at a meeting between government and industry officials.

Pakistan has sought an increase in the size and duration of its $6 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, the country’s Finance Minister, Miftah Ismail, said on Monday.

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka’s stock exchange halted again Monday after a nearly 13 per cent plunge, derailing the bourse’s tentative reopening after a two-week break aimed at forestalling a market collapse.

Japan’s ruling coalition on Thursday agreed a supplementary budget to support lower-income households and small firms, signalling more spending for the heavily indebted nation as it battles inflationary pressures for the first time in decades.

Some Chinese state banks, such as Bank of China and Bank of Communications, will cut deposit rate ceilings on Monday, joining smaller lenders, sources told Reuters. The planned cuts come a week after regulators encouraged smaller banks to lower the ceiling for their deposit rates. The moves will also coincide with China’s reduction in banks’ reserve requirements, effective on Monday.

Luxury sports car maker Ferrari will recall 2,222 cars in China due to a potential fault in its braking systems, China’s market regulator said in a statement on Friday.

Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producer, announced plans to ban exports of the most widely used vegetable oil on Friday, in a shock move that could further inflame surging global food inflation.

Japan and Russia struck a deal on Tokyo’s fishing quota to catch salmon and trout born in Russian rivers, Japan’s fisheries agency said on Saturday, despite worsening ties over the crisis in Ukraine.

Asian stocks were digesting growth concerns in China and rising interest rates in the United States on Tuesday with Hong Kong dropping sharply while Japan edged higher on the back of a plummeting yen.

Benchmark lending rates for China’s commercial banks are likely to be lowered at a monthly fixing on Wednesday, a Reuters survey showed, as Beijing cautiously eases monetary conditions to aid an economy hit by coronavirus lockdowns in several cities.

China’s coal output rose 15 per cent in March from the same month a year ago, with daily production climbing to a record, as Beijing urged miners to crank up operations to ensure steady market supply.

Asian stocks closed lower on Monday in cautious trade, as figures showed China’s economic growth accelerated in the first quarter of the year, but the government warned of  “significant challenges” ahead.

Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis has triggered an unprecedented wave of spontaneous protests as the island nation of 22 million people struggles with prolonged power cuts and a shortage of essentials, including fuel and medicines.

A key fuel retailer in Sri Lanka raised prices by up to 35 per cent on Monday as the cash-strapped government was set to open crucial bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund.

The mounting cost of China’s zero-Covid policy threatens to derail Beijing’s ambitious GDP target, analysts say, as supply chains snarl, ports face delays and Shanghai remains mired in lockdown.

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka imposed fuel rationing on Friday in another worsening of the economic crisis that has sparked widespread demonstrations calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation.

China’s factory-gate and consumer prices rose faster than expected in March as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, persistent supply chain bottlenecks and production snags caused by local Covid flare-ups added to commodity cost pressures.

Japan’s government has asked power companies to top up their liquefied natural gas (LNG) reserves and share energy resources, a person familiar with the contingency plan said, as civilian deaths in Ukraine push Tokyo to halt Russian fuel imports.