Reuters Asia Business

By Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) -The Bank of Japan must keep monetary policy ultra-loose as inflation remains well below that of other economies, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said, brushing aside the view it could follow in the footsteps of more hawkish U.S. and European peers. Mounting inflation risks have prompted central banks across the globe, including …

BOJ Kuroda vows to keep ultra-easy policy in wake of ECB’s hawkish shift Read More »

MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine annual inflation eased to 3.0% in January from the previous month’s 3.2% rate, the statistics agency said on Friday, reflecting slower increases in the price of food and utilities. January’s inflation figure, which was slightly below the 3.1% forecast in a Reuters poll, used 2018 as the base year and, at …

Philippine CPI eases to 3.0% in Jan, central bank sees “patient hand” on policy levers Read More »

(Reuters) -Australia saw a record surge in COVID-19 infections due to the Omicron variant, which strained supply chains, overwhelmed hospitals, and clouded the outlook of firms that were recovering from the impact of the Delta outbreak. Companies have had to shelve plans to ramp up their business, flag a hit to earnings, or earmark additional …

Factbox-Corporate Australia burdened by Omicron surge Read More »

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese is not considering reviewing future national sales tax rates as the current 10% levy provides a vital source of funding the social security spending to support its ageing population, the finance minister said on Friday. Shunichi Suzuki told reporters after a cabinet meeting that Japan must tackle spending and revenue reform …

Japan has no plans to review sales tax rates, finance minister says Read More »

By Cynthia Kim SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s consumer inflation for January hovered near a decade-high on surging fuel and food prices, boosting the case for more interest rate hikes in 2022. January consumer prices jumped 3.6% from a year earlier, beating a 3.3% gain tipped in a Reuters poll and remaining above the central bank’s …

S.Korea Jan inflation at 3.6%, near a decade-high Read More »

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it was “too early” to say if the world was facing a period of sustained inflation, but warned that failure to make economies more resilient to future shocks could lead to big problems. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told …

‘Too early to say’ if world faces sustained inflation -IMF chief Georgieva Read More »

By Katanga Johnson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Global equity markets slumped lower on Thursday while gold prices steadied and the dollar weakened as frightened investors digested disappointing updates from major central banks about the outlook for inflation and interest rates. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England soured investor sentiment around inflation on Thursday, …

World stocks fall on central banks’ inflation outlooks, glum Facebook update Read More »

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) -The euro surged to a three-week high against the U.S. dollar on Thursday after comments from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde fuelled expectations of faster policy tightening, as she focused on the prospect of euro zone inflation overshooting. She also did not repeat previous comments that interest rates …

Euro rises to three-week high vs dollar after ECB’s Lagarde turns hawkish Read More »

(Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin meets China’s leader Xi Jinping this week when he attends the Beijing Winter Olympics and they may seek to deepen trade ties in energy and other areas at a time when Moscow is at loggerheads with the West over Ukraine. Putin and Xi could sign 15 agreements, Kremlin aide Yuri …

Factbox-Russia, China may sign energy, other deals amid Moscow tensions with West Read More »