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By Uditha Jayasinghe and Devjyot Ghoshal COLOMBO (Reuters) -Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Tuesday he will present an interim budget within six weeks, slashing infrastructure projects to re-route funds into a two-year relief programme for the crisis-hit island nation. Wickremesinghe, who took office two weeks ago, warned that inflation would rise …

Exclusive-Sri Lanka’s prime minister says he will slash expenditure in new budget Read More »

By Nichola Saminather TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s top six banks are expected to post an average 12% drop in second-quarter earnings from the previous three months as increased expenses and loan-loss reserves and lower investment banking revenues outweigh strong loan growth and margin expansion from rising interest rates. Soaring inflation and a stock market sell-off …

Tide is turning as Canada’s banks brace for a Q2 earnings downdraft Read More »

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Oxfam America, Partners in Health and other civil society groups urged U.S. President Joe Biden to press for changes in a draft agreement on waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, underscoring divisions over the current text. In a letter sent to Biden on Monday, and viewed by Reuters, …

NGOs urge Biden to push for changes to WTO’s COVID waiver text Read More »

By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sales of new U.S. single-family homes tumbled to a two-year low in April, likely as higher mortgage rates and record prices squeezed first-time buyers and those in search of entry-level properties out of the housing market. The fourth straight monthly decline in sales reported by the Commerce Department on …

Record high U.S. house prices, rising mortgages depress new home sales Read More »

BERLIN (Reuters) – A sustained rebound in services helped business activity in Germany grow again in May, though there are signs that rising prices, market uncertainty and supply problems are starting to put pressure on demand, a preliminary survey showed on Tuesday. S&P Global’s flash Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for services was 56.3 in May, …

German economy remains on growth path for now -PMI Read More »

A look at the day ahead in markets from Julien Ponthus. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde openly admitted for the first time what investors had already been betting on for a while: negative interest rates, a eurozone feature for eight years, will most likely be gone by the end of summer. With inflation running …

Marketmind: I know what you’ll do this summer Read More »

By Uditha Jayasinghe COLOMBO (Reuters) -Sri Lanka increased fuel prices on Tuesday, a long-flagged move to mend public finances and combat its debilitating economic crisis, but the hikes are bound to add to galloping inflation at least in the short term. Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said in a message on Twitter that petrol …

Sri Lanka increases fuel prices to address economic crisis Read More »

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt expects the Suez Canal’s revenues to reach about $7 billion by the end of the current fiscal year, finance minister Mohamed Maait said on Saturday. Tourism revenues are expected to reach between $10 billion and $12 billion by then, despite the Ukrainian crisis, he added. Egypt’s fiscal year runs from July …

Egypt expects Suez Canal revenues to hit $7 billion by end of fiscal year – minister Read More »

(Reuters) – Moody’s on Friday downgraded Ukraine’s foreign currency sovereign credit rating to “Caa3” from “Caa2”, with a negative outlook, citing increased risks to the government’s “debt sustainability” following Russia’s invasion. “While Ukraine is benefiting from large commitments of international financial support, helping to mitigate immediate liquidity risks, the resulting significant rise in government debt …

Moody’s downgrades Ukraine to “Caa3” on debt uncertainty Read More »

(Reuters) – Ratings agency S&P revised https://disclosure.spglobal.com/ratings/en/regulatory/article/-/view/type/HTML/id/2842888 South Africa’s outlook to “positive” on Friday, saying it reflects favourable terms of trade and a path toward contained fiscal expenditure for the country. S&P upgraded its outlook from “stable” and affirmed the “BB-/B” foreign currency as well as “BB/B” local currency ratings on South Africa. “Recent favourable …

S&P raises South Africa’s outlook to ‘positive’ on trade terms, fiscal discipline Read More »