By Karin Strohecker and Vincent Flasseur LONDON (Reuters) – Interest rate hikes from central banks around the globe slowed to a trickle in April thanks to a combination of easing inflation and slowing growth prospects amid a dearth of meetings on monetary policy decisions. April saw two interest rate hikes across five meetings by central…
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan is seeking U.S. cooperation to make the island’s next domestically developed fighter jet, the head of Taiwanese defence contractor Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC) said on Wednesday. Taiwan’s air force scrambles daily to see off incursions by Chinese jets into the airspace around the island as Beijing steps up its pressure…
By Parisa Hafezi DUBAI (Reuters) -Wary of re-igniting Iran’s worst political turmoil in years, the country’s rulers are resorting to new, less obtrusive tactics to punish women who refuse to wear the obligatory Islamic hijab. The methods, introduced following nationwide anti-government protests last year, combine use of security cameras with denial of state services to…
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s headline inflation dropped to its lowest in 16 months in April thanks to lower energy and food prices and a high base in 2022, the commerce ministry said on Wednesday. The headline consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.67% in April from a year earlier, close to a rise of 2.70% forecast…
By Anant Chandak BENGALURU (Reuters) – India’s services activity expanded at the fastest pace in nearly 13 years in April, driven by robust demand, according to a private survey which also showed price pressures increased at their fastest rate in recent months. Strong growth in services, which make up around 60% of India’s overall gross…
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s central bank said on Wednesday that a rapid recovery in population growth was a big surprise for the bank’s economic forecasts, pushing up rents and leading to an earlier-than-expected stabilisation in housing prices after months of losses. Speaking at an event in Perth, Marion Kohler, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA)…
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian retail sales grew at their slowest annual pace in 14 months in March in a warning sign for consumption that will only get worse following a surprise hike in interest rates this week. Retail sales rose a modest 0.4% in March from February, when they edged up just 0.2%, data showed…
(This April 27 story has been corrected to clarify that the statement is attributed to FMC commissioner, not the Commission, in paragraph 15) By Francesco Guarascio and Khanh Vu HANOI (Reuters) – Tighter U.S. rules to ban imports from China’s Xinjiang are compounding pressure on Vietnam’s apparel and footwear makers, hitting a sector that has…
By Sujith Pai BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indonesian annual economic growth likely slowed to its weakest in more than a year in January-March and shrank on a quarterly basis as lower commodity prices hit exports and higher interest rates restricted domestic demand, a Reuters poll found. Southeast Asia’s largest economy grew 4.95% in the first quarter…
By Sheila Dang (Reuters) -TikTok said on Tuesday its head of U.S. trust and safety, Eric Han, will depart the company on May 12, leaving the popular short-form video app without a key executive as it fights the threat of a ban in the U.S. TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, has…
