Bloomberg Reserve Bank of India(RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan is going all out to build up the nation’s foreign-exchange reserves as he seeks to augment the rupee’s defenses. The stockpile grew to an unprecedented $359.76 billion in the week to April 1, Reserve Bank of India data showed. The reserves surged as Governor Raghuram Rajan bought dollars to take advantage of ...

Bloomberg The world’s central bankers, already hitting limits of their effectiveness on growth and inflation, are now contending with another risk: that additional stimulus could produce lackluster results and undercut investor confidence. The Bank of Japan’s decision in January to take interest rates negative has sent bond yields tumbling, while doing little to curb a surging yen that’s squeezing the ...

Washington / Reuters The World Bank said on Monday it expects its nonmarket rate lending to top $43 billion in the current fiscal year as developing countries face economic headwinds, bringing its total for the past four years to more than $150 billion. The multilateral lender said its International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA) ...

New Delhi / Bloomberg A panel advising India’s markets regulator found evidence that high-frequency traders gained unfair access to the nation’s biggest stock exchange, prompting two of the country’s largest brokerage associations to call for a formal investigation. The National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. “violated norms of fair access,” according to a copy of the panel’s internal report seen ...

Singapore / AFP China’s economic slowdown will hit growth in developing East Asia and the Pacific from this year until at least 2018, the World Bank said on Monday, warning of volatile global markets and urging caution. Regional growth is forecast to slow from 6.5 percent in 2015 to 6.3 percent this year and 6.2 percent in 2017 and 2018, ...

Tokyo / Bloomberg For global equity investors and Shinzo Abe, it’s splitsville. Starting in the first days of 2016, foreign traders have been pulling out of Tokyo’s stock market for 13 straight weeks, the longest stretch since 1998. Overseas investors dumped $46 billion of shares as economic reports deteriorated, stimulus from the Bank of Japan backfired and the yen’s surge ...

Kuala Lumpur / AFP Malaysia’s first Islamic-compliant airline has been suspended for three months after it failed to adhere to aviation regulations, a senior official said on Monday, as the government announced a safety audit of the carrier. “Rayani Air has been suspended for three months,” Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director-general of the Department of Civil Aviation, said. “They contravened civil ...

SYDNEY / Reuters An Australian-Indian consortium wants to restart gold mining in a district that helped symbolise former British rule in India and produced some 25 million ounces over 150 years before being abandoned due to low bullion prices. Mining in the Kolar gold field in Karnataka state in Southern India ended in 2001 as gold prices slumped. But a ...

Jakarta / Bloomberg Indonesia plans to cut corporate tax to 20 percent this year, from 25 percent, as it tries to attract investment to spur the economy. The move will need parliamentary approval, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said on Monday. A 20 percent rate will be “competitive,” he said. “If possible we will discuss it immediately, this year,” Brodjonegoro said. ...

Taipei / DPA Taiwan Finance Minister Chang Sheng-ford said that exports in March showed no signs of improvement and suffered another double-digit decline in the midst of a slow economy. Chang broke the news to the Central News Agency one day before the Ministry of Finance is due to release March’s exports report. Given that adverse factors such as falling ...