Bloomberg The Russian invasion of Ukraine has spurred a rush of loans to help tiny Moldova defray the economic hit from the war raging next door. Things are so perilous that the International Monetary Fund is now calling on nations to send cash. The conflict is piling pressure on the ex-Soviet nation, just as it started trying to fix graft ...

Bloomberg The two candidates for Australia’s next prime minister were grilled on cost-of-living issues, corruption and rising inflation at a second leaders’ debate less than two weeks from a national vote to be held on May 21. During the debate, held in Sydney, the conversation often deteriorated into a yelling match between PM Scott Morrison and opposition Labor leader Anthony Albanese, ...

  Bloomberg Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva officially launched his bid to return to Brazil’s presidency more than a decade after he left office. The widely expected announcement, marked by an official event in Sao Paulo, kicks off a new phase of the campaign, in which Lula and his running mate Geraldo Alckmin will start traveling across the nation trying ...

Bloomberg Kenya plans to go ahead with a Eurobond sale at possibly the worst time in years. The government still intends to raise $1 billion before the end of June, Treasury Secretary Ukur Yatani told reporters in Nairobi. His remarks came days after his department expressed concern in a document that rising global yields meant borrowing might be too expensive ...

  Bloomberg Ireland’s banking sector needs to be allowed to move on from the financial crisis in order to retain staff, the IMF said, as the debate over caps on bankers’ pay intensifies. “It is important to resolve lingering issues” from global financial crisis which include “recognising banks’ need to retain talent, and noting importance of divesting government ownership,” the ...

  Bloomberg Argentina’s central bank dealt cryptocurrencies a blow, prohibiting financial institutions in the South American country from offering clients any operations involving unregulated digital assets. The monetary authority banned operations that allow bank clients to purchase crypto, just days after two large institutions announced they would let clients buy Bitcoin and other digital currencies. The ban also includes assets ...

  Bloomberg China’s foreign exchange reserves fall for the fourth straight month in April, as capital outflow pressures grew and the yuan weakened. Reserves fall to $3.1197 trillion in April from March’s $3.188 trillion, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement. That compares with the median estimate of $3.13 trillion in a Bloomberg survey of economists. China in ...

  Bloomberg BNP Paribas SA has hired Gaurav Bathija from Citi Private Bank to be a managing director and senior relationship manager for South East Asia market, the latest in a series of hires by the French bank to boost its wealth and family office operations in Singapore. Bathija, who worked with Citi’s family office clients in Singapore, was head ...

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank’s (ECB) go-slow approach to starting interest-rate hikes is looking ever bolder at a time when most of its counterparts are tightening vigorously. At the end of a week punctuated by global increases in borrowing costs to quell inflation, including an accelerated half-point move by the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England’s fourth ...

  Bloomberg Bank of England (BOE) Governor Andrew Bailey has said that he won’t take a pay rise this year after asking high earners to help keep inflation in check by holding off on making aggressive demands. The central bank chief, who receives total compensation well in excess of 500,000 pounds ($618,000), said he asked the court that sets executive ...