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  Bloomberg Singapore’s core inflation, the gauge closely-watched by the central bank, rose to a 14-year high, even after the central bank has tightened policy five times since October 2021. The measure, which excludes private transport and accommodation, rose 5.5% in January from a year earlier, the fastest pace since November 2008 according to a statement. That compares with a ...

  Bloomberg Grab Holdings Ltd brought forward its profitability target after posting a narrower quarterly loss, helped by reduced spending by the Southeast Asian ride-hailing and food-delivery provider. The stock jumped 8% in pre-market trading after Grab said it expects to reach positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation in the final quarter of 2023. It previously expected ...

  Bloomberg Vietnam’s property debt crisis is intensifying as the country’s second-largest developer joined the ranks of peers seeking debt extensions after failing to repay a bond on time. No Va Land Investment Group said it will delay repayment of a 1 trillion dong ($42 million) note originally due on February 12 and asked holders for an extension or to ...

Bloomberg Group of Seven (G-7) finance ministers once again condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine on the eve of its one-year mark and pledged to increase financial support for Ukraine. G-7 finance ministers increased their budget to $39 billion dollars and reaffirmed their “unwavering support for Ukraine,” calling Russia’s aggression as “illegal, unjustifiable and unprovoked” in a statement issued on Thursday. ...

Bloomberg Finland is set to join Nato if it gets the last outstanding ratifications for its membership bid, regardless of what progress Sweden has made towards joining the alliance, President Sauli Niinisto said. Finland’s parliament has moved ahead with a domestic process to ratify the Nordic country’s accession to Nato, raising questions about whether the two countries could be admitted ...

  Bloomberg China is considering installing veteran banker Zhu Hexin as its next central bank governor, while a close ally of Xi Jinping is a likely candidate to become its Communist Party chief, the Wall Street Journal reported. He Lifeng, expected to replace Liu He as China’s vice premier responsible for economic policy in a government reshuffle next month, is ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) reported zero profit for 2022, deploying buffers it set aside in earlier years to dodge a loss linked to stimulus-driven bond-buying. Tapping those reserves became necessary after asset purchase-related interest payments to the euro area’s national central banks jumped to about €2 billion ($2.1 billion). That was due to borrowing costs being raised to ...

  Bloomberg Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Rhee Chang-yong sought to keep the door open to resuming policy tightening to counter inflation after the board kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday for the first time in a year. Rhee told reporters that five of the six board members he polled were open to borrowing costs reaching a peak of 3.75% ...

  Bloomberg Profitability of local lenders in Bangladesh will likely come under strain from rising funding costs amid a liquidity squeeze in the banking system, according to Moody’s Investors Service. “A spike in imports, declines in remittance inflows and high inflation have drained liquidity,” analysts led by Chong Jun Wong said. The funding costs “have increased materially because demand has ...

  Bloomberg US equity-index futures rose as investors grew confident the Federal Reserve’s peak interest rate would be within levels already priced in by markets. Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 climbed at least 0.4% each after the underlying indexes avoided a selloff following the Fed’s minutes and remarks by officials. The dollar pared its losses and Treasuries ...