Deutsche Bank chief Christian Sewing, painting a bleaker assessment of the German economy, warned on Wednesday that China was a considerable risk for the nation and that Europe needed big banks to fend off American competitors.

The threat of recession is rising in Europe, a top EU official warned on Wednesday, as skyrocketing energy prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine punish the economy.

Saudi Arabia’s real gross domestic product expanded by 12.2 per cent in the second quarter compared with the same period of 2021, data showed on Wednesday, as the world’s top oil exporter reaps the rewards of high crude prices and a post-pandemic recovery.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday on threats that Russia will walk away from its energy supply contracts, reversing losses from earlier in the session when prices fell to their lowest since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Chinese shipments to and from Russia accelerated in August compared with a month earlier, contrasting with slower flows elsewhere amid weak global demand.

China’s exports and imports lost momentum in August with growth significantly missing forecasts as surging inflation crippled overseas demand and fresh Covid curbs and heatwaves disrupted output, reviving downside risks for the shaky economy.

Bangladesh and India should address the non-tariff barriers to facilitate and boost bilateral trade, said Md Jashim Uddin, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).

Russia has raked in a whopping 158 billion euros ($158 billion) in energy exports in the six months following its invasion of Ukraine, with the EU accounting for more than half, a think tank said Tuesday.

German industrial orders slumped for the sixth consecutive month in July, official data showed Tuesday, raising the spectre that a recession was looming in Europe’s biggest economy.

Russia’s energy giant Gazprom said Tuesday that China will start paying for Russian gas in rubles and yuan instead of US dollars, as Moscow seeks closer ties with Beijing in the wake of Western sanctions over Ukraine.

British shoppers are cutting back on purchases of clothes and other non-essential items as they try to cover their sky-rocketing utility bills and higher food prices, surveys showed on Tuesday.

South Africa’s economy shrank in the second quarter, as floods and an energy crisis put a halt to months of growth, official data showed Tuesday.

The hit to the euro zone economy and its currency from a deepening energy crisis is so severe that more aggressive monetary tightening from the European Central Bank will do little to stop the euro’s slide.

Finland and Switzerland provided billions in financial support to power companies on Tuesday, as Europe scrambles to secure energy supplies in a deepening crisis sparked by Russia’s move to shut a major gas pipeline.

Turkey’s annual inflation climbed to a fresh 24-year high of 80.21 per cent in August, a bit below expectations according to data on Monday, after the central bank unexpectedly cut interest rates and stoked a nearly year-long cost-of-living crisis.

India reported on Friday that its trade deficit narrowed slightly to $28.7 billion in August from a record high of $30 billion in the previous month. Here are the views of some analysts:

European gas prices rocketed as much as 30 per cent higher on Monday after Russia said one of its main gas supply pipelines to Europe would stay shut indefinitely, stoking renewed fears about shortages and gas rationing in the European Union this winter.

The Opec+ oil cartel agreed Monday to cut production for the first time in more than a year as it seeks to lift prices that have tumbled due to recession fears.

The euro zone is almost certainly entering a recession, with surveys on Monday showing a deepening cost of living crisis and a gloomy outlook that is keeping consumers wary of spending.

The euro sunk below $0.99 on Monday, a 20-year-low, following the announcement last week that Russia would cut off gas deliveries to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline.