British energy bills will jump 80 per cent to an average of 3,549 pounds ($4,188) a year from October, the regulator said on Friday, plunging millions of households into fuel poverty and businesses into jeopardy unless the government steps in.

Profits at China’s industrial firms sank in July, reversing previous gains as fresh Covid-19 curbs dragged down demand and squeezed factory margins, while power shortages due to heatwaves threatened production.

Beijing and Washington took a major step on Friday towards ending a dispute that threatened to boot Chinese companies, including Alibaba, from US stock exchanges, signing a pact to allow US regulators to vet accounting firms in China and Hong Kong.

India, the world’s biggest rice exporter, is considering whether to restrict exports of 100 per cent broken rice, government and industry officials told Reuters on Friday, after the paddy area has been reduced by a lack of rainfall.

The US economy contracted at a moderate pace than initially thought in the second quarter as consumer spending blunted some of the drag from a slower pace of inventory accumulation, dispelling fears that a recession was underway.

Wall Street giant Citigroup Inc will close its consumer and commercial banking businesses in Russia starting this quarter and expects to incur about $170 million in charges over the next 18 months as a result, the company said on Thursday.

Global rating agency Standard and Poor’s today maintained its long-held BB- rating for Bangladesh despite the ongoing volatility in the country’s external sector.

Daraz intends to invest Tk 1,000 crore in Bangladesh in the next 3-4 years to ramp up its operation by building infrastructure and ecosystem, the Alibaba Group-backed e-commerce venture said today.

Twenty-four global banks have agreed to accept the letters of credit (LCs) from Bangladesh to import food items from Russia and Ukraine in US dollar -- a big sigh of relief as it will play a big role in cutting food prices in local market.

Sri Lanka tightened import restrictions Wednesday with a ban on more than 300 additional items, as an economic crisis that has created months of shortages and toppled a president refuses to abate.

Many global oil traders and banks have stopped dealing with Indian refiner Nayara Energy, a Rosneft affiliate, as they are worried about Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Japan’s prime minister on Wednesday called for a push to revive the country’s nuclear power industry in a bid to tackle soaring imported energy costs linked to the war in Ukraine.

Rising labour, transportation, logistics and electricity costs could potentially undermine the competitive advantage of Cambodia’s textile-linked industries, according to research conducted by a prominent local economist.

A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will meet Sri Lanka’s president on Wednesday for talks to finalise a bailout package, including restructuring debt of about $29 billion, amid the nation’s worst financial crisis in more than seven decades.

With double-digit inflation and an economy teetering on the brink of recession, the cost-of-living crisis has dominated the race for Downing Street.

Inflation in South Africa accelerated to its highest level in 13 years in July, pushed mainly by surging food, transport and electricity prices, official data showed Wednesday as workers staged protests over the high cost of living.

Asian and European equities fell Wednesday as investors awaited news on the next US interest rate hikes.

Ukraine is on course to ship nearly as much grain this month as it did before the Russian invasion, in a triumph for international efforts to ease food shortages, a US official said Tuesday.

India’s Tata Sons will likely have to make a provision of 26 billion rupees ($325.69 million) as accumulated losses for low-cost carrier AirAsia India, which it’s seeking to absorb into unit Air India and merge with Air India Express, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday.

Gas-rich Qatar on Tuesday announced two major solar projects that will more than double its energy output from the renewable source within two years.