An IMF delegation was in Sri Lanka Monday for talks on the island’s worsening economic crisis, with the public suffering through months of food, fuel and medicine shortages.

German Ambassador to Bangladesh Achim Troster has advised Bangladeshi companies to prepare for challenges that may arise from 2023 when a German law comes into effect for enhanced human rights protection in supply chains.

Asian markets mostly fell Monday as traders track developments in the Ukraine war and diplomatic efforts to bring the crisis to an end while Hong Kong took a pounding after China placed Shenzhen into lockdown, fuelling a rout in the tech sector.

The dollar slipped as European markets opened on Monday, but was still near a five-year high versus Japan’s yen as investors braced for a busy week of major central bank meetings.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is trying to persuade Saudi Arabia to increase its oil output, a senior minister said on Monday, following reports that Johnson would travel to the OPEC heavyweight this week.

Deutsche Bank reversed course and said it would pull out of Russia completely while the London Stock Exchange suspended all its services in the country as Western governments impose sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

A visiting European Union (EU) delegation yesterday wanted to know the causes for delays in the implementation of a few action plans for retaining the GSP to the EU markets under the trade bloc’s Everything but Arms (EBA) initiative.

India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

India is considering more than one alternative payment mechanism for its exporters if the war between Russia and Ukraine drags on for a long time and key trade sectors such as gems and jewellery face problems in international cash transfer, according to official sources.

Oil prices fell on Sunday at the start of the session, extending last week's decline, as a US official said Russia was showing signs it might be willing to have substantive negotiations over Ukraine.

France is to introduce a rebate of 0.15 euros ($0.16) per litre of transport fuel to help drivers cope with soaring pump prices, Prime Minister Jean Castex said in an interview with daily newspaper Le Parisien. The measure, to apply for four months from April 1, is expected to cost the government just over 2 billion euros, he said.

Oil prices settled higher on Friday but posted their steepest weekly decline since November, as traders assessed potential improvements to the supply outlook that has been disrupted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who is due to meet with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Rome on Monday, warned Beijing that it would “absolutely” face consequences if it helped Moscow evade sweeping sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

Credit rater Fitch Saturday downgraded 28 Russian natural resources companies including state gas giant Gazprom, warning they risk defaulting on payments under sanctions imposed for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Surging prices for fuel, food and housing have sent US inflation to the highest in four decades, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has made the situation worse, so the Federal Reserve is preparing to take action this week.

The cost of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will become a lot clearer next week, with a previously unthinkable sovereign default looming, more emergency central bank measures likely and a stock market crash guaranteed if it reopens.

Households across North Africa are rushing to stock up on flour, semolina and other staples as food prices rise following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both key wheat exporters to the region.

The Group of Seven industrialised nations on Friday urged countries not to limit their food exports over the war in Ukraine after a meeting of their agriculture ministers to discuss the crisis.

Venezuela’s oil output could rise by at least 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) if the United States authorizes requests by state-run PDVSA’s partners to trade Venezuelan crude, the country’s petroleum chamber said on Friday.