Mexico’s economy contracted for a second straight quarter in the last three-month period of 2021, according to official data published on Monday, putting it in a technical recession and joining regional powerhouse Brazil, whose economy fell back into negative territory last year.

Asian markets rose in limited trade Tuesday following another strong lead from Wall Street fuelled by a rebound in tech firms, while comments from Federal Reserve officials eased concerns that it will embark on an aggressive phase of policy tightening.

The IMF and World Bank once again postponed the annual meetings set to take place in Morocco, pushing them back another year to October 2023, the institutions announced Monday.

Food inflation in crisis-hit Sri Lanka hit a record 25 per cent in January, the statistics office said Tuesday, with crop failures and difficulties in financing imports leading to widespread shortages.

India’s government will step up spending to 39.45 trillion rupees ($529.7 billion) in the coming fiscal year to build public infrastructure and drive economic growth, it said on Tuesday, but it involves a wider fiscal deficit than targeted and record borrowing.

India will allocate an additional 195 billion rupees ($2.62 billion) to boost investment in solar equipment manufacturing, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said yesterday.

India will allocate an additional 195 billion rupees ($2.62 billion) to boost investment in solar equipment manufacturing, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.

Japan’s factory output shrank for the first time in three months in December as a decline in machinery production outweighed a small rise in autos, casting a cloud over the strength of the economic recovery.

The US Federal Reserve is not ruling out raising rates by half a percentage point if inflation remains high, Fed official Raphael Bostic said in an interview with the Financial Times.

India has forecast its economy will grow 8 per cent to 8.5 per cent for the fiscal year starting in April, down from 9.2 per cent projected in the current year, as it fights a spike in Covid-19 cases and rising inflationary pressure.

Oil rose more than 1 per cent on Monday to the near 7-year highs hit in the previous session, while supply concerns and political tension in Eastern Europe and the Middle East put prices on track for their biggest monthly gain in almost a year.

The eurozone economy posted robust growth last year, official data showed Monday, but fallout from the Omicron variant and an energy crunch have raised doubts about the bloc’s ability to sustain the pace.

Prices are on the rise for power-assisted bicycles, which are becoming fixtures as a means of transportation in everyday life.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan repeated his unorthodox economic policy on Saturday, saying interest rates would be lowered further and inflation would fall as a result, days before inflation data for January is announced, adding the country’s economic woes would pass.

China will toughen law enforcement to curb monopoly practices and unfair competition in the pharmaceutical industry as the government seeks to foster a good business environment, the industry ministry said on Sunday.

High global natural gas prices are breaking a two-year logjam of new US liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects with at least three of the multibillion-dollar proposals likely achieving enough supply contracts to start construction this year, said developers and industry experts.

British businesses grew at the slowest pace since April 2021 during the past three months, after demand for face-to-face services slumped due to the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the Confederation of British Industry said on Sunday.

Growth in China’s factory activity slowed in January as a resurgence of Covid-19 cases and tough lockdowns hit production and demand, but the slight expansion offered some signs of resilience as the world’s second-largest economy enters a likely bumpy new year.

The China Securities and Regulatory Commission (CSRC) met this week with executives at top western banks and asset managers to reassure them about the country’s economic prospects after regulatory crackdowns in 2021, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

Myanmar’s economy will remain critically weak for much of 2022 and will be “severely tested” by the impacts of a coup a year ago, but there are recent signs of stabilisation in manufacturing and exports, according to the World Bank.