After limping its way back from the Covid pandemic last year, the global economic recovery has been rattled by the Omicron variant’s rapid rise.

Global growth will “decelerate markedly” this year, but the Omicron variant of Covid-19 that is spreading rapidly worldwide could make the situation worse and exacerbate labor shortages and supply chain snarls, the World Bank warned Tuesday.

Sri Lanka ruled out an IMF bailout on Wednesday and said it plans to seek another loan from China to address an economic crisis that has led to food and fuel shortages.

Inflation in China eased in December thanks to falling food and commodity costs, with analysts saying Wednesday’s figures give policymakers room to unveil measures to kickstart the stuttering economy including interest rate cuts.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will highlight the central bank’s efforts to fight inflation and stabilize the US economy at his confirmation hearing, according to testimony released Monday.

Britain signalled a shake-up in the availability and price of financial market data on Tuesday due to concerns over “limited competition” for benchmarks, indices and credit ratings.

 Only one in 10 World Economic Forum members surveyed expects the global recovery to accelerate over the next three years, a poll of nearly 1,000 business, government and academic leaders found, with only one in six optimistic about the world outlook.

Asian tourism and casinos giant Genting’s shipbuilding subsidiaries in Germany filed for bankruptcy Monday, which one union leader described as a  “dark day” for the country’s dockyards.

Indonesia, the world’s top exporter of thermal coal, on Monday said it would ease a ban on exports of the fuel that it imposed to head off looming blackouts.

Asia's biggest billionaire, Mukesh Ambani, has bought more than 70 percent stake in the Mandarin Oriental hotel in America’s New York City for $98 million.

Most Asian and European markets rose Monday as traders brushed off another negative performance on Wall Street as US data showed fewer new jobs than expected were created last month but that wages saw a strong gain, keeping pressure on the Federal Reserve in its battle against inflation.

The unemployment rate in the eurozone dropped again in November, official figures showed on Monday, as hiring withstood new coronavirus outbreaks in several member countries.

Before clashes between security forces and government opponents left dozens dead and rendered parts of Kazakhstan’s largest city almost unrecognisable, citizens in the west of the oil-rich country were staging their own protest against a sudden New Year fuel hike.

China’s aviation sector will aim to turn losses into profits this year with an expected recovery to 85 per cent of its pre-Covid volume of domestic passenger trips, the aviation regulator said on Monday.

Emerging economies should gird for possible rough times as the US Federal Reserve prepares to raise interest rates and world economic growth slows because of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the IMF warned Monday.

The Philippines has urged Indonesia to lift its recent ban on coal exports, with Manila warning Monday the policy will have a “detrimental” impact on the coal-reliant country.

Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa asked China to help restructure debt repayments as part of efforts to help the South Asian country weather a worsening financial crisis, his office said in a statement on Sunday.

Bangladesh’s relations with the US are expected to be strained over a lack of political reform but economic ties will likely be unaffected, a global provider of credit intelligence said in a policy brief.

Unrest in OPEC+ member Kazakhstan has pushed up oil prices as investors fear supply interruptions, but the uranium market appears less affected despite the Central Asian country being the world’s second largest producer.

The European Union plans to legislate in the coming months to require technology companies to do more to tackle child sexual abuse, beefing up current voluntary arrangements,  said EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson. The official said 22 million offences were related to child sexual abuse in 2020, up from 17 million in 2019.