TOKYO: Japan’s central bank chief said on Friday the country will likely reach its key two-percent inflation target as oil rates surge, but the bank will continue monetary easing policies because the price rises are caused by external factors. 

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will seek an International Monetary Fund bailout, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said on Wednesday, to battle record inflation and unprecedented food and fuel shortages as the country runs out of dollars to finance imports.

WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve escalated its battle against the wave of price increases battering the US economy, raising the benchmark interest rate on Wednesday even as it acknowledged the risks posed by the war in Ukraine.

MOSCOW: The Moscow stock exchange ended 2021 in fine form: a record number of companies were listing their shares, foreign money was flowing in and ordinary Russians were keen on investing.

PARIS: France’s TotalEnergies said yesterday that it would not seek financial compensation for its withdrawal from Myanmar over concerns about human rights abuses since a coup last year.

TARANTO, Italy: The Mediterranean’s first offshore wind farm is rising from the shallows off Italy, its turbines a symbol of hope for a Europe suffering an energy crisis exacerbated by war.

KUWAIT: Polestar, the Swedish premium electric performance brand, confirms its arrival in Kuwait with the Polestar 2.

MOSCOW: Russia is due to make an interest payment on its foreign debt yesterday as sanctions over the Ukraine conflict have raised concerns that Moscow could default. 

SHENZHEN: Its factories tool the world with mobile phones, while some of China’s best tech brains go there to churn out apps and games-but Shenzhen is now in lockdown as the coronavirus inflicts economic pain on the country and rattles markets.