China’s State Council on Tuesday released guidelines to support the country’s trade sector.

China will push for the comprehensive restoration of domestic exhibitions and strengthen its support for Chinese companies participating in overseas exhibitions.

China will further smooth visa issuance for overseas business people and increase inbound and outbound flights.

The government will step up financial support for small and micro trade firms.

The Ministry of Commerce will also adjust and improve relevant policies to help companies stabilise orders and explore markets, according to the statement from the State Council.

India is to surpass China and be the most populous country by the end of April, the UN said on Monday.

India’s population is expected to reach 1.425 billion, with projections indicating further growth for several decades more.

China’s population reached it peak size of 1.4 billion in 2022 and has begun to decline, according to the UN.

China and India’s collective populations make up more than one third of the world’s eight billion citizens.

EU countries on Wednesday passed a new law to use more sustainable fuels to cut aviation emissions.

The new rules will help decarbonise the aviation sector by requiring fuel suppliers to blend sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) with kerosene in increasing amounts from 2025.

The measure is projected to reduce aircraft CO2emissions by around two-thirds by 2050. 

 

Inflation in Australia eased in the first three months of 2023, official data showed on Wednesday.

The consumer price index (CPI) for the first quarter of 2023 rose 7% from the same period last year, the lowest increase since the end of 2021, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

 

The US will seek a healthy economic relationship and cooperation on global issues with China, said the US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen.

In a speech at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Yellen said both China and the US can benefit from healthy competition in the economic sphere.

“We do not seek to ‘decouple’ our economy from China’s. A full separation of our economies would be disastrous for both countries,” said Yellen in her speech.

Tackling global issues will advance the national interests of both countries, said Yellen.

Sri Lanka seeks to reduce its debt by $17 billion through a restructuring programme proposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Sri Lanka’s President on Wednesday urged opposition parties to approve the four-year IMF restructuring programme, under which the IMF will provide $3 billion in stages.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe said the country would discuss debt restructuring with India and the Paris Club of creditors on one platform and with China separately.

The World Bank issued a new frame for energy transition in developing countries on Thursday.

The framework-Scaling Up to Phase Down is a roadmap to identify financing challenges and develop a comprehensive financing approach.

“Accelerating the energy transition toward lower carbon sources while providing reliable access to electricity for businesses and people will require verifiable emission reduction financing, close partnership with the private sector, and significantly higher funding, especially concessional resources,” said World Bank Group President David Malpass.

World Bank Group estimates that low- and middle-income countries host 89 percent of the approximately $1 trillion in global coal-fired power generation at risk of being stranded. To fund a just power transition will require much higher capital flows than are being mobilized today in order to meet the growth needed in lower carbon electricity production.