Capital requirements proposed by the Swiss government for UBS could have a sustained drag on Switzerland's economy, a study commissioned by the bank found, as a showdown over banking regulation intensifies.

Switzerland is tightening banking rules to bolster financial stability after Credit Suisse collapsed in 2023 and was taken over by UBS in a state-engineered rescue.

A government proposal requiring the banking giant to fully back its foreign units with Common Equity Tier 1 capital could reduce Switzerland's annual gross domestic product by 1.3% to 3.9% over 10 years, consultancy BAK Economics said in the report.

The balance sheet of euro zone banks does not yet reflect elevated geopolitical tensions as it could take time - possibly years - for loan quality to deteriorate, European Central Bank supervisor Claudia Buch said on Friday.

Lenders have been under stress as tariffs, war in the Middle East and shifting global alliances upend global supply chains, raise inflation and dent profits.

"We haven't seen the full effect ... of these tensions, of the geopolitical risk on banks' balance sheet," Buch told a forum at the Institute of International Finance. "We need to be very, very vigilant."

The Italian economy posted modest growth in the first quarter, supported by the Winter Olympics in February which drew a major influx of tourists, the country's central bank said on Friday.

"There are indications gross domestic product continued to grow at a moderate pace in the first quarter, sustained by activity in services, particularly those aimed at firms," the Bank of Italy said in its quarterly economic bulletin.

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda steered clear of signalling a rate hike was on the cards this month, instead highlighting the country's low real interest rates and robust corporate profits, heightening the chance it will hold fire at least until June.
Japan is facing rising inflation from a "negative supply shock," which is more difficult to rein in with monetary policy than inflation driven by strong demand, Ueda said.

China said on Saturday it is willing to advance negotiations on upgrading the China-Switzerland free trade agreement.

A high-standard free trade agreement will inject new momentum into trade, investment and innovation cooperation between the two countries, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement during a bilateral trade meeting in Bern.

The International Monetary Fund will likely provide Venezuela with a financial support program as part of its re-engagement with the South American oil exporter provided that certain conditions can be met, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday.

Georgieva told a press conference in Washington that Venezuela faces "a very tough road" to restore macroeconomic and financial stability.

China's economic growth rebounded more than expected in the first quarter of 2026, suggesting limited immediate spillovers from the Iran war while giving policymakers more room to delay additional stimulus.
Gross domestic product (GDP) in the world's second-largest economy expanded 5.0% year-on-year in January-March, the fastest pace in three quarters, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday, reported Bloomberg.

The International Monetary Fund sharply reduced its 2026 growth forecast for the West Asia and North Africa to 1.1% on Tuesday (April 14, 2026) as war chokes Gulf oil and gas exports.

Iran, Iraq and Qatar will be particularly hard-hit, the IMF’s World Economic Outlook warned, as it revised down its January prediction of 3.9% regional growth this year.

The war in the Middle East is likely to widen economic differences across Latin America and the Caribbean, giving some short-term support to oil exporters while worsening the outlook for tourism-reliant Caribbean economies and energy-importing countries in Central America, the IMF said on Friday.

The warning, issued in a blog post, follows the release earlier this week of the global lender's updated World Economic Outlook, which projected that the Latin America and Caribbean region would grow 2.3% in 2026, little changed from 2.4% in 2025, before picking up to 2.7% in 2027. Brazil, the region's largest economy, is forecast to grow 1.9% this year, while Mexico is expected to expand by 1.6%.

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda steered clear of signalling a rate hike was on the cards this month, instead highlighting the country's low real interest rates and robust corporate profits, heightening the chance it will hold fire at least until June.

Japan is facing rising inflation from a "negative supply shock," which is more difficult to rein in with monetary policy than inflation driven by strong demand, Ueda said.

Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said on Thursday that the oil price shock due to the Iran war will take a toll on the German economy but is unlikely to trigger a recession.

"A great deal would have to happen for us to enter a recession now," Nagel said in Washington, on a panel with Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund spring meetings.

The World Bank Group said on Thursday it is working on a guarantee of up to $2 billion to help refinance “a relevant portion of Argentina’s debt.”

The operation is subject to approval by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors, the bank said.

China's economy accelerated in the first quarter of this year, expanding 5% from a year earlier as it largely shrugged off impacts from the Iran war so far, according to data released Thursday.

The January-March data released by the government, covering a period during which the Iran war began, was better than what economists expected and was up from the 4.5% growth seen in the October-December quarter.

US factory production unexpectedly fell in March after two straight months of solid gains, weighed down by decreases in the output of motor vehicles and a range of other goods.

Manufacturing output dipped 0.1% last month after an upwardly revised 0.4% increase in February, the Federal Reserve said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast production at factories would gain 0.1% after a previously reported 0.2% rise in February.

The Bank of England was "not going to rush to judgements" on interest rate rises, Governor Andrew Bailey told BBC News, as global central banks contend with an energy price shock driven by the Iran war.

Bailey, in Washington for the International Monetary Fund's spring meetings, said higher oil and gas prices would certainly feed through to prices, but that other factors made a decision on rates "very, very difficult", according to the report.

The UK economy saw its biggest monthly rise in February in more than two years, official figures show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy grew by a faster-than-expected 0.5%, while it revised its estimate for January up to 0.1% after previously saying the start of the year had seen no growth.

The figures cover a period before the outbreak of the US-Israeli war with Iran on 28 February, which has caused a major energy shock and experts warn risks a global recession if it is prolonged.

China's industrial output rose 5.7% in March from a year earlier, slowing from 6.3% growth in January-February, as the fallout from the Iran war dampened momentum in the world's second-largest economy.

The output data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) beat expectations for a 5.5% rise in a Reuters poll of 36 analysts.

Retail sales, a gauge of consumption, grew 1.7% in March, down from the 2.8% growth in January-February. Analysts had forecast a 2.3% rise.

Japan's financial regulator sees private credit as a potential key pillar of its new strategy to meet rising corporate funding demand driven by a surge in M&A activity, a senior official told Reuters, despite turbulence in overseas private credit markets.

The move reflects a shift in Japanese corporate behaviour, with rising inflation prompting firms to invest cash piles they have been sitting on for long, a trend analysts say could accelerate as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi prioritises investment-led growth.

South Korea's import prices rose in March at the sharpest pace in more than three years on a surge in oil prices sparked by the Middle East conflict, central bank data showed on Wednesday.

The Bank of Korea's import price index rose 18.4% in March from a year earlier in won terms, after rising 1.6% in February. It was the biggest year-on-year increase since October 2022.

Global oil demand will decline this year for the first time since the 2020 pandemic as a price surge caused by West Asia conflict wipes out growth, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.

"The Iran war has thoroughly upended the global outlook for oil consumption," the adviser to major economies said in its monthly report. "Demand destruction will spread as scarcity and higher prices persist."