Baoding, a Chinese city about 90 miles south of Beijing with a population of ten million, suspended several bus line services due to the financial crisis of municipal governments in the wake of three years of pandemic control under the communist party’s Zero-COVID policy. In a question-and-answer section of local bus services, the authorities responded…

WASHINGTON—Sales of U.S. military equipment to foreign governments rose 49 percent to $205.6 billion in the latest fiscal year, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday. Sales approved in the year included $13.9 billion worth of F-15ID fighter jets to Indonesia, $6.9 billion worth of Multi-Mission Surface Combatant ships to Greece, and $6 billion worth…

TOKYO—Japan raised its estimates for long-term interest rates over the coming few years in government’s twice-yearly fiscal projections issued on Tuesday, following the central bank’s decision last month to allow 10-year bond yields to move more widely. Higher rates will test the government’s ability to service the industrial world’s heaviest debt burden at more than…

TOKYO—Japan’s finances are becoming increasingly precarious, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki warned on Monday, just as markets test whether the central bank can keep interest rates ultra-low, allowing the government to service its debt. The government has been helped by near-zero bond yields, but bond investors have recently sought to break the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ)…

A huge opioid settlement dragged Walgreens to a $3.7 billion loss for the first quarter, but the drugstore chain still beat Wall Street forecasts. The company also reaffirmed its earnings forecast for the new year. Walgreens said Thursday that it recorded a $5.2 billion, after-tax charge in the quarter that ended Nov. 30 for opioid-related…

New UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to restore economic stability in a way that is “fair and compassionate” and protects the most vulnerable people in society. At the Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons on Oct. 26, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the “Tories have crashed the economy” and argued…

BEIJING—By any account, $1 trillion seems huge. That’s the scale of budget shortfalls facing Chinese provinces, reducing their fiscal firepower to fund infrastructure spending and tax cuts, and raising risks for the world’s second-biggest economy in 2023. The timing couldn’t be worse for policymakers in Beijing, as the economy wobbles under the weight of global…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned of a global fiscal crisis that only underscores the need by developed countries to assist poorer nations with more “orderly debt restructuring.” Many of these countries are experiencing rising level of debt and mounting fiscal pressures that may lead to major social unrest among their poorest citizens, according to Vitor…

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng have said they value the scrutiny from an independent fiscal watchdog, after their plan to fund massive tax cuts with government borrowing rattled investors and led to turmoil in the financial markets. At an unusual meeting held in Downing Street on Friday, Truss and Kwarteng told…

Commentary The COVID-19 lockdown was ordered by Gov. Newsom on March 4, 2020. Seeing South Coast Plaza’s parking lot empty during the middle of the day was an eerie experience. Losing sales tax revenue certainly impacted Costa Mesa. Having the Angels play without fans in the seats, a convention center not hosting conventioneers or Disneyland…