ECB announces €750 billion Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP)

Brent was down 43 cents at $61.85 a barrel , WTI slipped 22 cents to $56.55 a barrel.

The World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD, Aaa/AAA) today priced a new USD 2 billion 10-year global benchmark bond maturing October 23, 2029.

The World Bank has rapidly scaled up its support to Uzbekistan since the start of the country’s social and economic transformation in 2017. The World Bank program in Uzbekistan is among its largest in the Europe and Central Asia region, with 22 projects totaling $4.08 billion. The program is focusing on economic and institutional reforms, agriculture, health, education, water supply and sanitation, energy, transport, social protection system, and urban development.

At its last board meeting in June, the central bank considered holding the key rate and cutting it by 50 basis points but eventually trimmed it by 25 basis points to 7.50%, Nabiullina said. “Other things being equal, we are trying to move in moderate steps for the economy to adapt to our new decisions,” she said in an interview with Reuters cleared for publication on Wednesday.

Sberbank, EuroChem Group AG and SUEK JSC announced a strategic co-operation agreement signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Oilfield services provider Weatherford International Plc, burdened by a heavy debt load and years of losses, said on Friday it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Qatar will launch an energy-focused Islamic lender later this year with a targeted capital of $10 billion to finance both domestic and global projects, an executive said

EQUINOR - Equinor has signed an agreement to acquire Chevron’s 40% operated interest in the Rosebank project, one of the largest undeveloped fields on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).

BANK OF RUSSIA - On 27 July 2018, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors decided to keep the key rate at 7.25% per annum. Though annual inflation remains below the target, it is tending to return to 4%. The Bank of Russia forecasts that consumer prices will grow by 3.5–4% year-on-year at the end of 2018 and annual inflation will temporarily overshoot 4% in 2019 due to the planned increase of the value added tax. The annual consumer price growth rate will return to 4% in early 2020.