JAKARTA -- Indonesia posted an economic growth of negative 0.74 percent in the first quarter of this year, showed data from its central statistical agency Statistics Indonesia on Wednesday.

"The Indonesian economy is still contracting by 0.74 percent year-on-year," said the agency head Kecuk Suhariyanto. (Indonesia-Growth-Q1)

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WASHINGTON -- Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said on Tuesday that she's optimistic for a global agreement on corporate income taxation this year to fix the international tax system.

"Now, we face the two disastrous and very expensive crises of COVID and climate change. These urgent needs, combined with a renewed spirit of multilateralism, give us a unique opportunity to rethink and fix the international tax system," Georgieva said in remarks prepared for a virtual book launch. (IMF-Corporate tax)

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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. trade deficit widened by 5.6 percent to a record high of 74.4 billion U.S. dollars in March as the gain in imports outpaced exports, the U.S. Commerce Department reported on Tuesday.

U.S. exports rose by 6.6 percent to 200 billion dollars in March while imports increased by 6.3 percent to 274.5 billion dollars, according to the department. (U.S.-Trade deficit)

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HARARE -- Zimbabwe's central bank said Tuesday it expects annual inflation to further decline and reach a low of 55 percent by July 2021.

The bank was also satisfied with the disinflationary trend, as inflation had fallen from a peak of 837.53 percent in July last year to 194 percent last month, the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said in a statement. (Zimbabwe-RBZ-Inflation)

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