Pakistan has made arrangements to repay $4.8 billion in external obligations by June, including $3.5 billion payable to the United Arab Emirates through three different facilities, according to a local media report.

The development comes after Islamabad decided to return $2 billion to Abu Dhabi by the end of the current month. The amount had been placed with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) as a deposit, on which the country has been paying around 6 per cent interest.

The war in the Middle East will lead to higher inflation and slower global growth, the head of the International Monetary Fund told Reuters on Monday, ahead of a forecast for the world economy planned by the global lender for next week.

The war has triggered the worst-ever disruption in global energy supply, with millions of barrels of oil production shuttered due to Iran's effective blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, crucial for shipping one-fifth of the world's oil and gas.

U.S. services sector growth slowed in March, while prices paid by businesses for inputs increased by the most in more than 13 years, an early indication that the prolonged war with Iran was boosting inflation pressures.

The Institute for Supply Management survey on Monday also showed services employment dropping to the lowest level since the end of 2023, which probably understates the health of the labor market as government data last Friday showed a sharp rebound in job growth.

Cleveland Federal Reserve President Beth Hammack and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee both see inflation as a far bigger problem than employment, underscoring their support for tighter rather than looser monetary policy as the Iran war puts upward pressure on energy prices and the job market remains stuck in low gear.

The pair were asked at a joint interview by The Indicator from Planet Money podcast to provide their economic assessments using a four-color scheme, from "the house is on fire" red to "everything is looking swell" green.

Canada's services economy contracted for a fifth straight month in March as uncertainty related to the war in the Middle East contributed to a decline in new business and after higher fuel costs raised operating expenses, S&P Global's Canada services PMI data showed on Monday.

The headline Business Activity Index rose to 47.2 last month from 46.5 in February. That marked the index's highest reading in five months but it remained below the 50 no-change mark - a reading below 50 shows deterioration in activity.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned on Monday that the war in Iran risks oil and commodity price shocks that could keep inflation sticky and push interest rates higher than the market now expects.

The warning came in an annual letter to shareholders a day after U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheted up pressure on Iran, threatening to target its power plants and bridges on Tuesday if it does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway.

Factories across the world faced soaring input costs and supply chain disruptions in March due to the Iran war as underlying tepid demand threatened to undermine the manufacturing sector's fragile recovery, surveys showed.

The conflict has disrupted global logistics networks, causing delivery delays, pushing up input price inflation and distorting headline growth measures.

The Bank of Japan said surging oil costs and supply disruptions brought about by the Middle East conflict could hurt the economy, signalling caution over downside risks to growth that may prod it to tread cautiously in raising interest rates.

The assessment, made in a report based on findings from the bank's regional branches, contrasted with the board's hawkish debate focusing on inflationary risks from the war, highlighting uncertainty on whether the BOJ could raise rates this month.

In the quarterly report, the BOJ said several regions saw firms already feeling the strain from rising input costs and disruptions in raw material supplies caused by the Iran war.

Saudi Arabia's non-oil private sector activity contracted in March for the first time since August 2020, as the war in the Middle East snarled up supply chains, a business survey showed on Sunday.

The seasonally adjusted Riyad Bank Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global, tumbled to 48.8 in March from 56.1 in February. Readings below 50 denote contracting activity.

Naif Al-Ghaith, Riyad Bank's chief economist, said the drop into contraction territory was largely a reflection of short-term uncertainty linked to the geopolitical tensions in the region.

Vietnam's economy slowed in the first quarter from the three months prior, data showed on Saturday, as heavy exposure to Middle Eastern oil imports boosted inflation, presenting a challenge in reaching an annual growth target, authorities said.

Gross domestic product grew 7.83% in the quarter from January to March over the corresponding period a year earlier, but below 8.46% in the fourth quarter, the National Statistics Office said in a report.

"The pressure from rising input costs and energy prices on inflation remains, posing challenges for economic governance," the NSO added on Saturday.

Consumer prices rose 4.65% in March on the year, driven by a surge of 10.81% in transport costs, it said, accelerating from a rise of 3.35% in February.

Vietnam's economy slowed in the first quarter from the three months prior, data showed on Saturday, as heavy exposure to Middle Eastern oil imports boosted inflation, presenting a challenge in reaching an annual growth target, authorities said.

Gross domestic product grew 7.83% in the quarter from January to March over the corresponding period a year earlier, but below 8.46% in the fourth quarter, the National Statistics Office said in a report.

"The pressure from rising input costs and energy prices on inflation remains, posing challenges for economic governance," the NSO added on Saturday.

U.S. employment growth snapped back in March after a hefty decline in February, and the jobless rate declined unexpectedly to 4.3%, but economists found the headline highlights were countered by a number of less-than-glowing details.

Here are three highs and lows from the report.

Highs:

1) JOB GAINS LARGEST SINCE DECEMBER 2024

A big plus was that employment growth was fairly broad-based.

The Italian economy will grow by 0.6% this year and 0.5% in 2027, the country's central bank said in a report on Friday, cutting its previous estimates while also hiking forecasts for the inflation rate.

The Bank of Italy's new forecasting scenario takes into account the radical deterioration of the international outlook due to the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and the resulting "exceptionally high uncertainty", the report said.

Both the 2026 and 2027 GDP forecasts are below the growth targets set by the government in September, which were 0.7% and 0.8% respectively.

Factories across the world faced soaring input costs and supply chain disruptions in March due to the Iran war as underlying tepid demand threatened to undermine the manufacturing sector's fragile recovery, surveys showed.

The conflict has disrupted global logistics networks, causing delivery delays, pushing up input price inflation and distorting headline growth measures.

Higher oil and energy prices led manufacturers to react and raise selling prices.

The International Monetary Fund urged the Bank of Japan to continue raising interest rates, even as the Middle East war posed "significant new risks" to the country's economic outlook.

The proposal comes amid market expectations the BOJ will raise interest rates as soon as April in the face of mounting inflationary pressure from the conflict-induced spike in oil prices, and higher import costs blamed on the weak yen.

While growth is expected to moderate, due partly to the Iran war, gradual wage gains will underpin consumption, the IMF said in a statement issued from Washington on Friday after the conclusion of its policy consultation with Japan.

US job growth rebounded sharply in March — as a strike by healthcare workers ended and temperatures warmed up — with nonfarm payrolls increasing by 178,000 and the unemployment rate falling to 4.3%. But the underlying data reveals systemic issues that may trigger a sharp downturn as early as April. Against this backdrop, a recent assessment by US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has gone viral.

“Effectively, there’s zero net job creation in the private sector. But actually, that looks like that’s about what the economy needs in terms of dealing with very, very low…non-existent, really…growth in the labour force.

Pakistan will repay a $2 billion loan to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by the end of this month, a media report said on Friday.

“The UAE recently asked for the immediate return of the funds in the wake of the recent situation in the Middle East following the US-Israel war on Iran,” sources told Geo News, as quoted by PTI.

The loan had been provided to support Pakistan's balance of payment, and the amount was kept with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) as a safe deposit. Insiders said Pakistan has been paying around 6 per cent interest on the amount.

Japan's services sector grew ?at ?its weakest pace in ?three months in March, a private survey showed on Friday, ?as rising uncertainty over the Middle East war crushed business confidence to its ?lowest level since the pandemic.

Here ?are the key details:

• The S&P Global final Japan Services Purchasing Managers' ?Index (PMI) ?fell to 53.4 in March from a 21-month high of 53.8 ?in February, but topped the flash reading of 52.8 and marked the 12th month of expansion. Readings above 50.0 indicate growth in activity, while those below point ?to a contraction.

South Korea's inflation picked up less than expected in March as the government capped fuel prices, but policymakers and economists warned that risks remain tilted to the upside with oil prices surging past $100 a barrel driven by the Iran war.

Asia's fourth-largest economy, which is also the world's fourth-largest importer of oil, introduced last month nationwide fuel prices caps for the first time in nearly 30 years.

The consumer price index rose 2.2% in March from a year earlier, higher than the 2.0% rise in February but lower than a median 2.4% increase forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.

Japan's economy may face supply shocks and ?slumping ?demand from the Iran war, a risk ?the central bank may be overlooking by focusing on inflationary pressures, former central bank official ?Nobuyasu Atago said on Thursday.

A slew of recent hawkish communication from the Bank of Japan has led markets to bet on roughly a 70% chance ?of a rate hike in April, as ?soaring oil costs from the Middle East conflict and higher import costs from a weak yen heighten price pressures.