NATO holds Foreign Ministers meeting

• NATO is holding a two-day meeting of Foreign Ministers in Brussels started on Wednesday, with the Ukraine issue high on the agenda. Top diplomats of non-NATO members around Russia — Ukraine, Finland, Sweden, and Georgia, and their counterparts from NATO’s partners in Asia-Pacific — Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea, also joined the meeting.

• Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson yesterday accused the U.S. and its allies of building a “NATO replica in the Asia-Pacific,” responding to a question on the trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK, and the U.S., or AUKUS. On Tuesday, the White House announced that “Implementation of the AUKUS partnership has now begun,” right after the AUKUS leaders assessed the progress under the partnership.

Fed unveils detailed plans for monetary policy

• After raising the federal funds rates by 25 basis points (BSP) in last month’s meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) released the minutes of that meeting on Wednesday, hinting at bigger hikes in rates ahead and a reduction of balance sheet up to $95bn each month.

• According to the minutes, “many” officials preferred “one or more 50 basis point increases in the target range” at future meetings, and the attendees “generally agreed” on “monthly caps of about $60 billion for Treasury securities and about $35 billion for agency MBS [mortgage-backed securities].”

U.S. announces new sanctions on Russia

• The U.S. administration prohibited investment in Russia and sanctioned Russia’s largest financial institutions — Sberbank and Alfa-Bank, as well as individuals, including two adult daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in its latest actions to impose “severe and immediate costs” on Russia,

• At an event with a union crowd, U.S. President Joe Biden decried Russia for “major war crimes” in Bucha, a claim that the Kremlin denied.

Economic outlook remains strong for developing Asia

• The Asia Development Bank (ADB) released the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2022 on Wednesday, saying that Asia’s developing economies would grow by 5.2% in 2022 and 5.3% in 2023, compared with the 6.9% rebound last year.

• The organization foresaw that South Asia would outperform its developing peers in Asia with rapid growth at 7% this year while the Chinese economy would expand by a moderate 5%. The ADB mentioned several risks to the region, such as rising geopolitical uncertainty and surging commodity prices, but said Omicron only had limited impacts on the economy.