News in Brief
World Bank to give Lebanon additional $300m
AP – The World Bank will dispatch $300 million in additional financing for the most vulnerable families in Lebanon.
The package will expand and extend cash transfers to 160,000 households for 24 months and support the development of a “unified social safety net delivery system in Lebanon, the Washington-based lender said in a statement.
Oil prices up
REUTERS – Oil prices ticked up on Friday as the market weighed conflicting messages on supply from Russia and Saudi Arabia ahead of the next OPEC+ policy meeting.
Brent crude was up 77 cents, or 1%, at $77.03 a barrel at 1342 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose 96 cents, or 1.3%, to $72.79 a barrel.
Benchmarks had settled more than $2 per barrel lower on Thursday after Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak played down the prospect of further OPEC+ production cuts at its meeting in Vienna on June 4.
US inflation surges
CNBC – Inflation stayed stubbornly high in April, potentially reinforcing the chances that interest rates could stay higher for longer, according to a gauge released Friday that the Federal Reserve follows closely.
The personal consumption expenditures price index, which measures a variety of goods and services and adjusts for changes in consumer behavior, rose 0.4% for the month excluding food and energy costs, higher than the 0.3% Dow Jones estimate.
On an annual basis, the gauge increased 4.7%, 0.1 percentage point higher than expected, the Commerce Department reported.