Russia plans to post a budget deficit in 2023 of 2% of gross domestic product (GDP), Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Friday, despite towering spending and slumping energy revenues contributing to a huge shortfall in January.

Shu Jueting, a ministry spokeswoman, said the two sides discussed trade and investment issues and exchanged views on the further expansion of cooperation in emerging areas.

In particular, the central and western regions are forecast to better receive foreign investment relocated from labor-intensive industries in coastal areas where labor costs have increased, they said.

The wind power and photovoltaic projects are located in Shenyang, Dalian, Dandong, Yingkou and Chaoyang cities.

Earnings at Rio Tinto and BHP Group are seen declining 48% and 28%, respectively, for the six months to December 2022, while Fortescue's half-year earnings are set to slide about 16%, based on estimates from Visible Alpha and Vuma Financial.

Mexican liquid steel production fell 1.6% to 18.2Mt and consumption 1.3% to 28.1Mt in 2022, affected by a weak construction sector and rising inflation, according to a report by iron and steel chamber Canacero.

A coal-fired power plant of the Thar Coal Block-I Coal Electricity Integration project under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was officially put into commercial operation on Sunday.

The first generating unit at the Hwange Thermal Power Station went on stream in November.