Briefly

IRAN

Teheran, Cairo to restore relations soon

An Iranian lawmaker said negotiations between Iran and Egypt are going on in Iraq and the two countries' relations will be restored in the near future. Fada Hossein Maleki, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, made the remarks in an interview with the Tasnim news agency, which was published on Sunday. The Iranian and Egyptian embassies in the two countries will be reopened in the next step, and a meeting will be arranged between Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi after that, he added.

ARGENTINA

Govt plans new rate hike as inflation soars

Argentina's government announced a package of measures to rein in soaring inflation and support the wobbly peso currency on Sunday, including rate adjustments, more interventions in the exchange market and expedited deals with creditors. The measures include an interest rate hike by the central bank, the economy ministry said in a statement. The ministry did not elaborate, but an official source told Reuters the hike would be 600 basis points, bringing the rate up to 97 percent. The rate hike was expected to take effect on Monday, the source added. The South American nation is battling to bring down inflation that hit 109 percent on an annual basis in April.

SLOVAKIA

Economist picked as caretaker prime minister

Economist Ludovit Odor was made Slovakia's interim prime minister on Monday and he will lead the country until early elections are held in September, after months of political infighting brought down the previous center-right government. Slovakia, a member of the European Union, has struggled with high inflation driven largely by the conflict in neighboring Ukraine, and political turmoil after the previous prime minister's cabinet lost a no-confidence vote in December. Odor, 46, is an economist who comes to the job straight from the board of the country's central bank.

Xinhua - Agencies