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Golden Ten Data reported on March 13 that Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry stated that Japan will sell oil from its national reserves at price levels before the outbreak of the Middle East war. This week, Japan announced it would release about 80 million barrels of oil from national and private reserves, possibly starting as early as next week. Minister Akazawa Ryo Masa said on Friday that these crude oils will be sold based on the official sales price levels of Middle Eastern producers prior to the conflict. At a press conference held in Tokyo, Akazawa Ryo Masa stated that the government "hopes that refiners who purchase low-priced crude oil will not subsequently sell products at high prices for personal gain." He added: "The state will maintain communication with refiners to ensure that the release of national reserves is conducted in a manner considered reasonable and convincing by the public." Akazawa Ryo Masa also left open the possibility that if domestic demand is not strong enough, the remaining oil products made from reserve crude oil could be shipped overseas. He stated: "This measure does not prohibit exports."

Foresight News reports that the Zcash-based mobile wallet Zodl has announced on Twitter that its version 3.1.0 is now available on iOS and Android platforms. This update brings multiple improvements to Swaps and CrossPay, as well as user experience enhancements and bug fixes. These include better handling of incomplete deposits, clearer swap/payment status information, and slippage warnings; the default slippage has been updated to 2% to speed up swap transaction execution; and the experience of swapping to ZEC deposits has also been improved.

Golden Ten Data reported on March 13 that Romania's inflation slowdown is in line with expectations, but the surge in global energy prices threatens this trend and may hinder the central bank from easing monetary policy in the short term. The statistics bureau stated on Friday that the Consumer Price Index rose 9.3% year-on-year in February, lower than last month's 9.6%. This figure matches the median estimate from the survey. Month-on-month, prices increased by 0.6% compared to the previous month. Due to financial market turmoil and soaring inflation, the Romanian central bank has kept its benchmark interest rate at 6.5% (the highest level within the European Union) for more than a year and a half as an economic pillar. As the country's economy has now fallen into recession and the surge in oil prices signals further increases in fuel costs, the prospects for a potential rate cut have become even more uncertain.