INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

Papademos’ government also promised that it will not have to enact any further austerity cuts.

Spain and France struggled with government bond auctions on Thursday, throwing into sharp relief the threat of larger euro zone economies succumbing to the debt crisis that began in Greece and is already lapping at Italy's shores.

Ghana will seek to boost revenues from its mining industry next year by hiking taxes, according to a text of the 2012 budget delivered to parliament on Wednesday.

The Paris Club of creditor nations said members agreed on Tuesday to reduce the Ivory Coast's foreign debt burden and said reforms underway should lead to further relief.

A budget crunch in Swaziland, Africa's last absolute monarchy, has reached a critical stage with the government struggling to maintain spending on HIV/AIDS, education and the elderly, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.

The economically insecure country of Portugal is seeking investment from its former colony, Angola.

Ghana will increase its corporate tax rate for mining companies to 35 percent from 25 percent, and will collect a 10 percent windfall profit tax from miners, according to a text of the 2012 budget delivered to parliament on Wednesday.

Volatility in government bond markets is likely to continue unless European countries take steps to shield their financial systems, Canada's finance minister said as he expressed frustration with Europe's two-year old debt crisis.

What do the International Monetary Fund, Louis Vuitton and Unilever have in common?

The Kenyan shilling reversed early gains to close weaker against the dollar for the second straight session on Tuesday, hurt by telecom sector demand for dollars, while stocks extended losses to a fifth day.

A sharp slowdown in world growth would increase the risk of recession in poorer countries, whose budgets have barely recovered from the last economic slump just two years ago, the IMF said on Monday.

Local governments in China had lent an astounding 10.7 trillion Yuan by of year-end 2010 – or about 27 percent of GDP for that year.

Lucas Papademos has insisted that remaining in the Eurozone is our only choice.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that Europe could be living through its toughest hour since World War Two as new leaders in Italy and Greece rushed to form governments and limit the damage from the euro zone debt crisis.

President Barack Obama and China's Hu Jintao will pitch differing trade agendas on Saturday as an antidote to weak global growth, as they try to sidestep the European debt crisis looming over an Asia-Pacific summit.

Diplomatic deadlock is curbing China's will to provide cash to help end the euro zone crisis after Europe spurned the simplest of Beijing's three key demands, two independent sources have told Reuters.

Bollore plans to invest 18 billion CFA francs in Abidjan port by 2013 to make it the region's key sea hub, the French logistics and transport group's Africa chief said.

Nigeria plans to change the base year for its gross domestic product (GDP) to 2008 from 1990, a move that could lead to a huge jump in the estimated size of Africa's second biggest economy, the national statistics chief said on Thursday.

The new interim government will be sworn in at 12:00 London time on Friday.

The head of the International Monetary Fund called on Thursday for political clarity in efforts to tackle the debt crisis that has gripped Italy, saying uncertainty around who would succeed Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was fuelling market volatility.

Political and economic crisis in Italy spurred fears of a split in the Eurozone with borrowing costs for Europe's third biggest economy at unsustainable levels and the bloc unable to afford a bailout.