The soaring cost of cars and utilities as well as a strong currency have made Singapore the world's most expensive city, toppling Tokyo from the top spot, according to a survey Tuesday.

Tokyo's weakening yen saw it slide to sixth place, the position previously occupied by Singapore, in the 2014 Worldwide Cost of Living survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Italy's economy shrank by 1.9 percent in 2013 but its public deficit stayed within the European Union's limit of 3.0 percent of GDP in mixed news for the country's new government, official figures showed Monday.

The contraction -- which followed a shrinkage of 2.5 percent in 2012 -- was slightly more than the government's forecast of 1.8 percent, the National Statistics Institute (ISTAT) said.

Russia's central bank on Monday raised its main interest rate to 7.0 percent from 5.50 percent in a surprise move that came as concerns mounted over the consequences of intervention in Ukraine for the Russian economy.

The Bank Rossii (Bank of Russia) said the hike would take effect from 0700 GMT Monday and implied the decision was aimed at limiting the knock-on economic effects of the Ukraine crisis.

Indonesia swung to a trade deficit in January as a controversial government ban on mineral ore shipments by Southeast Asia's biggest economy crimped overall exports, data showed Monday.

The January deficit of $431 million compared to a $1.5 billion surplus in December, the official Statistics Agency said.

The finance ministers of the world's top industrialized countries promised a firm aid package to Ukraine on Sunday, while calling for reform and a central role by the International Monetary Fund.

Earlier, leaders of the countries symbolically billed themselves as the "G7," saying Russia's actions were incompatible with the Group of Eight Nations, which Moscow joined in 1997, and withdrew from preparations for June's G8 summit in Sochi.

Ukraine owes Russian gas giant Gazprom a "huge" debt of $1.55 bn for unpaid gas and may not be able to keep the discount it currently enjoys for Russian gas imports, the firm said on Saturday.

"We have good relations with Ukraine, the transit is working, but they just need to pay for the gas. The debt is $1.549 billion, it is huge," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told the RIA Novosti news agency.

China's manufacturing growth fell to an eight-month low in February, government figures showed on Saturday, reflecting further weakening in the world's second-largest economy but also the effect of a major holiday.

The purchasing managers' index (PMI) tumbled to 50.2, the National Bureau of Statistics reported on its website, in the third straight drop from 50.5 in January, 51.0 in December and 51.4 in November.

Russia is ready to help Ukraine as it seeks to stave off economic collapse, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday after talking with his Russian counterpart.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated during a Friday phone call "that they are prepared to be engaged and be involved in helping to deal with the economic transition that needs to take place at this point," Kerry told reporters.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde urged calm over Ukraine's economic situation on Friday after the country asked for at least $15 billion in financial aid.

"We do not see anything that is critical, that is worthy of panic at the moment," Lagarde said after talks in Washington on Ukraine with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Crisis-hit Ukraine's central bank on Friday announced it was imposing a limit of around a 1,000 euros on daily bank withdrawals as the national currency plunges to record lows.

The bank said it was slapping a limit of 15,000 on withdrawals (1,095 euros, 1,400 dollars). The hryvna has plunged nearly 20 percent to record lows since the start of the year as tensions soared between the new pro-West government in Kiev and old master Moscow following the ousting of the country's pro-Russia president.