Russia's economy chief said on Friday that the country had survived the worst of its sharp growth slowdown and was on the path toward cautious expansion in the coming year.

Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said he thought Russia's $1.1-trillion economy had suffered its most dire phase in the fall of 2013 and that agriculture and industry were now both picking up steam.

Eurozone inflation fell to 0.7 percent in January from 0.8 percent in December, official data showed on Thursday amid concerns that falling prices could undermine growth.

A flash estimate from the Eurostat statistics office showed year-on-year inflation in the 18-nation eurozone dropping from 2.0 percent in January 2013 after falling steadily in recent months.

Spanish banking group BBVA, one of the nation's largest, announced Friday a 33-percent leap in net profit for 2013 despite suffering losses in the final quarter.

BBVA said net profit for the whole of 2013 climbed 32.9 percent year-over-year to 2.23 billion euros ($3 billion), as it joined a recovery in the top ranks of the Spanish banking sector.

Google is finally ready to split its stock for the first time, more than three years after co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin began discussing a move engineered to ensure they remain in control of the Internet's most powerful company.

The split is scheduled to occur April 2. It had been delayed because of staunch resistance from other Google Inc. shareholders, who feared the maneuver would unfairly benefit Page and Brin at the expense of just about everyone else.

Tunisia's economy minister has announced that the International Monetary fund has released half a billion dollars in delayed funding following the formation of the country's new interim government.

Hakim Ben Hammouda told the state news agency that the IMF had agreed late Wednesday to release $507 million dollars that had originally been promised in September.

Facebook said Wednesday that profit soared in 2013 on the back of sizzling mobile ad revenue as the social network's membership swelled.

The world's biggest social network reported that profit in the fourth quarter jumped eightfold from a year earlier to $523 million, raising its net income for the year to $1.5 billion.

Germany's unemployment rate was steady in January, as the labor market continues to hold up thanks to the improving economic outlook, official data showed on Thursday.

The number of people registered as unemployed in Europe's top economy fell by 28,0000 in seasonally adjusted terms this month, the Federal Labor Office said in a statement.

The dollar made up a little of its lost ground in Asian trade Thursday afternoon after falling when the U.S. central bank said it would continue to scale back its bond-buying program.

The greenback firmed to 102.40 yen, compared with 102.25 yen in New York Wednesday afternoon and against 103.25 yen in Asia on Wednesday, before the Fed announcement.

Consumer confidence in Germany rose again at the start of the new year, auguring well for Europe's top economy as it goes into 2014, a new poll found on Wednesday.

"German consumer sentiment has started the new year 2014 full of zest," market research company GfK said in a statement.

Lending to businesses in the debt-mired eurozone contracted sharply in December, data published by the European Central Bank showed on Wednesday.

Private sector loans dropped by 2.3 percent in December in a year-on-year comparison, the ECB said, after already contracting by the same amount in November.