Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras says six years of recession that have plunged Greece into its deepest crisis in many decades will end next year and the country will reach pre-crisis, and probably higher, levels of prosperity by 2020.

Opening up the annual international trade fair in Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, Samaras said Saturday the bulk of the effort to get the country out of the crisis has been done and that revenue will exceed spending in 2013, excluding debt repayment.

Argentina has urged a U.S. appeals court to reconsider an order for the country to pay in full holders of $1.47 billion in defaulted debt.

In a petition filed Friday, Argentina pointed to "grave legal errors" in last month's 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that ordered Buenos Aires to pay the money to two hedge funds that refused to participate in two debt restructurings.

There's never a good time to change the head of the U.S. central bank, according to Ethan Harris, who wrote "Ben Bernanke's Fed" about the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

But it's even more the case currently as Bernanke appears poised to depart in January, even though the U.S. economy remains weakened by the financial crisis that erupted five years ago.

Cypriot MPs early Friday finally approved two bills on restructuring the banking sector after first rejecting them and endangering the next tranche of the country's 10-billion-euro ($13.1-billion) bailout.

During a marathon session on Thursday, parliament passed all of the other 12 bills required by the European Union and International Monetary Fund needed for a green light to be given at a September 13 Eurogroup meeting for the island's second tranche of 1.5 billion euros to be released.

Oil prices were flat in Asian trade Friday as investors tracked developments surrounding a looming military strike against Syria and awaited the release of U.S. jobs data, analysts said.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in October, was up two cents to $108.39 in afternoon trade, while Brent North Sea crude for October added one cent to $115.27.

Germany's trade surplus narrowed in July as exports weakened, data published by the federal statistics office Destatis showed on Friday.

In seasonally adjusted terms, Germany exported goods worth 90.3 billion euros ($118.6 billion) in July, down from 91.2 billion euros in June, Destatis calculated in a statement.

Hong Kong's de-facto central bank warned Friday that the city must not "sit on its laurels" if it wants to remain a global financial center after plans for China's first free trade zone were revealed.

Draft proposals for the free trade zone (FTZ) in Shanghai, seen by Agence France Presse, showed that the zone goes beyond greater liberalization of trade to take in investment and financial services -- including free currency convertibility.

The Turkish lira fell to another record low level against the dollar on Thursday, and the government said it would revise down its forecast for growth this year.

The lira fell to 2.0800 to the dollar in morning trading, from 2.0580 at Wednesday's close.

The International Monetary Fund warned the Group of 20 Wednesday that emerging economies were slowing more than expected and under pressure from U.S. plans to slow its stimulus.

In a report prepared for the two-day summit of the G20 major economies that opens Thursday in St. Petersburg, Russia, the IMF said that recent indicators pointed to stronger growth in several advanced countries, but key emerging economies have slowed.

The European Central Bank will face a dilemma at its policy meeting on Thursday as the nascent recovery in the crisis-stricken euro area remains extremely vulnerable to setbacks.

The ECB is not expected to unveil any policy changes when its policy-setting governing council convenes on Thursday morning.