Business confidence dropped sharply in Italy this month, the national statistics agency said on Monday, with its closely-watched index falling to 74.6 points from 78.5 points in March.

The index showed that businesses in the manufacturing, construction, services and trade sectors were downbeat about the outlook in April, after a two-month political stalemate which thwarted attempts to revive growth in the recession-hit country.

The Greek parliament voted late Sunday to adopt a law providing for the dismissal of 15,000 civil servants as part of austerity measures imposed by the country's international creditors.

After heated debate during an emergency session, 168 deputies voted for the bill, with 123 voting against and one abstaining as the opposition proved powerless to stop cuts the government insisted were needed to keep the country afloat.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Monday warned voters to brace for an austere election-year budget, unveiling a Aus$12 billion (US$12.4 billion) slump in revenues due to the strong dollar.

Gillard, who is tipped to lose her bid for a third Labor government term in September, said the "unusually low revenue, which wasn't forecast even a few months ago" would require serious belt-tightening.

Austria hopes to reach a deal with the European Union next month that would preserve banking secrecy for Austrians but open accounts held by foreigners to scrutiny, Chancellor Werner Faymann said Saturday.

Faymann told public Radio Oe1 that the May 22 EU summit "should signal a fresh start... We want to reach a result on the issue of data sharing in the interest of the fight against fraud in Europe."

The Socialist Party of French President Francois Hollande pilloried German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her "selfish" insistence on austerity as the solution to Europe's debt crisis.

In a document on Europe released Friday and due to be presented at a party congress in June, the Socialist party accused Merkel of being obsessed with "Berlin's trade balance and her electoral future".

Moody's affirmed Italy's government ratings and negative outlook Friday after the country's president named a prime minister in a bid to an end a two-month political impasse.

The ratings agency said it was maintaining the government's Baa2 ratings and keeping the negative outlook, citing "the elevated risk that the Italian sovereign might lose investor confidence and, ultimately, access to private debt markets as a result of the political stalemate."

Portugal said Friday it will take banking giants JP Morgan and Santander to court to make them renegotiate deals that have left state-run companies paying hefty interest rates.

Treasury Secretary Maria Luis Albuquerque said the government had failed to reach a deal with U.S. bank JP Morgan and Spanish bank Santander's local unit to overhaul so-called "toxic swap" contracts that are weighing down public companies and threatening Portugal's debt-slashing efforts.

U.S. bank Citigroup announced Friday it was acquiring the eastern Europe custody services business of its Dutch rival ING.

The acquisition covers assets worth 110 billion euros ($143 billion) in seven countries: Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and the Ukraine, according to statements from both banks.

Japan's finance ministry said Friday that China has cancelled a top annual finance meeting with Japan and South Korea, as diplomatic tensions between Tokyo and Beijing soar.

An official with the ministry told Agence France Presse that "China has informed us that the meeting won't be held" on the sidelines of an Asian Development Bank meeting in Delhi next month.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was quoted as telling French President Francois Hollande on Friday that Beijing wants more balanced trade with France and is willing to buy more French products.

Hollande was on the second day of a two-day visit to China aimed at rebalancing trade relations between the economic powers.