Zambia is seeking help from the International Monetary Fund, after its currency kwacha lost about a fifth of its value and prices of its key export commodity copper slumped, the Fund said Friday.

The "recent steep depreciation of the kwacha is raising inflationary pressures and expansionary fiscal policy has created large budgetary imbalances," said the fund in a statement, after a visit by a team of its experts to the country.

Standard & Poor's on Friday revised up Ireland's sovereign credit rating to 'A-' with a positive outlook from its previous 'BBB+' assessment, citing the eurozone member's improved domestic prospects.

In contrast, the ratings agency held Italy's credit rating at 'BBB', which is two notches above junk level, and maintained its negative outlook.

The U.S. economy has finally regained the jobs lost to the Great Recession. But go easy on the hallelujahs. The comeback is far from complete.

Friday's report from the government revealed an economy healing yet marked by deep and lasting scars. The downturn that began 6½ years ago accelerated wrenching changes that have left many Americans feeling worse off than they did the last time the economy had roughly the same number of jobs it does now.

Cypriot GDP contracted by 0.7 percent in the first quarter of 2014, a slight improvement on the 0.8 percent drop in the previous three months, the latest official estimate showed on Friday.

The figure is the same as given in a flash estimate by the state statistical service on May 15.

The euro strengthened against the dollar Thursday in choppy trade after investors weighed the European Central Bank's moves to bolster fragile eurozone growth and prevent deflation.

The euro tumbled to $1.35 after the ECB cut its key interest rates to new all-time lows and announced other aggressive measures.

Central banks can't fix everything.

The European Central Bank took bold steps Thursday to protect Europe's fragile economic recovery, cutting interest rates and offering to pump more money into the financial system.

China's economy will moderate over the next few years as Beijing looks to rebalance it, the World Bank said Friday, but it warned of risks from local government debt, a cooling real estate sector and an uncertain export recovery.

The bank's Economic Update on China comes amid fears the Asian giant and driver of global growth is slowing too much, as the leadership looks to pivot towards private, domestic demand from a reliance on big-ticket government investment projects.

Standard & Poor's was found liable Friday for investment losses incurred by Australian councils in the lead-up to the global financial crisis, after a court dismissed its appeal against a landmark 2012 ruling.

The full bench of the Federal Court of Australia threw out the appeal by the ratings agency, ABN AMRO Bank and Australian firm Local Government Financial Services (LGFS) and upheld the original judgement.

The board of French BNP Paribas is split over strategy in the face of a likely huge fine by US authorities on charges of sanctions-busting, with the fate of its chief executive on the line, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The split is also complicating the way the bank communicates with French authorities, the newspaper reported, hours before President Francois Hollande was expected to plead the bank's case with US President Barack Obama during a dinner in Paris.

Russia hopes to develop North Korea's mineral resources after canceling the isolated state's debts, the minister for development of Far Eastern Russia, Alexander Galushka, said on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in May signed a law canceling 90 percent of North Korea's $10.94 billion debt to Russia from Soviet-era loans.