British finance minister George Osborne will later Friday hail the nation's economic recovery, one year after the International Monetary Fund had warned that his austerity policies were "playing with fire".

Osborne will defend his economic policies in a key speech in Washington, where he is attending the annual World Bank/IMF spring meetings.

Moody's rating agency on Thursday downgraded its outlook on Turkey to "negative", putting the country's investment-grade rating at risk, saying political uncertainty was affecting investor confidence and casting doubt over further reforms.

The agency re-affirmed the country's current bond rating of Baa3, just one step above a so-called 'junk' level, which is out of bounds for many pension and savings funds seeking safer investments.

The rate of inflation in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, fell to its lowest level in more than three years in March, official final data showed on Friday.

The cost of living rose by 1.0 percent on a 12-month basis this month, down from 1.2 percent in February, the federal statistics office Destatis said in a statement.

Britain's state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland will pay the government £1.5 billion in a complex deal paving the way for the return of shareholder dividends.

The bank has agreed to pay the Treasury the equivalent of $2.5 billion or 1.8 billion euros in a move also aimed at aiding its eventual return to the private sector, it said in a statement late on Wednesday.

One of Australia's biggest banks confirmed Thursday it was distancing itself from digital currencies after reviewing its risk profile.

The National Australia Bank, one of the country's four main banks, has reportedly sent letters to business customers whose primary business is trading in Bitcoins and other crypto-currencies, saying their accounts will be closed on May 2.

A company controlled by the family of Asia's richest man Li Ka-shing has sold a landmark Beijing property for more than $900 million, it said, adding to speculation he is cashing out of Chinese property.

Pacific Century Premium Developments -- a firm chaired by Richard Li, the tycoon's younger son -- signed an agreement Tuesday to sell Pacific Century Place for $928 million, the firm said in a statement filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Greek unions have launched an anti-austerity general strike that has halted train and island ferry services while disrupting state hospitals and other public services.

Wednesday's 24-hour strike is also causing public transport disruptions in Athens, where unionists are planning two separate protest marches to Parliament.

Germany's trade surplus shrank nine percent in February from the January level, allowing for seasonal blips, the federal statistics office Destatis said on Wednesday.

The surplus dip for Europe's biggest economy -- to 15.7 billion euros ($21.6 billion) from 17.3 billion the month before -- was the result of higher imports of 77.6 billion euros against slightly lower exports of 93.3 billion euros.

Two big U.S. firms -- Bank of America and microchip giant Intel -- Tuesday announced closures in Costa Rica leading to nearly 3,000 layoffs, dealing a double blow to the Central American country's economy.

It came two days after the election of third-party candidate Luis Guillermo Solis as the next president of the nation of under five million people and represents a significant setback to its bid to become a high-tech hub.

The global economy is strengthening but faces threats from super-low inflation and outflows of capital from emerging economies, the International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday.

The lending organization expects the global economy to grow 3.6 percent this year and 3.9 percent in 2015, up from 3 percent last year. Those figures are just one-tenth of a percentage point below the IMF's previous forecasts in January.