Ratings agency Standard and Poor's on Thursday downgraded Egypt's long- and short-term credit rating over the government's failure to meet the country's fiscal needs.

Egypt's long-term rating was lowered to 'CCC+' from 'B-', while its short-term rating dropped to 'C' from 'B', the agency said in a statement.

Crédit Agricole Suisse has reported consolidated net profits of CHF 130.2 million for 2012, compared with CHF 158.1 million in 2011, amid tough conditions. The year was marked yet again by a deepening economic crisis, low interest rates and a strong Swiss franc. The bank’s performance helped maintain the Crédit Agricole Group’s solid position in Switzerland while strengthening its capital base, evidenced in a Core Tier 1 ratio of 13.2%.

In 2012 Crédit Agricole Suisse showed that it was both stable and quick to respond to challenging economic conditions, regulatory changes and concerns among private banking clients about financial market uncertainty.

Kuwaiti telecom giant Zain's net profits dived 26.7 percent in the first quarter of 2013, the company said on Wednesday, blaming currency fluctuations in Sudan where it operates and massive investments.

The company posted a net profit of 52 million dinars ($182.4 million) in the first three months of 2013, compared to 71 million ($249.1 million) in the corresponding period of last year, it said in a statement.

The new government of struggling eurozone member Slovenia is expected to announce Thursday an action plan aimed at avoiding a bailout, reportedly including privatizations, "crisis" taxes and austerity cuts.

Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek's program, which will be sent to Brussels, is crucially also expected to set a timeframe for the "bad bank" to stop Slovenia's lenders from drowning in a sea of debts.

Inflation in China accelerated to 2.4 percent year-on-year in April, official data showed Thursday, above market expectations, but analysts said counter-measures were unlikely due to weak economic momentum.

Month on month, the consumer price index (CPI) -- a main gauge of inflation -- increased by 0.2 percent in April, reversing a decrease of 0.9 percent in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.

South Korea unexpectedly trimmed its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points Thursday -- the first cut for seven months aimed at boosting an economy hit by slumping exports.

The move announced by the central Bank of Korea (BOK) leaves the key policy rate at 2.50 percent, following two similar cuts last year in July and October.

President Mohamed Morsi pressed for closer bilateral trade and investment ties with Brazil here Wednesday on the first official visit by an Egyptian leader to Latin America's dominant economic power.

"We want more cooperation with Brazil," Morsi told a press conference after two hours of wide-ranging talks with his Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff.

Qatar has approached International Airlines Group, owner of British Airways and Spain's Iberia, about becoming its biggest shareholder via the purchase of a stake held by struggling Spanish lender Bankia, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

The daily business newspaper, which cited two people familiar with the situation, said Qatar had made an informal approach to IAG to ask whether it would welcome the Gulf nation as an investor.

German industrial output saw a surprisingly robust rise in March driven by a sharp increase in the energy sector, official data showed Wednesday.

Industrial production in Europe's largest economy rose by 1.2 percent in March compared with the previous month, according to provisional seasonally adjusted figures released by the economy ministry.

More than 73 million young people are unemployed around the world and the situation is expected to only get worse, the International Labor Organization said on Wednesday.

"The weakening of the global recovery in 2012 and 2013 has further aggravated the youth jobs crisis and the queues for available jobs have become longer and longer for some unfortunate young job seekers," the U.N.'s labor agency said.