Australia's mining boom will slow more sharply than expected and could be over within two years due to easing demand from China and falling prices, a leading economic forecaster warned Monday.

Mining exports to industrializing Asian nations, chiefly China, helped Australia weather the global crisis without entering recession and prompted Canberra to vow a budget surplus for the 2012-13 fiscal year starting July 1.

Greece returns to the EU-IMF operating table this week for a top-to-bottom appraisal that will determine whether its struggling economy will earn another cash injection to stay alive beyond the summer.

Auditors from the EU, International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank -- the so-called troika of Greek creditors -- return to Athens on Tuesday seeking answers from the government on how to bring troubled structural reforms on track.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle ruled out any renegotiation of Greece's budget austerity program in an interview published Saturday.

"I see desires emerging in Greece to renegotiate and substantially question the country's obligations to carry out reforms. I have to say simply, that will not do. It is a Rubicon that we are not going to cross," Westerwelle told the daily Bild.

Retail bank Raiffeisen is Switzerland's latest institution to part with its U.S. clients because of increasing red tape and amid an ongoing tax row with the United States, media reports said Saturday.

"We will soon shed those American clients who are taxable in the United States," bank spokesman Franz Wuerth told ATS news agency confirming reports by several regional papers.

Brazil must boost productivity and achieve a better balance between investment and consumption, the International Monetary Fund said in a report released Friday.

"Further efforts are needed to achieve a rebalancing of domestic demand from consumption to foster saving and provide space for investment," the IMF said in its Article IV report.

An Estonian crackdown on petrol smuggling from Russia has dramatically cut down on traffic jams at the Baltic state's border crossings, its revenue service said Friday.

Until last month, Estonian and Latvian smugglers had driven to Russia several times per week to fill up their tanks with cheaper petrol, to then syphon it out of their tanks and sell it back on the EU side.

Fitch affirmed Italy's 'A-' ratings with a 'Negative' outlook Thursday, citing the struggling Eurozone country's efforts to stabilize its strained public finances and get the economy growing.

In January, Fitch, one of the top three ratings agencies, slashed the rating by two notches as it warned of serious near-term problems facing Italy, alongside Spain, Belgium, Slovenia and Cyprus.

India's home ministry has refused to allow three Iranian banks to open branches on Indian soil because of concerns about money-laundering and terror financing, a report said on Friday.

The move complicates New Delhi's efforts to settle its oil trade bills with the Islamic Republic, the Indian Express daily reported, quoting an unnamed home ministry official for the report.

Etihad Airways chief James Hogan on Friday pledged the Abu Dhabi-based carrier will never seek control of Virgin Australia and hit out at Qantas's tactics to undermine his airline.

Etihad has built its holding in Virgin over recent months to 4.9 percent and on Thursday won approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board to boost the stake to 10 percent.

Renault-Nissan Alliance will invest $160 million to roll out Nissan models at its South Korean unit, the French automaking group said Friday.

Renault-Samsung Motors in the southern port of Busan will produce an annual 80,000 units of Nissan's crossover Rogue, beginning in 2014, Renault-Nissan said in a statement.