Saudi Arabia will cut spending and issue more bonds as it faces a record budget shortfall due to falling oil prices, the finance minister said on Sunday.

The kingdom -- the biggest Arab economy and the world's largest oil exporter -- is facing an unprecedented budget crunch after crude prices dropped by more than half in a year to below $50 a barrel.

Foreign individuals and institutional investors will be allowed for the first time to buy shares of UAE telecoms giant Etisalat from September 15, the company said in a statement Sunday.

Etisalat, the second largest Arab telecoms firm after Saudi Telecom, serves 145 million customers in 15 countries.

Global stock markets will be on edge this coming week as China announces a slew of data investors will comb for clues about slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy.

The government is scheduled to release monthly trade and inflation figures, as well as industrial output, fixed-asset investment and retail sales in the coming days.

Warily watching economic clouds gathering in China and the possibility of an end to zero interest rates in the United States, G20 leaders steered a careful course at their meeting in Turkey at a time of uneven and fragile growth.

The two-day gathering in the Turkish capital Ankara came less then a month after China shocked financial markets with a surprise devaluation of its currency, triggering global jitters about declining growth and slumping stocks in the world's second-largest economy.

G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs on Saturday pledged to act decisively to shore up stuttering global growth and to refrain from unsettling currency moves after China's controversial devaluation last month.

The economic supremos from the world's top 20 economies said in a communique after their two-day meeting in the Turkish capital Ankara that global growth was falling short of expectations, despite strengthening activity in some economies.

Japan and Iran will start talks next week to negotiate a bilateral investment treaty, as Washington moves to ease sanctions against Tehran and Tokyo looks to step up its interests in the resource rich nation.

Japanese and Iranian officials will meet in Tehran from Monday through to Wednesday to secure a deal, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Friday, as other energy consumers also rush to explore Tehran's commercial potential.

American financial service company Standard & Poor's issued war-torn Iraq a credit rating for the first time Thursday, with the country's conflict with Islamic State militants and low oil prices giving it a junk score.

Iraq has been plagued by war and violence since the 2003 U.S invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Currently violent jihadists have taken over large parts of the country, something Standard & Poor's took into account when it handed out its B- rating.

German chemicals giant BASF said Friday it has agreed with Russian gas behemoth Gazprom to go ahead with an asset swap which the two had abandoned due to tensions between Russia and the West. 

"Due to the difficult political environment, BASF and Gazprom had decided not to complete the asset swap planned for the end of the 2014," the German group explained in a statement.

Brazil's government denied rumors Thursday that the country's finance minister was about to step down, which come as the world's seventh-biggest economy struggles with a steep slowdown.

President Dilma Rousseff's chief of staff shot down the rumors after local press reports suggested Finance Minister Joaquim Levy could quit due to a lack of support.

Oil prices edged lower in cautious Asian  trade Friday as investors await the release of a U.S. jobs report for August that could determine the Federal Reserve's timetable for hiking interest rates. 

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate for October delivery fell 17 cents to $46.58 while Brent crude for October eased 16 cents to $50.52 in late-morning trade.