Countries both rich and poor must take faster action to cut debt and counter growing inequality as their economies weather a triple whammy from the artificial intelligence boom, heavy borrowing and shocks from wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, the head of the IMF said Wednesday.

"Some very tough political choices stare us in the face," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech in Singapore ahead of autumn IMF-World Bank meetings to be held in Bangkok next week.

Iraq devalued its currency Wednesday, changing the official exchange rate from around 1,300 Iraqi dinars to the dollar to 1,500 dinars to the dollar.

The country's central bank said in a statement that the new exchange rate had been decided at a meeting of Iraq's Cabinet the night before "to meet the relevant financial, economic and monetary requirements."

The International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday that price increases for necessities like food and energy, fueled by the wars in Iran and Ukraine, were more persistent than previously expected.

Energy Minister Joe Saddi, who was named by the Lebanese Forces, announced Tuesday his boycott of cabinet sessions until the government takes the “needed decisions” in the thorny electricity file.

Global oil stockpiles are "scarily thin" owing to the U.S.-Iran war, Saudi Aramco's chief executive Amin Nasser said Monday, days after G7 nations agreed to release more of their inventories to ease supply concerns.

U.S. oil prices dropped sharply Friday as G7 leaders held urgent talks to coordinate action on lowering fuel prices, after the EU said earlier it would work with the International Energy Agency on releasing further stocks to global markets.

West Texas Intermediate was down 4.0 percent at $89.15 a barrel, having fallen as far as five percent, while the international benchmark Brent crude was down 2.6 percent at $99.63 after several days of trading above the psychological threshold of $100 a barrel.

G7 leaders were holding talks Friday to coordinate action on fuel prices, after the United States upped pressure on Europe to release its strategic reserves, threatening a diesel export ban.

A wind turbine described by its developer as the world's tallest now rises 365 meters (1,197 feet) above the sparsely populated landscape of eastern Germany, surpassing the height of the Eiffel Tower.

The colossal turbine has been built at an existing wind farm in Lusatia, southeast of Berlin. Once a major center of lignite mining, the region has increasingly turned to renewable energy in recent years. The prototype reached its full height this week and is due to be inaugurated in mid-November.

Americans are deeply frustrated with President Donald Trump's handling of the economy and rising prices, with most panning his performance and blaming his policies as higher costs threaten his party's chances in November.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that only 17% of U.S. adults approve of the Republican president's handling of the cost of living. Just 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low.

France's public debt has climbed to a record during the two terms of President Emmanuel Macron, unsettling investors and emerging as a defining issue ahead of next year's presidential election.

With France already gripped by deep social tensions, the candidates vying to succeed Macron are under pressure to explain how they would bring the debt under control. It now stands at 119% of gross domestic product, leaving the country's strained public finances likely to dominate the campaign.