France is interested in some sectors that are nominated for partial or complete privatization in Lebanon, especially the country’s national carrier Middle East Airlines, a media report said on Friday.

Citing preliminary reports, al-Akhbar newspaper said MEA’s value will be estimated at more than $1 billion and a law to sell around 49% of its shares will be devised.

The Bank of England raised interest rates by half a percentage point Thursday as it sought to tame double-digit inflation that is fueling a cost-of-living crisis, public-sector strikes and fears of recession.

The bank's monetary policy committee voted 7-2 to push its key rate to 4%, approving the 10th consecutive rate increase since a post-pandemic surge in the world economy and Russia's war in Ukraine drove inflation to 40-year highs.

Australia is removing the British monarchy from its bank notes.

The nation's central bank said Thursday its new $5 bill would feature an Indigenous design rather than an image of King Charles III. But the king is still expected to appear on coins that currently bear the image of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

For months, the United States has restricted Iraq's access to its own dollars, trying to stamp out what Iraqi officials describe as rampant money laundering that benefits Iran and Syria. Iraq is now feeling the crunch, with a drop in the value of its currency and public anger blowing back against the prime minister.

The exchange rate for the Iraqi dinar has jumped to around 1,750 to the dollar at street exchanges in some parts of the country, compared to the official rate of 1,460 dinars to the dollar.

Iraq's foreign minister on Thursday called for more economic cooperation with Saudi Arabia, namely in investment and electricity, during a visit to Baghdad by his Saudi counterpart.

Fuad Hussein made no mention of resuming talks between Saudi Arabia and arch-rival Iran -- previously mediated by Iraq -- during a joint press conference.

French presidential envoy Pierre Duquesne met Thursday at the Grand Serail with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Duquesne is in a two-day visit to Lebanon in a French mission aimed at supporting the energy sector in Lebanon.

A patrol from the judicial police on Wednesday raided money changers in the markets of the city of Baalbek and arrested two individuals who were practicing illegal money exchange operations, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The development comes a few days after State Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat sent a memo to Financial Prosecutor Judge Ali Ibrahim asking him to “immediately” order the arrest of the money changers and speculators who are contributing to “the collapse of the national currency.”

Lebanon shifted Wednesday its long-standing official exchange rate to 15,000 pounds against the dollar, a central bank source said -- an almost 90 percent devaluation amid a years-long economic crisis.

The Lebanese pound has been officially pegged at 1,507 to the greenback since 1997, but its market value began to slide in late 2019 and hit record lows of more than 60,000 this month.

Iran and Russia have taken a key step toward linking their banking systems in a move that further boosts their cooperation in the face of Western sanctions, an Iranian official said.

At a signing ceremony on Sunday, Mohsen Karami, the deputy central bank governor, said banks in the two countries had connected their messaging networks following agreements reached over the past year, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

The outlook for the global economy is growing slightly brighter as China eases its zero-COVID policies and the world shows surprising resilience in the face of high inflation, elevated interest rates and Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine.

That's the view of the International Monetary Fund, which now expects the world economy to grow 2.9% this year. That forecast is better than the 2.7% expansion for 2023 that the IMF predicted in October, though down from the estimated 3.4% growth in 2022.