The Bank of France said Monday that the French economy likely contracted by 0.1 percent in the third quarter of this year in its final estimation.

If the estimate is confirmed by France's official statistical agency INSEE, it would be the first quarterly contraction since France exited recession in the spring of 2009.

The World Bank on Monday slashed its 2012 growth forecast for developing countries in East Asia and the Pacific to 7.2 percent, dragged down by China's worst economic performance in 13 years.

It said China's economy would grow just 7.7 percent this year, down from 9.3 percent in 2011 and its slowest rate since 1999, but added that stimulus measures would help push it back above the crucial 8.0 percent mark in 2013.

Dubai will spend 1.5 billion dirhams ($408 million/313 million euros) to link the Business Bay with the Gulf, the chairman of the roads and transport authority said on Saturday.

Mattar al-Tayer said the extension of the Business Bay Canal is a strategic project that will run 2.8 kilometers in length, with a width ranging from 80 to 100 meters.

Iran sought on Saturday to reverse a collapse of its currency by imposing a fixed dollar rate, days after protests erupted over the rial's plunge on the open market, said money changers who were refusing to comply.

The order came as ordinary Iranians struggled with growing economic problems that have caused a big jump in daily prices.

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says a blueprint for a banking union and supervision of the banking system will be presented at the EU's October summit as part of measures to raise confidence in the euro currency.

Barroso spoke with reporters Saturday after meeting with Malta Prime Minster Lawrence Gonzi following a gathering of five southern European countries with five North African nations.

Myanmar banking officials on Saturday sought to reassure nervous savers after rumors over the fate of the boss of the country's biggest private bank saw account holders dash to withdraw their cash.

Customers of Kanbawza Bank in Yangon pulled out around nine billion kyat ($10.5 million) net on Friday -- more than four times the maximum amount that would normally be expected -- according to the bank's vice chairman Than Lwin.

A senior European Central Bank official is insisting that the bank can't help Greece by agreeing to roll over the government bonds it holds or accept lower interest rates.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who wants more time to enact reforms and budget cuts, has suggested the ECB could help that way.

Hungary's government announced Friday a set of austerity measures to keep its general government deficit below 3.0 percent of gross domestic product, as it recognized for the first time that the country would be in recession this year.

"The government has decided to take the necessary measures to keep the budget deficit figure under 3.0 percent of GDP in 2012, 2013, and 2014," Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy told a press conference.

Sales of Toyota cars in China plunged by 50 percent on-month in September amid an anti-Japan backlash over disputed islands, a report said Friday.

The Japanese auto giant -- the world's largest car firm by sales in the first half of this year -- shifted 75,000 units in August, but moved only half that number last month, the Yomiuri newspaper said, citing a company source.

Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said his country can survive until the end of November without receiving the next planned installment of its bailout loans.

Officials from the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank are currently in Greece assessing the country's progress in fulfilling the terms for receiving the aid.