International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde hailed India as a bright spot in the otherwise gloom-ridden global economy Monday, saying the recovery from the 2008-2009 financial crisis was still fragile.

Speaking at the start of a two-day visit, Lagarde said India was bucking the trend of declining growth seen in other major economies and was on course "to become a key engine for global growth".

The euro fell to another 12-year low against the dollar Monday, hit by the European Central Bank's huge stimulus program, while investors await the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week.

In early Tokyo trading, the euro briefly dropped to $1.0451 -- its lowest since January 2003 and down from $1.0489 in New York on Friday -- before recovering to $1.0543 by the afternoon.

Qatar will stick to its $200-billion (190 billion-euro) infrastructure spending splurge, the energy-rich Gulf state's premier vowed on Sunday, despite the fall in global oil prices.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani told business leaders at a Doha finance conference that the kingdom would maintain its plans to spend heavily on development projects in the runup to the football World Cup in 2022.

German conglomerate Siemens has signed a "four billion euro" power deal with Egypt, a company spokesperson said on Saturday.

Under a number of accords agreed between the parties, Siemens will build a "4.4 gigawatt combined cycle power plant and install wind power capacity of 2 gigawatt", the company added in a statement.

Greece's combative finance minister has indicated that Athens' new radical left government is prepared to put some of its campaign promises on hold while it seeks to build confidence among its creditors.

"Our program is a program for four years," Yanis Varoufakis told reporters after a meeting of economic and finance leaders in northern Italy on Friday.

Argentina threatened Friday to revoke Citibank's operation license if it refuses to process payments to bondholders, a move ordered by a New York judge presiding over a long fight between the country and a U.S. investment group.

In a statement, the Ministry of Economy said failure to process the payments could lead to criminal charges against Citibank's employees in Argentina. The warning came a day after U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa told Citibank that it cannot let its Argentine branch process payments to bondholders unless U.S. investors are paid as well.

Schools, hospitals, courts and state offices across Portugal were hit by a day-long strike on Friday called by civil servants fed up with austerity-linked salary and job cuts.

Banners were put up in front of many institutions proclaiming "closed due to the strike". The protest was called by federations linked to the two main trade unions, the CGTP and UGT.

EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has warned of an alarming lack of progress in talks on Greece's bailout, as Germany raised the spectre of a tumultuous Greek exit from the euro.

Juncker was meeting Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the hard-left Syriza party who came to power in January, on Friday just days after Tsipras renewed a demand that powerful Germany repay debts from its Nazi past.

A recent rebound in oil prices is built on flimsy foundations, the International Energy Agency warned Friday, with another sharp fall possible and few signs that cheap fuel was giving growth a real boost.

Oil prices plummeted by 60 percent between June and January, but have since come off six-year lows and stabilised somewhat, with London's benchmark Brent trading around $60 per barrel and WTI in the United States fluctuating around $50 per barrel.

EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker complained Friday about a lack of progress in talks on Greece's bailout, but insisted there was no chance of a failure that could drive the country out of the eurozone.

"I am not satisfied by the developments in the recent weeks. I don't think we have made sufficient progress, but we will try to push in the direction of a succesful conclusion of the issues we have to deal with," he said ahead of talks with Greek premier Alexis Tsipras.