The Russian stock markets and the ruble fell in early trading on Monday after clashes between pro-Russian forces and the Kiev authorities in eastern Ukraine.

Western powers blame Russia for stirring up the trouble.

Greece will issue more bonds after last week's successful five-year debt sale that ended a four-year drought, the head of the debt agency said on Sunday.

"The bond sale was just the first step," Stelios Papadopoulos, head of the public debt management agency (PDMA) told Kathimerini daily.

U.S. bank Citigroup has cut between 200 and 300 additional jobs, most in the global markets business, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

Some of the employees were fired, while others left voluntarily. Among them was Steve Prince, the younger brother of former chief executive Charles Prince, according to the newspaper.

The winner of energy-rich Algeria's presidential election must tackle a major problem facing the country -- its dependence on hydrocarbon revenues, which are used by the government to defuse social tensions and which are in decline.

Sporadic protests over poor living conditions came to a head in early 2011, as the popular uprising in neighboring Tunisia toppled a decades old-dictatorship.

Egypt will need further international assistance to put its economy back on track despite receiving huge loans from Gulf Arab states, the IMF said Friday.

"Egypt will need financial support which could come from its partners in the Gulf or, if the government wants that, from the IMF and from other international financial institutions," Christopher Jarvis, the International Monetary Fund's Egypt mission chief, told reporters.

Leading economic policymakers meeting in Washington voiced worry Friday that the Ukraine crisis could hurt the world economy, but fell short of taking concrete action to strengthen growth amid signs of discord.

Meeting on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank spring meetings, G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs pledged to follow up on reforms and support a $27 billion rescue program for Ukraine, even as Russia continues to menace its neighbor.

Libya's oil exports are likely to quadruple from current levels and hit 1 million barrels per day by mid-June after rebels ended a blockade of two terminals, OPEC Secretary General Abdullah El-Badri said Friday.

"I think the first one million barrels will come in two months' time, but after a million it will take some time. Because the main challenge now is the security," El-Badri said at an international oil conference in Paris.

Standard and Poor's on Thursday downgraded Finland's outlook to "negative," putting another crack in the credit image of one of the few countries to hold the top-notch "AAA" rating.

S&P became the second ratings agency to downgrade the outlook of the Nordic eurozone member, following a similar move by Fitch in October 2013.

British finance minister George Osborne will later Friday hail the nation's economic recovery, one year after the International Monetary Fund had warned that his austerity policies were "playing with fire".

Osborne will defend his economic policies in a key speech in Washington, where he is attending the annual World Bank/IMF spring meetings.

Moody's rating agency on Thursday downgraded its outlook on Turkey to "negative", putting the country's investment-grade rating at risk, saying political uncertainty was affecting investor confidence and casting doubt over further reforms.

The agency re-affirmed the country's current bond rating of Baa3, just one step above a so-called 'junk' level, which is out of bounds for many pension and savings funds seeking safer investments.