Australia on Saturday called for better advance notice of policy changes by central banks to avoid shockwaves for emerging economies, at a meeting of G20 finance ministers where rifts over U.S. monetary policy loomed large.

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said he wants the summit to stay focused on ways to stimulate growth and create jobs in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, adding he was confident of tangible results.

The OECD on Friday warned declining global productivity will usher in a new and extended era of low growth unless there are major structural reforms.

Its new "Going for Growth" report identifies infrastructure shortages and slowing trade activity as key problems -- issues that will be in focus at the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Sydney this weekend.

The market turmoil sparked by the Federal Reserve's steps toward removing the U.S. economy from life support is expected to be a top agenda item when finance chiefs from the world's biggest economies meet in Sydney this weekend.

The Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers meeting is a precursor to the main G-20 summit that will be held in the Australian city of Brisbane in November. The meeting's host, Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey, said the Federal Reserve's decision to begin scaling back its stimulus will be a key part of discussions, along with reinvigorating global growth.

Just four years ago, U.S. deficits and debt were an explosive political combination, propelling Republicans to control of the House of Representatives and fueling the budget fights that would ensue over the next three years.

Today, they are an afterthought in Washington's political and policy landscape.

"The downgrade reflects our view that the political situation in Ukraine has deteriorated substantially," the agency said in a note a day after the deadliest day in the ex-Soviet country's three-month-old political crisis left more than 60 anti-government protesters shot dead.

"We believe that this raises uncertainty regarding the continued provision of Russian financial support over the course of 2014, and puts the government's capability to meet debt service at increasing risk," it said.

A Kuwaiti MP filed a bill Thursday to create a government-funded trust fund for every citizen from birth that would become an 18th birthday present of around $40,000 (29,200 euros).

Under MP Askar al-Enezi's proposal, the government of the oil-rich Gulf state would deposit 50 dinars ($177) each month into an account for each citizen from the time of birth.

Two Jordanian firms have signed a $771-million deal with U.S.-based Noble Energy to supply them with natural gas from an Israeli offshore field, local media reported on Thursday.

The Arab Potash and Jordan Bromine companies singed the agreement on Wednesday to obtain from Noble Energy and its Israeli partners 2 billion cubic meters (around 70 billion cubic feet) of gas from Israel's Tamar field for 15 years.

Iraq's Oil Ministry says crude exports have averaged 2.229 million barrels a day in January, a decrease of nearly 4.8 percent from the previous month.

In a statement posted on its website Wednesday afternoon, the ministry also said last month's revenues stood at $7.074 billion, based on an average price of $102.373 per barrel.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde and British finance minister George Osborne on Thursday demanded emerging economies get their own houses in order, after some attacked U.S. monetary policy in the run-up to G20 talks this weekend.

While Lagarde also cautioned the U.S. Federal Reserve to be "mindful" of the impact of its stimulus exit on major developing players, Osborne urged emerging markets to refrain from "finger-pointing and distractions" at the Sydney meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers.

Business activity in the 18-nation eurozone stayed robust in February but slipped off its highs, a reminder that the economic recovery remains fragile, a key survey showed on Thursday.

Markit Economics' said its Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for February fell to 52.7 points in February from 52.9 in January.