Iraq on Tuesday approved a deal with Kuwait regulating the use of a shared waterway through which most of Baghdad's oil exports flow, which Iraq had accused its neighbor of attempting to cut off.

Control of the Khor Abdullah waterway is one of several outstanding issues between Iraq and Kuwait remaining from now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein's August 1990 invasion of the emirate.

International tourist arrivals surpassed one billion for the first time last year, with the Asia-Pacific region posting the biggest increase in foreign visitors, and numbers will rise further in 2013, a U.N. body said Tuesday.

The number of international tourist arrivals grew by 4.0 percent to 1.035 billion in 2012, up from 996 million in 2011, the Madrid-based United Nations World Tourism Organisation said in an annual survey.

The International Monetary Fund agreed Monday to provide an $18.4 million emergency loan to Mali, a move likely to lead other donors to release more funds after having cut off aid following the March 2012 coup.

The IMF executive board approved the loan under the Rapid Credit Facility aiming to help the government bridge a huge budget hole as its fights off an Islamist insurgency with French help.

Spain's austerity programme may be eased if the economy continues to contract, the European Union's top economic official said Monday.

Economy commissioner Olli Rehn suggested that Spain could be given more slack to meet the strict budget targets set out by the block to save the eurozone's fourth economy from bankruptcy.

Moody's on Monday downgraded the long-term credit ratings of six large Canadian banks, citing concerns over record high Canadian consumer debt and soaring home prices.

Moody's Investors Service cut the long-term ratings by one notch of the Bank of Montreal, Scotiabank, Caisse centrale Desjardins, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank.

The International Monetary Fund urged Hungary on Monday to shift its economic policy, warning the government's frequent and unpredictable tax policy changes had undermined efforts cut the deficit and attain growth.

"A new policy course is needed to deliver the required medium-term fiscal adjustment in a sustainable way to support growth and confidence...," the IMF said in a statement following a review mission in Budapest.

Bank lending to private households in the euro area contracted again in December as the region's crippling debt crisis continues to put a freeze on demand for credit, data showed on Monday.

Eurozone bank loans to the private sector declined by 0.7 percent in December compared with the same month in 2011 after already shrinking by 0.8 percent the previous month, the European Central Bank said in a statement.

Myanmar on Monday announced a deal with international lenders to cancel nearly $6 billion of its debt, another milestone in the rapid transformation of the former junta-ruled nation.

The former pariah state also cleared its arrears to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with the help of a bridge loan from Japan, removing another key hurdle for the resumption of international aid.

Iraqi energy officials on Sunday signed an oil exploration deal with a Kuwait-led group, finalizing a deal that was altered to expel a Turkish firm amid worsening ties with Ankara.

A contract was inked with Kuwait Energy and Dragon Oil of the United Arab Emirates to explore a 900-square-kilometer (350-square-mile) block thought to contain oil in south Iraq, near the country's border with Iran.

The International Monetary Fund is gearing up for a huge new challenge to rebuild the economies of the turbulent Arab world, a mission that poses starkly different challenges to its eurozone rescues.

The Arab Spring revolutions of 2010-2011 have opened doors to the IMF's money and expertise as new governments face the need to balance their books and revive sagging growth.