Brazil must boost productivity and achieve a better balance between investment and consumption, the International Monetary Fund said in a report released Friday.

"Further efforts are needed to achieve a rebalancing of domestic demand from consumption to foster saving and provide space for investment," the IMF said in its Article IV report.

An Estonian crackdown on petrol smuggling from Russia has dramatically cut down on traffic jams at the Baltic state's border crossings, its revenue service said Friday.

Until last month, Estonian and Latvian smugglers had driven to Russia several times per week to fill up their tanks with cheaper petrol, to then syphon it out of their tanks and sell it back on the EU side.

Fitch affirmed Italy's 'A-' ratings with a 'Negative' outlook Thursday, citing the struggling Eurozone country's efforts to stabilize its strained public finances and get the economy growing.

In January, Fitch, one of the top three ratings agencies, slashed the rating by two notches as it warned of serious near-term problems facing Italy, alongside Spain, Belgium, Slovenia and Cyprus.

India's home ministry has refused to allow three Iranian banks to open branches on Indian soil because of concerns about money-laundering and terror financing, a report said on Friday.

The move complicates New Delhi's efforts to settle its oil trade bills with the Islamic Republic, the Indian Express daily reported, quoting an unnamed home ministry official for the report.

Etihad Airways chief James Hogan on Friday pledged the Abu Dhabi-based carrier will never seek control of Virgin Australia and hit out at Qantas's tactics to undermine his airline.

Etihad has built its holding in Virgin over recent months to 4.9 percent and on Thursday won approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board to boost the stake to 10 percent.

Renault-Nissan Alliance will invest $160 million to roll out Nissan models at its South Korean unit, the French automaking group said Friday.

Renault-Samsung Motors in the southern port of Busan will produce an annual 80,000 units of Nissan's crossover Rogue, beginning in 2014, Renault-Nissan said in a statement.

National carrier Royal Jordanian (RJ) said on Thursday it has suspended flights to the Syrian capital Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo over the unrest in the neighboring country.

"Flights to Damascus and Aleppo have been suspended because of a sharp slump in passenger traffic following developments in Syria in the past two days," state-run Petra news agency quoted RJ as saying.

National Bank of Kuwait, the emirate's largest lender, on Thursday reported a 39.5 percent slide in second quarter net profit as the bank took huge provisions, a statement said.

NBK's profit in the first half of the current year also dropped 17.7 percent as the bank cited "a challenging operating environment and weakening outlook."

Online auction house eBay on Wednesday reported that its profit in the recently-ended quarter more than doubled due to strong showings by its Marketplaces and PayPal services.

The California-based company said it had a net income of $692 million on revenue that rose 23 percent to $3.4 billion in the quarter that ended June 30.

Regulators are investigating Credit Agricole, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale over the Libor manipulation scandal that claimed the boss of British bank Barclays, the Financial Times reported Thursday.

Citing sources close to the probes, the FT said regulators were examining evidence of links between traders at all four banks and Barclays' former trader Philippe Moryoussef.