The number of people vacationing abroad this year is expected to top a billion for the first time, the head of the global tourism authority said.

The forecast is higher than expected and presents an opportunity for governments to create jobs in difficult economic times, added Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the World Tourism Organization.

A Japanese bank has halted transactions by the Iranian government after a U.S. court ordered a $2.6 billion asset freeze over the 1983 bombing of U.S. barracks in Beirut, a bank spokesman said Thursday.

"It is true that we have received the order from the U.S. court," to freeze $2.6 billion of assets, a spokesman for the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ told Agence France Presse, declining to give details on the value of Iranian holdings at the bank.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble stressed on Wednesday that it was not possible to re-negotiate an international aid plan for Greece.

"This is an aid program that was prepared down to the last detail, we cannot re-negotiate it," Schaeuble told Deutschlandfunk radio after Greek political leaders said they were unable to form a new government, suggesting that new elections would be held.

Moody's is set to 'significantly' downgrade 21 Spanish banks within a week, following a cut of credit ratings on Italian banks, the Spanish economic daily Expansion said on Wednesday.

"Sources in the Spanish financial sector are convinced that the agency will lower in a significant manner the ratings of numerous institutions," said the daily.

The euro tumbled in Asian trade Wednesday to its lowest level against the U.S. dollar in four months, amid rising concern over the eurozone fiscal woes as debt-hit Greece gets set for fresh elections.

The single currency hit $1.2688, its lowest against the greenback since January 16, while it also tumbled to 101.96 yen, down from 102.12 yen in New York on Tuesday and its lowest since mid-February.

The World Bank on Tuesday announced it was ready to provide Indonesia with a $2 billion loan, a backstop against a potential debt crisis in one of Asia's fastest growing economies.

The World Bank said the loan, requested by the Indonesian government, would be held as a contingency against "possible future shocks and volatility."

India said Tuesday it would cut purchases of Iranian oil by 11 percent following pressure from the United States to join a drive to isolate the Islamic republic over its disputed nuclear program.

Indian refiners expect to import 15.5 million metric tons of crude from Iran in the fiscal year that began April 1, the country's junior oil minister told parliament in a written reply, down from 17.44 million tons last ear.

Leading Eurozone powerbroker Jean-Claude Juncker has lashed out "propaganda" suggesting that a politically-paralyzed Greece would now exit the troubled currency.

"I don't envisage, not even for one second, Greece leaving," the head of the Euro group said after Monday night talks among finance ministers in Brussels, during which he said the 17 Eurozone partners unanimously affirmed their "unshakeable desire" to keep Athens in the club.

Romania has fallen back into recession, official data showed Tuesday, with its gross domestic product shrinking by 0.1 percent in the first quarter, the second quarterly decrease in a row.

Romanian GDP had contracted by 0.2 percent in the last quarter of 2011.

Moody's slashed its credit ratings by up to four notches for 26 Italian banks Monday, including UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo, citing their vulnerability to Italy's recession and more trouble in the Eurozone.

"The ratings for Italian banks are now amongst the lowest within advanced European countries, reflecting these banks' susceptibility to the adverse operating environments in Italy and Europe," Moody's said.