The co-founder of the law firm at the center of the Panama Papers scandal says the fallout has set off a "thriving" boom in the creation of tax shelters in the United States.

Juergen Mossack, who partnered with Ramon Fonseca to create the Panamanian firm Mossack Fonseca, said in a document obtained Thursday by AFP that after the Panama Papers leak a year ago, the number of new tax shelters created has fallen by 30 percent in Panama and elsewhere.

Russia's 200 richest people became some $100 billion richer in 2017 than last year, said the Russian Forbes which makes the annual ranking, attributing the growing wealth to rising commodities prices.

The total worth of Russia's two hundred richest was evaluated at $460 billion, up by $100 billion since 2016, while the number of Russian billionaires grew from 77 to 96 people after falling last year.

As the global recovery gathers pace, the IMF is turning up the volume on its call for wealthy countries to address popular anger over the impact of globalization and head off the threat of protectionism.

Greece on Friday said it logged a primary surplus of 3.9 percent in 2016, nearly eight times higher than a key target agreed in its economic bailout and debt relief talks.

Under the bailout, Greece needed to clock a primary surplus -- or budget surplus before debt repayments -- of 0.5 percent of output in 2016, followed by 1.75 percent this year and 3.5 percent in 2018.

Foreigners will no longer be allowed to work in Saudi Arabia's numerous shopping malls, the labor ministry announced Thursday, in the latest measure to boost employment of Saudis.

Efforts by Brazil's embattled government to push through unpopular austerity reforms face ever greater headwinds after the eruption of a corruption scandal weakening President Michel Temer.

Saudi Arabia's energy minister said on Thursday that oil-producing countries might have to extend output cuts agreed for the first six months of the year in order to achieve the desired rebalancing of the market.

"We might have to extend in order to reach the target... of stock levels," Khalid al-Falih told an energy forum in Abu Dhabi, referring to a deal between OPEC and non-OPEC producers to cut production by around 1.8 million barrels per day.

Asian markets mostly rose Thursday following broad losses the previous two days but they struggled to maintain early momentum as analysts warned caution was prevailing on geopolitical worries and fading hopes for Donald Trump's stimulus drive.

Oil-exporting cartel OPEC is confident that production cuts agreed with non-members to prop up prices will lead to a recovery in the market, its chief said on Wednesday.

"We are optimistic that the policy measures we have taken already place us on the path of recovery," OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo said at an energy forum in Abu Dhabi.

In its 70-year history, the International Monetary Fund has been no stranger to financial crises and policy disputes but now faces a new challenge: a US administration fundamentally opposed to some of its most important positions.

With the Fund's 189 members due to stage a semi-annual meeting in Washington this week, there has been no shortage of divergences with the White House.