Britain will provide state oil giant Saudi Aramco with a $2-billion loan guarantee to help it buy British exports, the UK government has said.

China on Friday said it will further open the country's financial markets to foreign firms, a key demand from the United States and Europe which have long complained about the strict limits on access to the giant economy.

The announcement came after Donald Trump's state visit to Beijing during which the US leader called for a more level playing field for American companies and measures to reduce a massive trade imbalance. 

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday announced a one-billion euro joint investment platform with the United Arab Emirates whose funds are to be invested in France.

The EU sharply raised its eurozone growth forecast for 2017 on Thursday, confident that the economic recovery was gathering pace despite the uncertainties of Brexit.

President Donald Trump on Thursday criticized the "very one-sided and unfair" trade relationship between the U.S. and China, but stopped short of castigating Chinese President Xi Jinping by saying he doesn't blame the country for taking advantage of the U.S.

Speaking after the announcement of new business deals between U.S. and Chinese companies, Trump said the U.S. and China "must immediately address the unfair trade practices that drive" the trade deficit, along with barriers to market success, forced technology transfers and intellectual property theft.

China and the United States announced more than $250 billion in business deals during US President Donald Trump's state visit to Beijing on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia has sought to allay fears among investors after an anti-corruption purge that swept up a host of business and political titans, with concerns mounting that the arrests could trigger political instability.

China's trade surplus with the United States eased slightly in October but still remains elevated, official data showed Wednesday, as President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing for what are expected to be thorny economic talks.

As Egypt's mobile operators thrive, state-owned Telecom Egypt is entering the market in an effort to boost state revenues.

A planned move by the Nordic region's biggest bank from Sweden to Finland has sparked much soul-searching among Swedes about the wisdom of trying to protect its banks from future crises without eurozone help.

Although an EU member, Sweden has always declined membership in the eurozone, instead keeping its own currency, running its own monetary policy and its own banking system -- which have all been humming along smoothly.