Britain's desire to become a free trade leader following its vote to leave the EU is seen as wishful thinking by experts, who say London's hands are tied until a formal exit from the bloc.

Nobody yet knows the winner of France's presidential election next year, but the smart money is on one loser: The three-percent cap on government deficits enshrined in eurozone rules.

A rift between the EU and the International Monetary Fund on the way to tackle the Greek debt crisis is delaying its solution, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Sunday. 

The British minister charged with boosting international trade post-Brexit has slammed the country's businesses as being too "fat and lazy" to capitalise on the opportunity, the Times newspaper reported Saturday.

"This country is not the free-trading nation that it once was," Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox told a reception for Conservative activists in the House of Commons on Thursday. 

Cuba said Friday the United States's 54-year-old trade embargo has cost the island $4.7 billion since April 2015 despite the former Cold War enemies' historic rapprochement.

France's government unveiled Friday plans to lower taxes on households and companies, as the ruling Socialists lined up their budget for the 2017 election year.

China's producer prices fell at their slowest rate for more than four years in August, the government said Friday, another sign of stabilisation in the world's second-largest economy.

Nigeria's presidency on Thursday said it had approved an external borrowing plan after the cash-strapped African economy plunged into official recession.

British group Micro Focus will merge with some of Hewlett Packard Enterprise's software assets, the pair said, in a further consolidation of the global tech sector after SoftBank's blockbuster purchase of ARM Holdings.

The EU will not allow Britain to cling to advantages for its financial industry while blocking free movement of labor in the wake of Brexit, commissioner Valdis Dombrovsksis warned on Thursday.

"We cannot tolerate cherry-picking," the Brussels financial services chief told German business daily Handelsblatt.