Manufacturing activity in China slowed in April due to sluggish foreign demand, HSBC said Tuesday, in a sign of further weakness in the world's second-largest economy.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 (G20) major economies on Friday pledged further actions to shore up growth while watching for monetary easing effects, and urged ratification of the IMF governance reform.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher left a mixed economic legacy, with both the upside and the downside of her policies leaving their mark on contemporary Britain, a leading economist told Xinhua Friday.

Advanced and developing countries alike voiced worries over fragile global growth, eurozone stagnation and the swamp of excess monetary liquidity as the IMF and World Bank spring meetings kicked off Thursday.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China rose marginally in the first quarter, the government announced on Thursday, led by Japanese, EU and US companies after declining last year.

Three years after a deadly explosion on a BP-leased drilling rig unleashed the worst environmental disaster in US history, the British energy giant is fighting to avoid billions in fines.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for March this year rose 1.6 per cent to 106.2 from 104.5 in the same month last year.

An IMF economist has warned emerging economies to prepare for challenges from increased capital flows, partly caused by monetary policy easing in advanced economies.

Petronas, Malaysia's state- owned oil giant, on Wednesday denied its involvement in a potential deal related to oil blocks in Brazil.

South Korea's finance ministry said Tuesday that it earmarked 17.3 trillion won (15 billion U.S. dollars) in extra budget in 2013, the largest since the 2008 global financial crisis, to boost the sluggish economy in the early period of new presidency under President Park Geun-hye.