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Euro zone growth in 2010 could be closer to zero after a volatile second quarter threatens to dash previous estimates of 1 percent, U.S. economist Nouriel Roubini said on Sunday.

An International Monetary Fund mission said on Saturday it had agreed to recommend a loan of $14.9 billion for Ukraine in a deal to help fill the country's budget gap and boost investor confidence.

Ukraine came closer on Saturday to winning a bailout from the International Monetary Fund as an IMF mission said it would recommend lending $14.9 billion in a deal to help fill Ukraine's budget gap and boost investor confidence.

Russia's gold reserve holdings climbed to 703.1 tons in May, after adding another 22.5 tons between April and May, according to latest IMF data. Russia had purchased almost a hundred tons of gold in recent months. In April alone, world's largest country purchased 27.6 tons of gold.

The International Monetary Fund is working to develop new lending instruments for economies hit by crises that are not of their own making, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Tuesday.

A new United Nations report released on Tuesday calls for abandoning the U.S. dollar as the main global reserve currency, saying it has been unable to safeguard value. The dollar has proved not to be a stable store of value, which is a requisite for a stable reserve currency, the U.N. World Economic and Social Survey 2010 said.

Group of 20 leaders pledged on Sunday to push for agreement on greater voting power for emerging economic powers in the International Monetary Fund by the next summit in Seoul, South Korea, in early November.

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said on Sunday the G20 nations' target to halve their deficits by 2013 was not as important as the measures they implement to reduce debt.

World leaders agreed on Sunday to take different paths for cutting budget deficits and making their banking systems safer, a reflection of the uneven and fragile economic recovery in many countries.

Greece's central bank chief said on Monday that fiscal and structural measures within the EU/IMF support package for Greece will help to return the country's economy to growth and with sustainable public finances.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner welcomed China's decision on Saturday to make its yuan exchange rate more flexible, but said the test is how far and how fast they let the currency appreciate.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Saturday he welcomed China's decision to make its yuan exchange rate more flexible, and called for vigorous implementation of the change.

Europe's fiscal problems are a risk that will have some effect on U.S. growth during the rest of this year and 2011, U.S. Federal Reserve vice chairman Donald Kohn said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Finger-pointing at the G20 will be self-defeating for an international forum that should be focused on coordination, not criticism, of economic policies, a senior Chinese government official said.

Finger-pointing at the G20 will be self-defeating for an international forum that should be focused on coordination, not criticism, of economic policies, a senior Chinese government official said.

The European Commission on Wednesday denied a report that the European Union, the IMF and the U.S. Treasury were drawing up a liquidity plan for Spain including a credit line of up to 250 billion euros ($335 billion).

The European Union, the IMF and the U.S. Treasury are drawing up a liquidity plan for Spain which includes a credit line of up to 250 billion euros ($335 billion), newspaper El Economista reported on Wednesday, citing sources which it said were close to the issuing entity.

The European Union, the IMF and the U.S. Treasury are drawing up a liquidity plan for Spain which includes a credit line of up to 250 billion euros ($335 billion), newspaper El Economista reported on Wednesday, citing sources which it said were close to the issuing entity.

The global financial crisis appears to be in its final stages, although some countries are still experiencing a recession, Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer said at an International Monetary Fund-World Bank meeting on Sunday.

Europe's debt crisis could disrupt global trade, hurting demand for Asian exports and sending hot money into the region if policymakers fail to act swiftly and appropriately, a top IMF official said on Wednesday.

European Union finance ministers said on Tuesday they must do more to restrain spending and contain a debt crisis that threatens to spread to countries that do not use the euro such as Hungary and Britain.

European Union finance ministers said on Tuesday they must do more to restrain spending and contain a debt crisis that threatens to spread to countries that do not use the euro such as Hungary and Britain.

Finance ministers from the debt-stricken euro zone sought to restore financial markets' confidence on Monday by agreeing how to deploy a vast anti-contagion program if needed by struggling members.

Hungary's government said on Saturday it aimed to meet this year's budget deficit target, seeking to draw a line under exaggerated talk of a possible Greek-style debt crisis that has unnerved global markets.

China's currency policies were spared a specific mention in the Group of 20 communique on Saturday, but U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the IMF kept up pressure for a stronger yuan.

G20 finance ministers and central bankers will endorse efforts to douse the euro zone's debt crisis but are far apart on the contentious issue of a global bank levy, a senior South Korean official said on Friday.

Pakistan's central bank governor said on Thursday he has stepped down for personal reasons, increasing concerns about political instability as the country faces IMF pressure to reform its economy. Salim Raza was the second senior policy-maker to quit in Pakistan this year following Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin's resignation in February.

Disagreements over how quickly to reduce billowing budget deficits and restore balance to the global economy risk straining high-level Group of 20 talks that started on Thursday.

In the last few months, speculation has been rife in bullion markets around the world that China will be buying the gold that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is disposing of these days. But is China buying the IMF gold? It looks, despite the hype about Chinese plans to amass gold reserves in place of the US dollar, the dragon country is not in a mood to buy gold from IMF.