In pictures: The best business images of the past week

US president Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2015 budget proposal is captured by the after being delivered to the Senate Budget Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 4. Gary Cameron / Reuters

A bank worker takes a photograph of damage after violent protests outside the Global Forum Spain economic conference in Bilbao. Vincent West / Reuters

An attendant holds a bitcoin sign during the opening of Hong Kong’s first bitcoin retail store on February 28. Bobby Yip / Reuters

A miner from Aurelsa mining company drills stones containing gold materials in a tunnel near Relave in southern Peru. Relave is home to Aurelsa, one of the first small-scale mines in the world to produce gold certified and marketed as “ethical”. Enrique Castro-Mendivil / Reuters

A building under construction is seen in fog in Rizhao, Shandong province. China’s property market is likely to see at most a moderate correction in prices in some small cities this year. Reuters

Residents are seen in the Villa 31 slum, which has grown 50 per cent in the past four years to currently house some 40,000 people. A sharp currency devaluation in Argentina in January has worsened one of the world’s highest inflation rates. Enrique Marcarian / Reuters

Nepalese farmers carry wicker baskets of supplies as they return to their homes in the village of Khokana on the outskirts of Kathmandu, famous for its unusual mustard-oil harvesting process in which a heavy wooden beam is used to crush mustard seeds in order to extract the oil. Prakash Mathema / AFP

People sleep on a sidewalk in Buenos Aires. One in four Argentine families now rely on state welfare programs ranging from payouts for the unemployed to scholarships for poor high school students. Enrique Marcarian / Reuters

A construction crew erects scaffolding at sunset on a new housing project in Silver Spring, Maryland. Gary Cameron / Reuters

A construction worker rests on a rooftop at a housing construction project area in Bukit Raja Klang outside Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia’s government on February 28 announced that the higher threshold price for foreigners to own property will go into effect from March 1 in federal administered territories. Samsul Said / Reuters

A miner takes a break outside a tunnel near Relave, a mining village in southern Peru. Relave is home to Aurelsa, one of the first small-scale mines in the world to produce gold certified and marketed as “ethical”. Enrique Castro-Mendivil / Reuters

Indian women sort red chillies to dry at Shertha village in the western Indian state of Gujarat. A worker earns around fifteen rupees for removing the petiole of 20kg of red chili. Ajit Solanki / AP Photo

A doorman stands outside Lloyds of London. London’s financial services sector created 25 percent more jobs in February than a year ago, new data has shown. Eddie Keogh / Reuters

Passengers wait in front of a broken propaganda poster featuring “the China Dream” outside the Kunming Railway Station in Kunming, in western China. Alexander Yuan / AP Photo

A cleaner walks past a reflection of luxury fashion advertisements at a mall in Singapore. Edgar Su / Reuters

Satellite dishes of Germany’s biggest commercial broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG are reflected in the windows of their headquarters in Unterfoehring, near Munich. Michaela Rehle / Reuters

Workers walk across a footbridge towards the Canary Wharf business district in London. London’s financial services sector created 25 per cent more jobs in February than a year ago, new data has shown, indicating the industry may be recovering. Eddie Keogh / Reuters

An Afghan street vendor, left, sells spices to a customer in Kabul. Afghanistan’s economy is recovering from decades of conflict but despite the significant improvement in the last decade it is extremely poor, and highly dependent on foreign aid. Nicolas Asfouri / AFP

Hong Kong opens its first bitcoin retail store. Ethical mining in Relave, south of Peru. These are some of the most striking business stories during the past week, captured in images.