“Beirut Gov. Massan Abboud told Agence France-Presse that at least 300,000 residents have been made homeless as a result of the explosion, and damage to the city is tallied so far at $3 billion.
“Lebanon’s Director of Islamic Relief, Nidali Ali, told the BBC that “catastrophic” shortages of food are expected over the next two months.”
“The US economy is suffering an even bigger shock than after the 9/11 terror attacks or the 2008 financial crisis.
“What will happen next for America’s economic scene? It appears a depression may be here because of the pandemic and poor policy decisions.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1715091
“America’s fragile jobs market recovery, after just two months of improvement, appears to be losing steam as Covid-19 infections rise and federal funds for businesses begin to dry up…
“Although most economists say the pace of the recovery slowed in July, some say it reversed.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/05/economy/july-jobs-report-preview/index.html
“Losing a $600 boost to weekly unemployment benefits puts 6 million people at risk of not being able to pay their bills this month, a new survey found.
“That financial hardship comes at a time when jobs are hard to find, lawmakers are at an impasse over continuing federal jobless aid and eviction moratoriums have expired in around 30 states.
“A federal moratorium ended in late July.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/05/the-600-unemployment-boost-leaves-6-million-without-enough-cash.html
“The Fed’s [huge bond-buying spree], coupled with heightened investor demand in the face of a dimming economic outlook, have helped to push Treasury yields to all-time lows, but the coming wave of issuance of longer-dated debt could alter this dynamic, strategists say.
“Moreover, they warn that the borrowing estimates put forward by the Treasury — an additional $2.2tn by the end of the year — could swell even further if yet another fiscal stimulus package beyond the one currently under debate is delivered.”
https://www.ft.com/content/c1d0847f-1f9a-4304-8413-5d64501c2ef4
“The UK is drowning in private debt. At least £6bn of household debt – and probably much more – has been racked up by 4.6m people during the pandemic. More than one in eight people on furlough have defaulted on a payment… There will be no “V-shaped recovery” – and recognising the scale of over-indebtedness is key to understanding why.
“UK households and businesses were already over-indebted before the pandemic… This made our economy extremely fragile – even more so than before the crash of 2008.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/05/uk-private-debt-crisis-recession-coronavirus
“UK recruiters are reporting the steepest rise in the number of people seeking work since the depths of the financial crisis, as companies dismiss staff who had previously been furloughed.
“The increase in the supply of temporary staff in July was the biggest in 23 years of records, according to the Recruitment & Employment Confederation.”
https://www.ft.com/content/2a056fbc-7e63-4b9e-bb0d-2045836a4b03
“The coronavirus pandemic will cost nearly three million travel and tourism jobs in the UK because of the collapse of the industry, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council.
“Bosses described the job losses as ‘heartbreaking’ and warned that positions were ‘disappearing by the day’.”
“The holiday island of Cyprus had hoped British tourists would give a badly-needed boost to its pandemic-hit tourism sector, but only a trickle of sun-seekers have arrived.
“2020 is a lost season,” said beach bar manager Giannis Aggelopoulos in the resort town of Larnaca…”
““We need at least 100 charter flights a day,” says Plamen Kopchev, head of the hotel owners’ association in Bulgaria’s Black Sea resort of Sunny Beach, laid waste by the coronavirus pandemic.
“But the trouble is, only a fraction of those flights have been arriving, a disaster for a resort Kopchev explains “is made for mass tourism”…”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1715306/business-economy
“China’s 290 million migrant workers have been the hardest hit by the coronavirus having already been under pressure from the US-China trade war.
“One worker, Rao Dequn, has worked for 25 years in Chinese factories making goods for overseas markets, but will lose her job in less than a month.”
“China’s efforts to curb predatory lending to the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises could harm the sector rather than helping it by cutting off access to crucial finance, analysts have warned.
“Multiple shadow banking lenders have told the Financial Times they would stop servicing medium to high-risk borrowers after the Supreme Court announced a plan last month to “significantly” cut the interest rate shadow banks could charge.”
I look forward to the inevitable Netflix movie about Wirecard:
“A German businessman responsible for one of Wirecard’s biggest sources of stated profits has been reported dead a month after Philippine authorities announced he was under investigation over the payments company’s collapse…
“Wirecard collapsed in June after saying €1.9bn purportedly held in escrow accounts in the Philippines did not exist.”
https://www.ft.com/content/a22f372e-87bc-4cfd-8caf-052a98dc873f
“Five months since the coronavirus outbreak began in Africa, the impact is clearly visible across the continent, with massive job losses, indefinite closure of businesses and increasing poverty rates…
“…some businesses were already grappling with various challenges before the advent of coronavirus, the pandemic has worsened the situation…”
http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202008/05/WS5f2aaee8a31083481725e733.html
“The growing number of uneducated youths is a significant burden on the economy as this demographic is likely to struggle amidst an economic downturn. To worsen the situation, most of the approximately 40 million SMEs in the country, where young people find employment, have also been badly hit by the pandemic and necessary restrictions to business activity.
“To summarise, Nigeria is in a precarious position.”
“Poverty in Argentina is set to rise sharply this year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but the rate was already climbing amid a recession since 2018 and high inflation…
“Experts say half the country’s population could be plunged into poverty this year.”
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/argentines-battle-rising-poverty-hunger-120546938.html
“Expiring emergency payments to millions of low-paid Brazilians and the likely restoration of growth-choking austerity measures, as unemployment rises, risk torpedoing growing optimism that Latin America’s economy may not tank as much as feared.”
“Against masks and lockdowns: Wave of anti-coronavirus protests swept the world…
“Over the weekend in Berlin, about 20 thousand people violated quarantine: they took off their masks and marched against government measures.
“A similar thing happened in several cities in the Netherlands, and in Serbia a couple of weeks ago demonstrators pelted the police with stones during a rally against the curfew.”
“…this depression arrived at a time when the economic fundamentals in many countries—including many of the world’s poorest—were already weakening. In part as a result of this prior instability, more sovereign borrowers have been downgraded by rating agencies this year than in any year since 1980.
“Corporate downgrades are on a similar trajectory, which bodes ill for governments, since private-sector mistakes often become public-sector obligations. As a result, even those states that prudently manage their resources might find themselves underwater…
“The shadow of this crisis will be long and dark…”
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