“The world’s rich economies experienced the deepest contraction in at least six decades in the spring, according to fresh data published Wednesday, while continuing outbreak of the novel coronavirus mean their path back to pre-pandemic levels of output likely will be fraught…
“there are already signs that resurgent infection rates and the freshly imposed restrictions designed to contain them are weighing on growth, and will continue to do so until a vaccine becomes widely available.
“…the speed of the recovery will depend on how many jobs are lost and how many businesses go bust as a consequence of weaker levels of activity.” [no kidding!]
“Despite “a lot of strength in the economy,” millions of U.S. workers displaced from restaurant, travel, and similar jobs will struggle to find new employment and need steady support from the government, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday, warning a full jobs recovery could take years.”
“The UK was the hardest hit by Covid-19 among major economies from April to June, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has said…
“Its 20.4% contraction was well above the 9.8% drop for the 37 OECD nations as a whole, the think tank said.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53918568
“Germany has scrapped plans to discuss Brexit at a high-level diplomatic meeting next week because there has not been “any tangible progress” in talks, as Brussels laments a “completely wasted” summer.
“EU officials now believe the UK government is prepared to risk a no-deal exit when the transition period comes to an end on 31 December, and will try to pin the blame on Brussels if talks fail.”
“The Irish Sea border means chaos looms, even with a Brexit deal.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/24/irish-sea-border-chaos-brexit-northern-ireland
““…for Turkey the currency crisis, the second in less than two years, combined with the pandemic, presents a heightened risk of economic collapse.
“…International investors are alarmed by the financial maneuvering and flood of cheap credit that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used to prop up the lira and fuel economic growth.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/27/business/turkey-currency-crisis.html
“Lebanon is in such a deep political and economic crisis the country risks collapsing altogether, France’s foreign minister said Thursday, ahead of the French president’s visit to the country next week.”
“Israelis walking through central Tel Aviv were surprised Wednesday after protesters placed dozens of gravestones in Rabin Square outside the city hall representing business that had gone bankrupt…
“Protesters aimed to use the tombstones to illustrate the economic difficulty in which tens of thousands of Israelis have been living for many months.”
https://worldisraelnews.com/gravestones-placed-in-central-tel-aviv-protest-economic-crisis/
“India’s deepest recession on record will linger through the rest of this year and begin to lift only in early 2021 as a rapid surge in the coronavirus spread squelches a nascent rebound in consumption and business activity, a Reuters poll showed…
“The coronavirus is spreading faster in India than anywhere else in the world, with more than 3.3 million people already infected…”
“A national campaign to curb mounting food waste in China is feeding speculation that the supply outlook is worse than the government admits and fueling warnings food could become another front in the worsening US-China rivalry.
“President Xi Jinping started the “Operation Empty Plate” drive in mid-August…”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1725141/business-economy
“Mexico’s economy could contract by almost 13% this year, the central bank warned on Wednesday, after GDP data showed the pandemic lockdown had thrown the country into the deepest slump since the Great Depression.”
“Peru’s mining-driven economy, one of the hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, is expected to contract 12% this year – its deepest plunge in three decades, the economy ministry said on Thursday.
“The Andean country hasn’t taken such a hit since a 12.3% contraction in 1989, said Economy Minister María Antonieta Alva.”
“The Argentine government has taken a harsh approach to the coronavirus from the start—but the economic costs are now coming due, with disastrous consequences.
“When most Latin American countries were just becoming aware of the looming threat, Argentina was already closing its doors… the fierceness of the measures, experts warn, will have effects for years to come.”
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/27/argentina-economy-crumbles-buenos-aires-lockdown-continues/
“Moody’s Investors Service, (“Moody’s”) has changed the outlook to negative from stable on the Government of Chile…
“The negative outlook reflects increasing risks to Chile’s fiscal strength.”
“Populist leaders often use moments of crisis to advance authoritarian agendas.
“The “perfect storm” currently engulfing Latin America — a lethal combination of political instability combined with health and economic crises — is just such a moment.”
https://www.ft.com/content/36a0ff50-8c03-433d-9d2e-8eb1925ca91a
“…the liquidity being injected into the banking system is staying in the financial circuit of the economy, but is not working its way into the production of real output for the economy…
“The massive debt levels being created will not necessarily lead us into some kind of financial collapse, although that scenario is not entirely out of the question.”
[financial collapse is inevitable unless robust and renewed growth can start reducing debt levels but the global economy was already struggling to grow *before* the pandemic].
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4370890-credit-inflation-is-alive-and-well-in-europe
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