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Author: LS

Latest economic fallout from the new coronavirus outbreak

Today, U.S. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over the fast-spreading coronavirus to free up $50 billion in federal aid to combat a disease that has infected over 138,000 people worldwide and left more than 5,000 dead.

As far as the economic fallout is concerned, Switzerland will make 10 billion Swiss francs ($10.52 billion) available in immediate aid to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Indonesian government has prepared a 120-trillion-rupiah ($8.1 billion) stimulus package to support its economy as the spread of coronavirus disrupts global activities.

Japan’s government is expected to cut its assessment of the economy in a monthly report due later this month.

France will help all companies in which the French state has a stake to weather the coronavirus crisis, its finance minister claimed, putting the growing cost of measures to soften the economic fallout at “dozens of billions”.

Germany’s KfW state development bank has roughly half a trillion euros in support available to help support Europe’s largest economy, which risks being stricken by the coronavirus epidemic, the Economy Minister announced.

Sweden’s central bank issued that it would lend up to 500 billion crowns ($51 billion) to Swedish companies via banks

China‘s central bank cut the cash that banks must hold as reserves on Friday for the second time this year, releasing 550 billion yuan ($79 billion) to help its coronavirus-hit economy.

Conerning the markets, a gauge of stocks across the globe bounced back, led by a late rally on Wall Street, after U.S. President Donald Trump freed $50 billion to tackle the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Latest on the spread of coronavirus around the globe

 Hundreds of millions of people faced a world turned upside down on Wednesday by unprecedented emergency measures against the coronavirus pandemic that is killing the old and vulnerable and threatening prolonged economic misery.

DEATHS, INFECTIONS

The virus has infected more than 212,000 people across the world and the death toll has exceeded 8,700 in 164 nations.

AMERICAS

All 50 states in the United States have reported cases and the total number of known U.S. infections closing in on 8,000. The U.S. death toll has climbed to at least 151.

The United States and Canada closed their shared border to “non-essential traffic” on Wednesday to curb transmission of the coronavirus. Canada has decided to provide an $18.6 billion aid package directly to affected families and businesses.

On Wednesday, Mexico registered its first death from coronavirus, and Chile declared a 90-day state of catastrophe.

EUROPE

Italy reported 475 new deaths on Wednesday, the largest increase in numerical terms since the outbreak first came to light on Feb. 21. The total number of confirmed cases grew by 4,207 to 35,713.

French health authorities reported 89 new deaths from coronavirus on Wednesday, taking the total to 264 or an increase of almost 51%.

On the other hand, Switzerland has extended border controls and suspended the issue of Schengen and national visas for three months.

Ukraine, where a lawmaker tested positive, has imposed a state of emergency in the region around the capital Kiev.

Croatia will close cinemas, restaurants and bars and shops but will allow food stores, pharmacies and petrol stations to function.

ASIA

Beijing recorded 21 new cases of infections from abroad on Wednesday, mostly people travelling from Spain and Britain. The Beijing infections accounted for the bulk of the 34 new imported cases in mainland China. The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China stands at 80,928, with the overall death toll at 3,245 as of the end of Wednesday, up by eight from the previous day. In Hubei, there were eight new deaths, with Wuhan accounting for six of them.

Indonesia’s death toll jumped on Wednesday from five to 19 and Malaysia warned of “a tsunami” of cases if people did not follow new restrictions as infections surged across Southeast Asia.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

The World Health Organization said the Middle East states need urgently to offer more information about cases.

Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus climbed to 1,135 on Wednesday with 147 new deaths in the past 24 hours, while the total number of infected people across the country has reached 17,361.

Djibouti and Zambia confirmed their first cases on Wednesday.

Libya has not yet confirmed any cases of the coronavirus, Algeria recorded ten new confirmed cases of coronavirus including two deaths, according to the latest report published by the Ministry of Health. The death toll is now eight and the number of confirmed cases has reached 82 across the country.

The number of reported coronavirus cases in Tunisia rose on Thursday from 10 to 38, reported the Tunisian News Agency on Twitter.

Tripoli: Children reported killed as shelling continues

Today, the Field Medicine and Support Center (FMSC) confirmed that a woman was killed, her daughter and niece were injured when their car was hit by a missile fired by Haftar’s militia yesterday evening, on Bab Bin Ghashir area in Tripoli. Militias of Haftar intensified yesterday evening it’s shelling on the capital causing damage to neighborhoods of Abu Salim, Hadaba, Ain Zara, Ras Hassan and Bab Bin Ghashir districts.

FMSC also reported that three other children from one family were reported to have been killed as Haftar’s rockets rained down on their neighborhood in Ain Zara south of Tripoli, adding that the victims were aged between 11 and 25 years old.

Libya imposing tight restrictions to face COVID_19

Yesterday, the parallel administration controlling eastern Libya imposed a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., excluding security and emergency personnel, to stop any spread of the coronavirus, its interior ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

It should be reminded that Libya has not yet confirmed any cases of the virus, but both its internationally recognised government in Tripoli and the rival parallel administration in Benghazi have imposed tight restrictions on travel over the crisis

Oil and gas production in Libya have been consistently down

Yesterday, the NOC announced that the oil shut down had lost Libya 3,366,687,237 USD worth of revenues since January 17, 2020. Current levels of production are at 91,221 barrels a day , as of Tuesday March 17, 2020.

The NOC said that it continues to work hard to serve all Libyans in every part of the country with fuels.

Despite hardships and an illegal shut-down of many oil production and distribution facilities, NOC is still able to source and distribute enough fuels for all Libyans. This includes the Eastern region, where NOC has been sending tens of thousands of tonnes of fuels every week.

NOC has spent millions of US dollars since the start of the blockade to purchase and transport fuels into Eastern Libya.

“We call on those responsible for the illegal closures to immediately lift the imposed blockade and spare oil sector workers and citizens from more suffering. We call on the rest of the state’s bodies to maintain the remaining financial reserves and reduce their expenses as well.” NOC stated.

Ras Ajdir border crossing with Tunisia officially closed

Thursday morning, the Libyan authorities closed Ras Ajdir border crossing with Tunisia.

It should be noted that even the Libyans returning to Libya will not be allowed to cross the border.

On March 15, 2020, authorities took an action in order to control the spread of the new Coronavirus via allowing Tunisians stranded in Libya to cross Ras Ajdir and vice versa for the Libyans.

Italy: 475 new deaths in 24 hours

The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has surged in the last 24 hours by 475 to 2,978, an increase of 19%, the biggest jump in numerical terms since the contagion came to light last month, officials announced yesterday.

The total number of cases in Italy, the European country hardest hit by the virus, rose to 35,713 from a previous 31,506, up 13.35%, the Civil Protection Agency said.

Of those originally infected, 4,025 had fully recovered compared to 2,941 the day before. Some 2,257 people were in intensive care against a previous 2,060.

World Health Organization: Africa should ‘prepare for the worst’

frica should “prepare for the worst” as the Coronavirus  begins to spread locally, the World Health Organization’s director-general said Wednesday, while South Africa became the continent’s new focus of concern as cases nearly doubled to 116 from two days before.

South Africa’s health minister, Zweli Mkhize, this week called that kind of rate “explosive” in the country with the most cases in sub-Saharan Africa. Fourteen of the latest cases were from local transmission — and six were in children under 10.

Though the pandemic is in its early days on the continent, health experts have warned that even facilities in Africa’s richest nation could be overwhelmed by the virus’ spread.

“I think Africa should wake up. My continent should wake up,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who comes from Ethiopia.

Crowded conditions in poor areas could lead to even faster transmission, experts say. Countless South Africans continue to pack into commuter trains and minivan taxis. But the annual pilgrimage of the Zion Christian Church, which attracts about 3 million people, was cancelled.

“We have low-income workers who cannot afford to self-isolate or take time off work,” said public health expert Dr. Atiya Mosam, who also worried about the large population without clean water or sanitation or vulnerable from HIV or tuberculosis.

Others asked how a person can self-quarantine in a crowded slum. The continent has several of the world’s fastest-growing cities.

Despite widespread calls for “social distancing,” a cashier at a popular pharmacy in Johannesburg confided that some customers found it rude when she suggested they swipe their payment cards themselves to limit contact. Elsewhere in the store a shopper determinedly filled a cardboard box with “anti-germ” soap, and hand sanitizer was out of stock despite calls to stop panic buying.

Also Wednesday, sub-Saharan Africa saw its second death from COVID-19, in Burkina Faso, which has one of the continent’s highest number of cases but has not imposed measures such as closing borders or banning religious services. Sudan previously reported a death.

In Kenya, police said a man accused of having the coronavirus was beaten to death. A police report obtained by The Associated Press said the man was returning home from a night out Wednesday when a group of youth approached and “took advantage of his drunkenness.”

In Ethiopia, the U.S. Embassy noted a rise in anti-foreigner sentiment after cases emerged there. “Reports indicate that foreigners have been attacked with stones, denied transportation services, being spat on, chased on foot, and been accused of being infected with COVID-19,” a security alert said.

Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, announced restrictions on the entry of travelers from countries with more than 1,000 coronavirus cases, including China and the U.S., and suspended visas on arrival for their citizens.

Nigeria has had eight cases of the virus, all in people recently arrived from abroad — one of the latest a 6-week-old baby. The country said one of the new patients, an American, had entered via a land border, a first.

Three other African nations announced their first virus cases: Gambia, Zambia and Djibouti. Thirty-three of Africa’s 54 countries now have cases, with a total of at least 529 midday Wednesday.

Somalia, which announced its first case this week, closed schools and universities for two weeks and warned against public gatherings as the country with one of Africa’s weakest health systems tries to stop the virus’ spread.

“This is really a very scary moment,” said Hassan Kafi, a medical student in the capital, Mogadishu. The country has suffered from nearly three decades of conflict.

Uganda, which has no cases, banned travel to the worst-affected countries. It also suspended religious gatherings and restricted the number of people at weddings to 10 in a country known for mass ceremonies.

Health experts from some 20 African nations participated in a video conference with doctors in China on how to contain the virus.

“This is an extremely important step in terms of knowledge share,” said Kenya’s cabinet health secretary, Mutahi Kagwe.

Libya: latest adopted measures to face Coronavirus

Both Libyan ‘‘governments’’ have announced that the suspected seven cases across the country put into quarantine last week had all proved negative. These were; two cases in Benghazi, two in Misrata, one in Zliten, one in Zawia and one suspected case in Amal oilfield.

All educational institutions were closed for two weeks, with the possibility of extension, and all sports and cultural activities and gatherings to be halted as well as wedding / occasions halls are to be closed.

Cafes and restaurants with ”a high standard of hygiene” are allowed to open until 4 pm while all other establishments and shisha establishments are to be closed. Mosques are also to be closed for prayers. The state internet company has been urged to provide reduced internet packages to enable increased internet use from homes.

Meanwhile, the government in eastern Libya had also put into action a state of emergency plan to mitigate the virus. Its border closures come into effect next Thursday, however. It has also set up its own virus testing lab to avoid the time-wasting process of sending samples to Tripoli.

The Crisis Committee, which was formed by the Presidential Council to handle the Coronavirus epidemic, has followed up on the preventative, curative and informative measures taken to address the disease.

The Committee discussed at a meeting held Tuesday in Tripoli, the conditions for Libyans stranded abroad, methods of providing for the needs of displaced persons and the basic needs of all citizens, which included the financial aid needed to meet all of these issues.

On the other hand, the President of the Presidential Council, Fayez Sarraj and the Speaker of the House of Representatives (HOR), Hamouda Sayala, met with the Mayors of Greater Tripoli, as well as the Western, Central and Southern regions on Tuesday in Tripoli.

The meeting took place to discuss the latest developments on the Coronavirus and the Municipalities preparation to confront it, along with the transfer of funds to the local councils to disperse funding.

75 million dinars was agreed for assisting the various municipalities, which Sarraj announced was to be deducted from the half billion-dinar emergency fund.

Dollar slips as liquidity measures seem to ease funding squeeze

The dollar edged down today amid signs central bank measures were beginning to ease some of the funding squeeze, although it retained most of its whopping overnight gains on mounting fears about the fallout from the coronavirus crisis.

The pound and safe-haven yen made the best efforts at recovery, with the pound gaining 0.5% to $1.2110 and the yen up 0.5% to 107.18 per dollar.

The Australian dollar scraped back over $0.60 and the New Zealand dollar rose 0.3%, after being trampled in the dollar’s tear.

Yet all majors are well below week-ago levels as investors sell nearly everything for dollars and businesses draw down loans and hoard cash to ride out the crisis.

The world is adopting a war footing as the pandemic spreads and country after country announces draconian lockdowns. The virus has killed over 8,000 people globally, while the total number of cases is approaching 200,000.

The euro bobbled between flat and a little firmer at $1.1021 and against a basket of currencies the dollar was a tad weaker at 99.289.

Nevertheless, few expect the dollar demand to disappear, or for languishing export-exposed currencies to rebound far.

The Australian dollar has lost more than 14% against the greenback this year and fell below 60 cents for the first time since 2003 overnight. It last sat at $0.6019, and the kiwi stood at $0.5959.