Bloomberg Europe is likely to experience a more severe recession than the rest of the world, but growth should start in the second half of the year, the European Central Bank’s vice president said. A genuine recovery might take until 2021, but the first signs of growth should be visible starting in the third quarter of the year, Luis de ...

Bloomberg The UK government’s overdraft extension at the Bank of England (BOE) shows that the coronavirus pandemic will be so costly that even the country’s leadership is worrying about how to finance it. As the UK unleashes the biggest fiscal stimulus in decades, the concern is that its borrowing strains the ability of debt markets to soak it up, pushing ...

Bloomberg Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., (OCBC) Southeast Asia’s second-largest bank, has joined some global peers in pledging it won’t lay off staff due to the coronavirus pandemic. “We do not plan to have retrenchment exercise arising from this outbreak,” Chief Executive Officer Samuel Tsien said in a recent memo to employees. Despite the expected hit to the bank’s revenue growth, Singapore-based ...

Bloomberg Now that Japan’s government is urging consumers and businesses to step up efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak, shoppers may finally have no excuse but to embrace e-commerce and wean themselves from brick-and-mortar stores. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and six other areas last week. In response, Uniqlo clothing owner Fast Retailing Co, ...

Bloomberg Air France-KLM has asked the French state for an immediate cash injection to help the troubled carrier stay afloat in the next four to five months, according to Les Echos newspaper. The cash injection, which could represent “many billions” of euros, would come on top of state-backed loans worth about 6 billion euros ($6.5 billion) the company is currently ...

Bloomberg The Australian government is in contact with Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd management and wants to make sure there is a competitive airline industry when people are allowed to start travelling again after the coronavirus pandemic. Australian travellers are not expected to be able to head overseas until at least the end of this year, although there may be easing ...

Bloomberg The coronavirus pandemic has brought the global aviation industry to its knees, and African carriers are particularly vulnerable as they seek assistance from governments already facing constrained finances. Ethiopian Airlines Group, South African Airways and Kenya Airways are among national airlines staring at mounting losses and the destruction of growth plans put in place before the Covid-19 outbreak. African ...

Bloomberg The European Commission approved measures from Belgium and Sweden to help the airline industry as it struggles to weather the economic fallout from the coronavirus. It gave antitrust clearance to Sweden’s 455 million euro ($497 million) loan-guarantee scheme to support airlines that hold the nation’s commercial aviation license at least as of January 1. It also welcomed a Belgian ...

Bloomberg Russia “sincerely hopes” that a consensus on oil-output cuts will be formalised among the world’s biggest producers as talks to rescue global energy markets continue after Mexico balked at proposed measures, Interfax reports, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The Opec+ coalition, including Russia, were closing in on an unprecedented agreement to lower global crude production by about 10% after ...

Bloomberg A vaccine against the coronavirus pandemic could be ready by September, according to a scientist leading one of Britain’s most advanced teams. Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at Oxford University, told The Times on Saturday that she is “80% confident” the vaccine would work, and could be ready by September. Experts have warned the public that vaccines typically take ...