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Bloomberg Companies in India are scrambling to ensure that the millions who staff the back offices of Wall Street banks and take on work outsourced by firms from airlines to insurers can keep going as the nation mandates increased work from home amid a spike in coronavirus cases. UBS Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG and other global giants are working ...

Bloomberg Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha said a state of emergency will be declared for a month from March 26 as the government steps up efforts to fight the novel coronavirus outbreak. The premier made the announcement on Tuesday after a Cabinet meeting in Bangkok. The decree will give him broad powers to impose further curbs on every-day life, under ...

Bloomberg India will have enough grain stockpiles to feed its poor for at least a year-and-a-half as reserves are likely to further balloon after record harvests in the South Asian nation that has been locked down to check the spread of the coronavirus. There will be no food shortage in the second-most populous country, DV Prasad, chairman of state-run Food ...

Bloomberg China’s Hubei province said it will allow transportation to resume for the city of Wuhan on April 8, effectively lifting a mass quarantine over the city where the coronavirus first emerged last December. People in Wuhan will be allowed to leave the city and Hubei province, according to a statement on the provincial government’s website on Tuesday. The easing ...

Bloomberg About a 40-minute drive to the east of China’s capital, Beijing Aeonmed Co has been working around the clock since January 20. After meeting the country’s needs two weeks ago, its factory lines have been working flat out on orders from overseas for its lifesaving ventilators. With three shifts and even research and development staff working the production line, ...

Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it expects a global recession this year that will be at least as severe as the downturn during the financial crisis more than a decade ago, followed by a recovery in 2021. Nearly 80 countries have asked the Washington-based IMF for emergency finance, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement following a ...

Bloomberg AT&T Inc. is in discussions with banks for a new $5 billion term loan as it seeks alternative short-term financing options following a spike in commercial-paper costs, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks are still in flux and details may change, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. The ...

Bloomberg The UK has pledged more fiscal stimulus to fight the economic fallout from the coronavirus than during the global financial crisis a decade ago, underscoring the scale of the threat posed by the pandemic. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has allocated a total of almost 57 billion pounds ($66 billion) in direct support since the budget on March 11, ...

Bloomberg Germany’s economy is heading for a steep recession as attempts to slow the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic sent the services sector into an unprecedented slump. IHS Markit’s gauge of manufacturing and services activity plunged in March. It signals GDP in euro area’s biggest economy could drop by around 2% in first quarter — with worse to come. “The ...

Bloomberg Canada’s economic heartland is shutting down as Ontario and Quebec step up efforts to slow down the coronavirus outbreak. The two provinces, which together account for about 57% of the country’s economy, have ordered non-essential businesses to close by the end of Tuesday. The order is set to run for two weeks in Ontario and three in Quebec. “We’re ...