Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said all European countries can and should react “forcefully” to the economic crisis unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic, endorsing governments’ efforts to increase spending. “Fiscal deficits in Europe are said to increase by about 6% of GDP in 2020. This is large, but it’s entirely appropriate in the current crisis,” European Department Director Poul ...

Bloomberg The US government will nearly double the amount it pays hospitals and medical centers to run Abbott Laboratories’ large-scale coronavirus tests, an incentive to get facilities to hire more technicians and expand testing that fallen significantly short of machines’ potential. Abbott’s m2000 machines, which can process up to 1 million tests per week, haven’t been fully used because not ...

Bloomberg Brazil’s economic team wants to adopt a flexible fiscal target for 2021 as uncertainties caused by the novel coronavirus make it difficult to estimate the impact of the crisis, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter. The government has until April 15 to send a bill to Congress with forecasts for next year. The bill has ...