Bloomberg The United Kingdom’s plan to grant 50 billion pounds ($61.5 billion) to companies suffering the economic effects of the coronavirus outbreak won approval from the European Commission. The EU must still police British state-aid programs because EU law is still in force during transition period as Britain exits the bloc. The EU has now cleared the UK to take ...

Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) may launch a new program to help address the global shortage of dollars, providing a backup to the Federal Reserve’s campaign to keep greenbacks flowing around the world economy. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva is preparing to offer short-term dollar loans to countries that lack enough Treasuries to participate in a Fed program that ...

Bloomberg Denmark faces a budget deficit of 6.5% of gross domestic product this year under the most optimistic scenario provided by the Danish Economic Councils, an independent government adviser. Under that scenario, GDP would fall by 3.5% this year as the economy quickly returns to normal activity, the advisory, known as the Wise Men, said in a statement on Monday. ...

Bloomberg Germany’s economy will likely shrink this quarter at more than twice the pace recorded at the height of the financial crisis, according to the country’s leading research institutes. Output is predicted to slump 9.8% in April-June period, the most since records for quarterly data began in 1970. The economy is set to contract 4.2% over the course of this ...

Bloomberg UK pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline Plc is joining dozens of companies in the hunt for coronavirus therapies, signing a partnership with Vir Biotechnology Inc. and agreeing to invest $250 million in the US company. Glaxo and Vir will work together to find experimental antibodies to treat or prevent Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, the British drugmaker said. The ...

Bloomberg In Argentine trading circles, a consensus had emerged of late that the government was likely to treat some local creditors the same way it would treat those who own its foreign bonds when widely anticipated restructuring talks finally got underway. In fact, dollar-denominated bonds issued in the local market were trading just a few weeks ago at almost the ...

Bloomberg Italy is advancing plans to gradually lift restrictions to contain the coronavirus as Europe’s exit from stringent lockdown measures takes shape. Amid tense discussions weighing political and economic pressures against public-health concerns, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government is hammering out an approach that foresees the full return to normal life taking months, according to people directly involved in the ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump said he’s considering putting a “hold” on US funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) after the agency “blew it” by failing to sound the alarm sooner about the coronavirus. “I’m not saying I’m going to do it, but we’re going to look at it,” the president said at a White House briefing on the coronavirus. ...

Bloomberg In the early days of Canada’s response to the coronavirus, before the crisis captured the full attention of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, it was still business as usual on at least one front: immigration. On March 12, the day before the Canadian parliament was suspended on concern about the spread of Covid-19, Trudeau’s immigration minister, Marco Mendicino, unveiled ...

Bloomberg Ireland handed its police sweeping powers to limit travel as part of its efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus as the nation heads into the Easter holiday. The government gave the police powers to arrest people traveling more than 2 kilometers from their home or on non-essential business. If convicted, they could face as long as six months ...