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Bloomberg Hong Kong’s government will introduce a second round of financial assistance for businesses affected by the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung. The subsidies from the Epidemic Prevention Fund would aim to protect workers, Cheung wrote in a blog on Sunday that didn’t provide details of the plan or a timeline. The government announced its first ...

Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) asked the leaders of world’s biggest economies for more support to keep the international monetary system from seizing up due to the pandemic. The IMF sought backing to create a sizable quantity of reserve assets called SDRs, or special drawing rights, as it did in the 2009 global financial crisis, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva ...

Bloomberg General Motors Co. (GM) agreed to a $120 million settlement over faulty ignition switches that allegedly caused cars to stall and air bags to deploy, in some cases triggering fatal accidents. The deal, which must be approved by a judge, would resolve hundreds of lawsuits filed before the automaker sought bankruptcy protection in 2009. Under the settlement, which was ...

Bloomberg The French government said it will cut or withhold financial support from companies paying dividends and urged boards to preserve liquidity to support staff and operations amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus. All companies that have delayed tax payments will have to reimburse the state and pay penalties if they proceed with dividends, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire ...

Bloomberg Italy’s coronavirus death toll topped 10,000 and Spain posted record fatalities, signalling that lockdowns in Europe won’t be lifted anytime soon while its leaders split along economic fault lines. Deaths in Italy slowed to 889 from a record 969 on March 27 and the 5,974 new infections were similar to the previous day’s level. Spain suffered another 832 deaths. ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, spoke over the phone with Indonesian President Joko Widodo and discussed the latest regional and global developments as well as bilateral and multilateral efforts being taken to contain the impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) ...

DUBAI / WAM Khalfan Juma Belhoul, CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) emphasised the Foundation’s role, now more than ever, in leveraging on its initiatives, partnerships and in-house talents in order to find innovative and effective solutions that support the UAE’s efforts to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. Dubai Future Foundation is acting in line with the directives of ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The Federal Authority For Government Human Resources (FAHR) will activate the Remote Work System for all ministries, authorities, and federal institutions, effective from Sunday (March 29] for a renewable period of two weeks. According to the decision, which will be subject to revision and reassessment, a maximum of 30 percent of the workforce of each entity ...

DUBAI / WAM In support of “Stay Home” initiative, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) in the UAE issued a circular to the telecommunications companies to put on hold the suspension and disconnection of mobile services due to the expiry of the supporting documents and the Emirates ID. Accordingly, mobile service of subscribers with expired ID documents will not be disconnected ...

Bloomberg China’s top leaders pledged to widen the fiscal deficit and sell sovereign debt, signalling that Beijing is preparing larger-scale stimulus to counter the economic fallout from the coronavirus. China will increase its fiscal deficit as a share of gross domestic product, issue special sovereign debt and allow local governments to sell more infrastructure bonds as part of a package ...