Coronavirus puts 'fragile' global recovery at risk: IMF to G20
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The deadly coronavirus epidemic could put an already fragile global economic recovery at risk, the IMF warned Sunday, as G20 financial chiefs voiced "real concern" over its economic ripple effects.
But the projected recovery was "fragile", she warned, amid global alarm over rising
"The COVID-19 virus
The virus has now claimed
Paris on Friday announced a host of measures to assist French companies affected by the fallout from the epidemic.
"We are ready to take any additional measures
"The risk
EU economic affairs commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said the G20 was ready to react with "pro-growth policies" to
"The main risk is the outbreak of the coronavirus and the consequences that this outbreak" could have
'Stark reminder'
At the meeting in Saudi Arabia, the first Arab nation to hold the G20 presidency, financial leaders also discussed ways to achieve consensus on a global taxation system for the digital era.
Several leaders including Le Maire voiced hope for a "technical agreement" to tax digital giants
Le Maire said climate change was also part of the G20 discussion for the first time in three years.
But the impact from the new coronavirus outbreak formed the core of the discussions, along with an action plan to shield the world economy
The gathered financial leaders vowed to "enhance global risk monitoring" of the outbreak, according to the G20 final communique.
"We stand ready to take further action to address these risks," it said.
Georgieva told the Riyadh gathering that the outbreak would shave about 0.1 percentage points from global growth and constrain China's growth to 5.6 percent this year, in a baseline scenario.
"I reported to the G20 that even
The IMF projects a "V-shaped, rapid recovery" for the global economy, but given the uncertainty around the spread of the virus, Georgieva urged the financial leaders to prepare for "more adverse scenarios".
She warned the global economy faced other risks including rising debt levels in some countries, but
"COVID-19 is a stark reminder of our interconnections and the need to work together," Georgieva said. "
Follow this page for updates on a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that has struck dozens of people in China.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says on Sunday that he had contracted COVID-19, testing positive at a key point in his flailing campaign for re-election.
Hipkins saYS on his official social media feed that he would need to isolate for up to five days -- less than two weeks before his country's general election.
The leader of the centre-left Labour Party said he started to experience cold symptoms on Saturday and had cancelled most of his weekend engagements. — AFP
The World Health Organization and US health authorities say Friday they are closely monitoring a new variant of COVID-19, although the potential impact of BA.2.86 is currently unknown.
The WHO classified the new variant as one under surveillance "due to the large number (more than 30) of spike gene mutations it carries", it wrote in a bulletin about the pandemic late Thursday.
So far, the variant has only been detected in Israel, Denmark and the United States. — AFP
The World Health Organization says on Friday that the number of new COVID-19 cases reported worldwide rose by 80% in the last month, days after designating a new "variant of interest".
The WHO declared in May that Covid is no longer a global health emergency, but has warned that the virus will continue to circulate and mutate, causing occasional spikes in infections, hospitalisations and deaths.
In its weekly update, the UN agency said that nations reported nearly 1.5 million new cases from July 10 to August 6, an 80% increase compared to the previous 28 days. — AFP
The head of US intelligence says that there was no evidence that the COVID-19 virus was created in the Chinese government's Wuhan research lab.
In a declassified report, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) says they had no information backing recent claims that three scientists at the lab were some of the very first infected with COVID-19 and may have created the virus themselves.
Drawing on intelligence collected by various member agencies of the US intelligence community (IC), the ODNI report says some scientists at the Wuhan lab had done genetic engineering of coronaviruses similar to COVID-19. — AFP
Boris Johnson deliberately misled MPs over Covid lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street when he was prime minister, a UK parliament committee ruled on Thursday.
The cross-party Privileges Committee said Johnson, 58, would have been suspended as an MP for 90 days for "repeated contempts (of parliament) and for seeking to undermine the parliamentary process".
But he avoided any formal sanction by his peers in the House of Commons by resigning as an MP last week.
In his resignation statement last Friday, Johnson pre-empted publication of the committee's conclusions, claiming a political stitch-up, even though the body has a majority from his own party.
He was unrepentant again on Thursday, accusing the committee of being "anti-democratic... to bring about what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination".
Calling it "beneath contempt", he said it was "for the people of this to decide who sits in parliament, not Harriet Harman", the veteran opposition Labour MP who chaired the seven-person committee. — AFP
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