Economy

• Tuesday, May 5th 2020 - 07:02 UTC

  Half of the world's workers in danger of losing livelihoods, ILO report

  

  Half of the world's workers are in danger of having their livelihoods destroyed by the coronavirus pandemic, a United Nations agency has warned. The International Labour Organisation's updated analysis emphasizes its severe impact on people in informal work.

• Tuesday, May 5th 2020 - 07:00 UTC

  Surprise: Brazil's retailer industry finds a consolidated e-commerce sector as it gradually reopens

  

  Brazil's battered retailers are starting to reopen after weeks of coronavirus lockdown but may exit the crisis transformed, with the e-commerce sector strengthened and brick-and-mortar chains facing an uphill path to normality.

• Tuesday, May 5th 2020 - 06:58 UTC

  US prepared to borrow a record US$ 3 trillion in second quarter; national debt soared above 100% of GDP

  

  United States has said it wants to borrow a record US$ 3 trillion in the second quarter, as coronavirus-related rescue packages blow up the budget. The sum is more than five times the previous quarterly record, set at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

• Tuesday, May 5th 2020 - 06:44 UTC

  A quarter of UK employees furloughed, and companies claiming £8 billion to pay wages

  

  Around a quarter of employees in Britain have been furloughed and companies have claimed £8 billion from the government to sustain their wage bills during the coronavirus lockdown, tax authorities said on Monday.

• Tuesday, May 5th 2020 - 06:41 UTC

  Australia and New Zealand considering a “travel bubble” between the two countries

  

  New Zealand and Australia are discussing the potential creation of a “travel bubble” between the two countries, sources said on Monday, even as Australia reported its highest number of coronavirus cases in two weeks.

• Monday, May 4th 2020 - 08:07 UTC

  Argentina cannot afford to pay creditors more

  

  By Martin Guzman (*) – The following piece was published in the Sunday editions of the Financial Times, ahead of a critical countdown in May for Argentina's debts and its creditors:

• Monday, May 4th 2020 - 07:57 UTC

  Argentina willing to continue talks with bondholders; ensuring sustainability of the debt is the target

  

  Argentina is willing to keep working toward a deal to restructure its debt if an offer that expires on Friday is rejected, the economy minister said. Economy Minister Martin Guzman told Argentine daily Clarin in an interview published on Sunday that he is seeing a “growing understanding” with bondholders ahead of a May 8 deadline for the offer that creditor groups already criticized.

• Monday, May 4th 2020 - 07:41 UTC

  Buffett sold its entire stakes at the four largest US airlines: “the world has changed”

  

  Berkshire Hathaway sold its entire stakes in the four largest US airlines in April, chairman Warren Buffett said on Saturday at the company's annual meeting, saying “the world has changed” for the aviation industry.

• Saturday, May 2nd 2020 - 07:21 UTC

  Trump thinking on ways of making China accountable for the coronavirus: raising tariffs an option

  

  US President Donald Trump said on Friday raising tariffs on China is “certainly an option” as he considers ways to retaliate for the spread of the COVID-19 out of Wuhan, China.

• Saturday, May 2nd 2020 - 07:20 UTC

  Shell announced it was cutting its dividend for the first time since World War Two

  

  Royal Dutch Shell cut its dividend for the first time since World War Two on Thursday as the energy company retrenched in the face of an unprecedented drop in oil demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.