Covid-19 will hit emerging economies hard March 31, 2020 Coronavirus has stopped both the medical and economic worlds in their tracks. If last week’s preliminary data flashes are anything to go by, the global economy is en route to a recession that will surpass 2008 both in speed and in magnitude. The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) estimated last week that the [...]
How vertical farming can future-proof our food supply chain to withstand crises March 31, 2020 The spread of Covid-19 across the globe has brought to light many new challenges, from insufficiencies in healthcare to the stability of the global economy. Equally as important, but less talked about, is whether our global food supply chain is able to withstand the impact of pandemics — now and in the future. It is [...]
Don’t leave the South East behind as Britain levels up March 31, 2020 The Big Smoke dominates — our economy, our culture and our, well, pretty much everything in the UK. In Westminster, just a small corner of the behemoth that is London, life-changing decisions — for better and worse — are being made that will dramatically impact public services, businesses, and families for years to come. That [...]
Competitive sectors face the hardest hit from coronavirus March 31, 2020 The package of economic support offered by the Treasury — from a standing start — is one of the most impressive among any western country. But the cascading consequences of the coronavirus crisis mean that there are all kinds of areas where the pleas for help continue to come. Small businesses, for example, are the [...]
Standard Chartered to freeze staff and cut bonuses to weather crisis March 30, 2020 Ftse 100 bank Standard Chartered has told staff it is freezing hiring for two months and said it is likely to cut bonuses, as it grapples with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The Asia and Africa-focused bank said it would also re-prioritise discretionary investment for the time being, the company said in a memo [...]
Co-ordinated stimulus package recognises the critical role of banking to support the economy March 30, 2020 | City Talk A consistent message from financial regulators post 2008 was that the next financial crisis would look different. Few would have predicted a global health pandemic, coupled with an oil price war, would dramatically curtail economic activity. Yet while banking was not the cause of this crisis, regulators, politicians and the industry itself have quickly moved [...]
Ocado orders coronavirus testing kits for staff March 30, 2020 Ocado has purchased coronavirus testing kits for its frontline workers, who will also receive a 10 per cent bonus during the pandemic. Employees working on the frontline of the food delivery operation, such as drivers, personal shoppers, drivers, engineers, and site managers will get a bonus on all hours worked from 23 March. The online [...]
Coronavirus: Bank of England extends emergency liquidity measure March 30, 2020 The Bank of England said today it would extend an emergency liquidity measure, the three-month Contingent Term Repo Facility (CTRF), to run until the end of April and it would also hold a one-month CTRF operation each week until 1 May. The Bank reactivated the facility last week as part of its attempts to keep [...]
Sharing fake news about coronavirus should be an offence, says top Tory MP March 30, 2020 Sharing fake news related to the coronavirus outbreak on social media should be an offence, a top Tory MP said today. Damian Collins, former chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee, called for sanctions against organisations and individuals that were “maliciously, deliberately, and at scale pushing disinformation through social media networks”. [...]
Coronavirus: Mercedes-designed ventilator gets approval for NHS use March 30, 2020 Mercedes’ F1 team has designed a ventilator along with engineers and clinicians at University College London (UCL) that has been approved for use by the NHS. Around 100 of the breathing aids, which were designed and produced within 100 hours of engineers’ first meetings, will now be distributed to UCL’s hospital for clinical trials. The [...]