LONDON, England – E3 countries France, Germany and the UK expressed their full solidarity with all impacted by COVID-19 in Iran, are providing a comprehensive package of both material and financial support to combat the rapid spread of the disease; while the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said Monday, global economy faces the gravest threat since the crisis as COVID-19 spreads.
The E3 material assistance will be transported urgently by plane on March 2 and will include equipment for laboratory tests, as well as other equipment, including protective body suits and gloves.
The E3 has also committed to providing urgent additional financial support close to €5 million to fight the COVID-19 epidemic affecting Iran, through the World Health Organisation (WHO) or other United Nations (UN) agencies.
Covid-19 is spreading from China to other regions causing human suffering and economic disruption. It is raising health concerns and the risk of wider restrictions on the movement of people, goods, and services, falls in business and consumer confidence and slowing production, according to the OECD’s latest interim economic outlook.
The interim outlook presents both a best-case scenario in which the extent of the coronavirus is broadly contained and a “domino” prospect of contagion that is more widespread. In both cases, the OECD calls on governments to act immediately to limit the spread of the coronavirus, protect people and businesses from its effects and shore up demand in the economy.
Even in the best-case scenario of limited outbreaks in countries outside China, a sharp slowdown in world growth is expected in the first half of 2020 as supply chains and commodities are hit, tourism drops and confidence falters. Global economic growth is seen falling to 2.4 percent for the whole year, compared to an already weak 2.9 percent in 2019. It is then expected to rise to a modest 3.3 percent in 2021.
Growth prospects for China have been revised down sharply to below five percent this year after 6.1 percent in 2019.
But broader contagion across the wider Asia-Pacific region and advanced economies – as has happened in China – could cut global growth to as low as 1.5 percent this year, halving the OECD’s previous 2020 projection from last November. Containment measures and loss of confidence would hit production and spending and drive some countries into recession, including Japan and the euro area.
Presenting the interim outlook in Paris, OECD chief economist Laurence Boone said: “The virus risks giving a further blow to a global economy that was already weakened by trade and political tensions. Governments need to act immediately to contain the epidemic, support the health care system, protect people, shore up demand and provide a financial lifeline to households and businesses that are most affected.”
The outlook says that flexible working should be used to preserve jobs. Governments should implement temporary tax and budgetary measures to cushion the impact in sectors most affected by the downturn such as travel and tourism, and the automobile and electronic industries.
In the most affected countries, adequate liquidity needs to be provided to allow banks to help companies with cash-flow problems while containment measures are in force, it adds.
If the epidemic spreads widely, the G20 economies should lead an internationally co-ordinated framework for health care support, combined with co-ordinated fiscal and monetary stimulus to rebuild confidence, the outlook adds.
UK’s financial regulator and its international partners said on the weekend it would ensure all necessary steps are taken to protect financial and monetary stability”. There are calls for Bank of Canada rate cut. The US Federal Reserve said it would “act as appropriate” to support growth – signal a willingness to consider cutting interest rates.
OECD’s latest Interim Economic Outlook
