VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Nations belonging to the G20 group of leading economies have agreed to suspend debt payments owed to them by some of the world's poorest countries.As quoted by BBC.com (15/4)  the agreement covers money that is due to be paid to G20 governments up to the end of 2020. The aim is to help countries deal with the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The Jubilee Debt Campaign group has described the move as a first step, but called for much more. The UK-based charity estimates that the delay will cover $12bn (£9.6bn) of payments. But it is only a delay and the campaign group understands that the payments will instead have to be made between 2022 and 2024, along with interest accrued in the meantime//BBC

South Korean voters turned out in force Wednesday to back President Moon Jae-in's handling of the coronavirus epidemic, putting on compulsory face masks and gloves to give his Democratic party a parliamentary majority according to exit polls. As quoted by AFP.com ( 15/4) South Korea was among the first countries with a major virus outbreak to hold a national election since the global pandemic began, and a raft of safety measures were in place around the vote.Turnout was the highest for a generation, and an exit poll by national broadcaster KBS projected the ruling Democratic party and a sister organisation would take between 155 and 178 places in the 300-seat National Assembly. It predicted the main opposition United Front Party (UFP) and its sister grouping would take between 107 and 130 seats. Voters in obligatory masks lined up at least one metre (three feet) apart outside polling stations and had their temperatures checked before being allowed in//AFP

The International Energy Agency (IEA) stated on Wednesday that the coronavirus outbreak will slash global oil demand in 2020 to erase a decade of growth and set up "the worst year in the history" of the sector. As quoted by AFP.com ( 15/4) demand is projected to plummet by a record 9.3 million barrels per day (mbd) for the year as a whole, with 29 mbd in the month of April, and 26 mbd in May -- "staggering numbers . International Energy Agency (IEA) on  Wednesday  believes in a few years' time, when you look at 2020 the people  may well see that it was the worst year in the history of global oil markets//AFP

There's a new warning that the coronavirus pandemic could have a devastating impact on the UK's economy. The Office for Budgetary Responsibility, the government's independent economic watchdog, says that if the lockdown lasts for 3 months the economy could shrink by 35% and unemployment could rise to 10% meaning two million people would be out of work. A forecast by the UK's tax and spending watchdog suggests the coronavirus crisis will have "serious implications" for the UK economy, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned the pandemic could see the economy shrink by a record 35% by June. Sunak stressed that the forecast was only one possible scenario. However, he said that while the government could not protect every business and household, they came into this crisis with a fundamentally sound economy, powered by the hard work and ingenuity of the British people and British businesses.

"These are though times and they’ll be more to come but we came in to this crisis when they will fundamentally sound economy. I wish I was not see these numbers and DP trouble. I think this going to be hard, our economy will get a significant hit  and I said before that’s non abstract thing that people will feel that in their job and in their household incomes. Two point about generation now, I’m very much hopefull that the measures that we put in place will allow us to do what OBR said bounce back" Sunak said.  

Meanwhile Robert Chote of the office for budget responsibility (OBR) said that a three-month lockdown followed by three months of partial restrictions would trigger an economic decline of 35.1% in the quarter to June alone, following growth of 0.2% in the first three months of this year. A drop of this magnitude would be the largest in living memory.

"If you see the short of declining in GDP that we think it will be consistant with three month lockdown then you wouldn’t see a quarterly falling economy like that in living memory. The hope now that this gonna be temporary rather then permanent problem and we don’t end up staring the  long term potential of the economy" Robert Chote stated

While the UK economy would contract by 12.8% this year under this scenario, it is expected to get back to its pre-crisis growth trend by the end of 2020. The OBR stressed the actual amount of growth would depend on how long the lockdown lasted, as well as how quickly activity bounced back once restrictions were relaxed. In any case, it expects half of any sharp drop in growth in the second quarter to be reversed in the three months to September as the economy starts to recover//NK