The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has again adjusted its economic forecasts due to the coronavirus crisis. For the global economy, the IMF now predicts a 4,9% contraction for 2020. Its forecast for the Eurozone worsened from a 7,5% recession (April) to a 10,2% recession. The economies of France (-12,5%), Spain (-12,8%), Italy (-12,8%), Germany (-7,8%) and the UK (-10,8%) are all set to shrink significantly. In its updated World Economic Outlook, the IMF underlines the significant uncertainty that may yet worsen the situation further (Source: POLITICO Pro).
The health coordinators of the largest party group in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party (EPP), have published a letter that calls for “systematic testing of all staff in slaughterhouses throughout the EU (…) at least every four weeks.” The letter signed by MEPs Peter Liese and Dennis Radtke comes in reaction to major outbreaks of the Coronavirus in German abattoirs that have resulted in a regional lockdown in the district of Gütersloh (Source: POLITICO Pro).
The European Commission has approved more than €20 million in cohesion policy support to deal with the health emergency in Bulgaria. The funds were intended as regular cohesion funds and have now been unlocked to buy medical equipment, life-saving medication and personal protective equipment for health care facilities all over the country.