Virus will have 'substantial' impact on trade

The head of the World Trade Organisation expects the coronavirus epidemic to have a "substantial" impact on the global economy."The effects on the global economy are also likely to be substantial and will start to show up in the trade data in the weeks to come," Roberto Azevedo told heads of delegations in a closed-door meeting in Geneva on Monday.For now, the WTO’s ministerial meeting in June in Kazakhstan is going ahead as planned."For MC-12 we are proceeding as planned. Should the situation so demand, we will take any necessary action," he added.The meeting, where member states will seek to clinch deals on agriculture, e-commerce and fisheries subsidies among other topics, is expected to have several thousand participants.Also on Monday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the world has entered uncharted territory in its battle against the coronavirus, as new infections dropped dramatically in China but surged abroad with the US death toll rising to six.‘Never before seen’"We are in uncharted territory," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday."We have never before seen a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission, but which can also be contained with the right measures."Globally, the virus has killed more than 3 100 people and infected over 90 000 even as a clear shift in the crisis emerges, with nine times as many cases recorded outside China as inside, according to the WHO.With concerns growing about its impact on the global economy, G7 finance ministers and central bank chiefs held talks on the issue yesterday.ECB and G7European Central Bank (ECB) chiefs have yet to discuss possible monetary policy responses to the coronavirus epidemic and will talk them over at a March 12 meeting, a central bank source told AFP yesterday.Echoing other central banks including the Bank of Japan and Bank of England, ECB president Christine Lagarde said in a statement Monday the bank was "ready to take appropriate and targeted measures as necessary" to deal with the virus outbreak's economic impact.Lagarde was set to participate in a telephone conference with G7 finance ministers and central bankers yesterday to coordinate their responses.With the statement from its president, the ECB hoped to calm markets troubled by the prospect of a breakdown in growth momentum caused by the virus. – Nampa/Reuters/AFP

Virus will have 'substantial' impact on trade

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Virus will have 'substantial' impact on trade

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