The coronavirus pandemic has not spared a single nation or economy, but the way some governments have handled the crisis has raised eyebrows.
Brazil’s right-wing populist leader Jair Bolsonaro has been dismissive about the health crisis and implored people to ignore state governors who had ordered lockdowns and social distancing measures.
The result: Brazil has the third-highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, behind the United States and Russia. A study by Imperial College suggest that 70,000 to one million Brazilians could die depending on measures taken to halt the progress of the pandemic.
Brazil’s healthcare system has been decimated since 2017; its expenditure on its national health service has been slashed by $4.4bn – or slightly less than a third of its current budget. And in some regions, it is close to collapse from the sheer number of COVID-19 patients.
Despite a stimulus package, the economy is expected to contract 4.7 percent this year – the biggest fall since 1900. The situation is so bad that President Donald Trump is considering banning Brazilians from travelling to the US.
Bolsonaro has been criticised at home and abroad, so how much damage will this do to the economy and its 209 million people? We speak to Jimena Blanco, the Head of Americas Risk Insights at Verisk Maplecroft.
No longer recession-proof
Millions of jobs have been lost due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite the saying that the virus does not discriminate, it is having an unequal and devastating effect on low-income workers, immigrants and women.
But an altogether startling situation, despite the pandemic, is that medical personal are losing their jobs, as Al Jazeera’s Shihab Ritansi reports.
We also speak to Sho Alexander Sugihara, the co-founder and chief executive of gig-economy finance app Portify, who explains what has gone wrong in the jobs market.
Germany’s big bazooka to save the euro
Europe’s biggest economy is back in recession, a little over a decade since the last financial crisis.
But trouble was brewing for Germany before the pandemic – and like everywhere else, worse is yet to come.
The government has pledged one trillion euros to support the economy. But it is Chancellor Angela Merkel’s radical 500 billion euro plan to help fellow European nations that could face opposition and push the union towards another crisis.
Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane reports and we speak to Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets also climbed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain, rose 0.4 per cent to $82.7 billion in July.
The increase came as sales in the miscellaneous subsector gained three per cent to reach $10.5 billion in July, helped by strength in the agriculture supplies industry group, which rose 9.2 per cent.
The food, beverage and tobacco subsector added 1.7 per cent to total $15 billion in July.
The personal and household goods subsector fell 2.5 per cent to $12.1 billion.
In volume terms, overall wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent in July.
Statistics Canada started including oilseed and grain as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade last year, but is excluding the data from monthly analysis until there is enough historical data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in the base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 172.18 points at 23,383.35.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 34.99 points at 40,826.72. The S&P 500 index was up 10.56 points at 5,564.69, while the Nasdaq composite was up 74.84 points at 17,470.37.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.55 cents US compared with 73.59 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up $2.00 at US$69.31 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up five cents at US$2.32 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$40.00 at US$2,582.40 an ounce and the December copper contract was up six cents at US$4.20 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
