Coronavirus menaces eurozone banks

摘要

WHAT IS HAPPENING? Covid-19, or the coronavirus, has taken a firm grip on the global economy, sending it lurching towards recession and knocking global equity markets into a tailspin. In the absence of immunisation, minimising social contact is being pursued as the best way to stop its spread. Unfortunately, that means a simultaneous demand and supply shock as consumers and workers reduce their activity, following many governments' lock-down measures to combat the spread. If prolonged, the virus's impact on the economy and banks will be debilitating. It comes at a very unfortunate time for the EU and the eurozone. The bloc was still trying to fully recover from the last global financial crisis and is in the middle of a messy - and expensive - divorce with the UK. Indeed, Brexit has faded from being the EU's chief concern, with growing worries over the fate of Italy, which was already in an anaemic state before the virus struck.