California ordered some bars to close on Sunday, the first major rollback of efforts to reopen the economy in the most populous U.S. state as novel coronavirus cases nationwide soar to record levels day after day.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s order for bars to close in Los Angeles and six other counties followed moves by Texas and Florida to shut all their bars on Friday.
Public health officials in California and throughout the United States have identified bars as the riskiest non-essential businesses currently open.
Consuming alcohol reduces inhibitions, which leads to less mask-wearing and social distancing, health officials warn.
Patrons …
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday he wants to loosen the coronavirus lockdown in the United States and restart the economy within three weeks, calling social distancing measures too disruptive.
“A lot of people agree with me. Our country — it’s not built to shut down,” he said on Fox News. “You can destroy a country this way by closing it down.”
“I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter,” said Trump. Easter is on April 12, 19 days away.
Social distancing and quarantine measures have been instituted across much of the United …
Syria’s brutal conflict enters its 10th year Sunday with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime consolidating its hold over a war-wracked country with a decimated economy where foreign powers flex their muscle.
When Syrians took to the streets on March 15, 2011, they could scarcely have imagined their anti-government protests would turn into a complex war entangling rebels, jihadists and outside forces.
At least 384,000 people have since died, including more than 116,000 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Saturday.
The conflict has displaced more than 11 million people internally and abroad.
“Nine years of revolution illustrate the …
Japan has suffered its worst quarterly GDP contraction in more than five years, with a tax hike and a deadly typhoon taking a toll on the world’s third-largest economy.
The nation’s gross domestic product in the three months to December shrank 1.6 percent from the previous quarter, even before the novel coronavirus outbreak in China hit Japan, according to official data published on Monday.
The quarter was marked by a rise in consumption tax from eight percent to 10 percent, as well as Typhoon Hagibis, which killed more than 100 people and caused widespread flooding.
Economists were braced for a …
The prospects for economic growth in 2020 seem bright, but the growth is expected to be fragile. As it was the case in 2019, non-oil sector driven by agriculture, ICT and manufacturing among others, will deliver the expected result, writes Bamidele Famoofo
The economy is expected to expand beyond the record achieved in 2019. Economic experts have predicted a modest 2.25 percent GDP growth for the economy in 2020, noting that key driver of growth in the fiscal year would be the non-oil sector. The non-oil sector continued to keep overall GDP afloat for much of 2019, having supported overall …
The Nigerian economy faced a lot of challenges in the outgoing year amid a slowing global economy, elevated geopolitical risks and fragile investor sentiment, writes Obinna Chima
Notwithstanding the positive Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers recorded by the country in 2019, the economy is still not out of the woods yet.
The economy hit a lot of bumps in the road in the outgoing year and the way forward is unlikely to get any smoother.
From concerns of political risks prior to the 2019 elections that took place in the first quarter of the year, the country’s broadening fiscal deficit, …
He said that the regime would put Nigeria in line with global practice adding that the system would be transparent and that security would not be compromised.
“The e-visa policy will encourage investors to
The Nigerian government is keen to open up new opportunities to earn more monies, and to do this, it sent a finance bill to the National Assembly. The bill is essentially a fiscal bill and it is driven by the objective of generating additional revenues for the Government to potentially partly finance the deficit in the 2020 Budget. Nosa James-Igbinadolor examines the bill
The latest World Bank report on Nigeria is blunt and bleak. The report shows that economic growth remains muted, with growth averaging 1.9 per cent in 2018 and plateauing to 2 percent in the first half of …
Former President of Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo has listed integrity and trust as important elements in managing credit-based economies.
Obasanjo, who stated this at the Annual Induction/Nigeria Credit Industry Award 2019 of the Instititute of Credit Administration (ICA) said that today, there is strong credit availability in finance world for development-oriented programmes including those in agribusiness, education and the provision of infrastructure.
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“ To be successful player in this space, we must demonstrate trust and ability to manage creditlines judiciously, corruption free so that future generations of Nigerians who …
The positive Gross Domestic Product numbers achieved in the third quarter of 2019 calls for more complementary fiscal and monetary policy to enhance macroeconomic growth, writes Obinna Chima
Last week, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report for the third quarter (Q3) of 2019, which showed that GDP expanded to 2.28 per cent (year-on-year), in real terms, in the period under review, compared to the 2.12 per cent recorded in the preceding quarter.
The latest GDP performance was the second highest quarterly rate recorded since 2016.
The report also showed that aggregate GDP for …
Prof. Aliyu Jauro is a professor of Industrial Chemistry and sits atop the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) as director-general/CEO. NESREA is the agency of government responsible for the protection and development of the nation’s environment, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development of Nigeria’s natural resources. Jauro is keen on Nigeria developing a circular economy that works for its citizens. He speaks with Nosa James-Igbinadolor
How will you describe the state of the Nigerian environment with respect to the work of NESREA?
Well, I wouldn’t say our environment is doing great at all, neither will I say …
Hoping to succeed where earlier Arab Spring revolutions have struggled, the new government of Sudan is seeking support to build a youth-focused economy through fundamental reforms and a new safety net, its finance minister says.
In an interview with AFP in Washington, Finance Minister Ibrahim Elbadawi voiced hope that Sudan by year-end will see the end of one of its biggest impediments — its continued classification by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Sudan’s month-and-a-half-old government is seeking to start a new course for the African country after demonstrators, driven initially to the streets by high food …
