Tale of Two Economies, Central Bank Pressure, PBOC’s Yi: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Monday, Asia. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the week:

• The restart of the world economy risks going ahead without a key ingredient: the consumer
• Global central banks remain under pressure to do more to support their economies even after driving interest rates to record lows and pledging to spend trillions of dollars on asset purchases
• China should maintain liquidity at a reasonably ample level and offer targeted support to companies hit by the coronavirus epidemic, central bank Governor Yi Gang said
• The BOJ will likely step up its asset purchases in an effort to stop the coronavirus destabilizing the financial system or triggering a wave of bankruptcies and make economic recovery painfully slow
• When the timeline of the pandemic of 2020 is complete, March 24 will stand out as a day to remember for everyone from sports fans to anthropologists to cola drinkers
• Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that “over time” the U.S. will need to look into the sharply rising budget deficits created by the multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus support packages.
• Back-to-work dilemmas: Riley Crutchfield, a hairdresser in Macon, Georgia, is nervous about going back to a job that requires her to touch people all day. In Houston, former Waffle House trainee manager Maxime Pierre has election-year politics and risk-reward trade offs in mind. In Angie Barksdale’s Michigan home, it’s the three kids without a school to go to

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