Virus-Free Haven, Policy Not So Easy, Powell’s Timeline: Eco Day

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

• New Zealand’s lofty ambition to eliminate the coronavirus may pay dividends as it begins to rebuild its economy. The island nation’s population provisionally reached 5 million in March
• Monetary policy could be tighter than it looks as the pace of government borrowing eclipses the record stimulus of central banks
• The U.S. economy will recover from the coronavirus, but the process could stretch through until the end of next year and depend on a vaccine, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said. He’s expected to step gently onto Congress’s turf in testimony this week with a message to spend more
• While the pandemic wreaks havoc across much of the globe, political and business leaders are thinking about what the world might look like once the worst is past. The forecasts aren’t good
• China’s political centerpiece, the National People’s Congress, gets under way this week, two months later than usual due to the virus
• Singapore will this week lay out how it intends to roll back restrictions that had been imposed under a partial lockdown
• Japan’s ballistic debt-to-GDP is headed for the stratosphere, writes Yuki Masujima
• Goldman Sachs expects India will experience its deepest recession ever after a poor run of data underscored the damaging economic impact of lockdowns. The government meantime has extended its nationwide lockdown until May 31
• Here’s what alternative data says about the global downturn and the potential recovery, explains Bjorn van Roye
• The ECB is coming under renewed pressure to clean up its environmental act, with a report on Monday highlighting that polluting companies account for 63% of its corporate-asset purchases
• The BOE is examining unconventional monetary policy measures more urgently amid the economic slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to its Chief Economist Andrew Haldane
• Demand and supply-side shocks from major trade partners will deal a significant blow to China’s economy, writes Chang Shu
• At the first meeting of the WHO’s governing body since Covid-19 stormed the globe, China is set to be challenged on two of its most sensitive issues: The Communist Party’s initial handling of the virus and the status of Taiwan’s participation
• Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is calling for an overhaul of workplace relations to help accelerate his economy’s recovery
• The pandemic is reshaping the job market for millions of immigrants in the U.S. Consumers may be slow to return to the hotels, office buildings and manicure parlors where many are employed

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