Britain’s Calculus, Italy’s Reboot, Swedish Debt Load: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Thursday, Europe. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

• The coronavirus pandemic is set to rob the global economy of more than $5 trillion of growth over the next two years, greater than the annual output of Japan
• ECB President Christine Lagarde renewed her plea for a strong fiscal response to the pandemic, urging governments to put aside longstanding divisions that are impeding their ability to unite behind a plan
• With Britain headed into the peak of its coronavirus outbreak, companies and households are calculating how long they’ve got before the money runs out. Meanwhile, Britons are seeking out the kind of agriculture jobs usually performed by immigrants as coronavirus turns the U.K. economy on its head
  • Meanwhile, data published Thursday showed the British economy unexpectedly contracted in February, putting it on an unsteady footing even before the nation imposed more stringent restrictions to contain the coranavirus
• Italy finds itself in the vanguard of large economies as it seeks to devise an exit strategy from such a deep freeze in activity
• When Fed officials announced an emergency interest-rate cut on a Sunday evening in mid-March, they already saw the need to get to work on novel programs to cushion the economy against coronavirus, meeting minutes show
• With many of its citizens leaving for Europe’s wealthier west, Poland in recent years has leaned on Ukrainian workers to sustain its economy. Coronavirus is upending that balance
• No age group will escape the pain of the current economic slowdown, but millennials were already on more precarious financial footing than their elders
• Serbia was Emerging Europe’s first nation to slash interest rates to combat coronavirus, but now it will probably take a breather to assess the crisis and prop up its banking system
• Sweden’s debt office is bracing for turbulence in the government debt market as the country begins financing an array of measures to support the economy through the pandemic
• Poland’s plan to buy stakes in private companies to help cushion the fallout from the virus outbreak is raising concern that its ultimate goal is to increase the state’s role in the economy

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.