Shuffling around their tiny slum home which is too small to stand up in, Thanapat Noidee and his wife Papassorn share donated noodles with their sons and worry about bills, as the coronavirus pushes Thailand's poor deeper into penury.The wood and breeze-block hut which is their home stands in the heart of a Bangkok commercial district festooned with five-star hotels and upmarket restaurants.They share the small space in the shadow of the nearby high-rise developments with their children

Thailand's premier on Wednesday urged parliament to approve the kingdom's biggest-ever stimulus package to revive an economy battered by coronavirus, which has brought tourism to a standstill, slashed exports and left millions jobless. The THB1.9 trillion (US$59.6 billion) package would be a much-needed financial boost for Southeast Asia's second biggest economy, which is expected to shrink by 5-6 percent in 2020. Members of parliament - who inaugurated a new

Singapore's virus-hit economy could shrink by as much as seven percent this year - the worst reading since independence - the government said on Tuesday, as it unveiled a fresh multi-billion-dollar stimulus package.The city-state is seen as a bellwether of the global economy, and the forecast historic contraction highlights the extreme pain being wrought on countries by the killer disease.The warning came as Singapore's deputy prime minister unveiled a fresh support package worth SG

Other than preying on humans, the deadly COVID-19 virus has severely affected livelihoods, local businesses and the economy in general. Major industries such as tourism and aviation have been hit hard by the pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic could cut up to 9.7 percent off the global economy, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said last Friday, doubling its previous estimate as the virus stifles trade and leaves millions jobless.The estimated impact would cost as much as US$8.8 trillion based on a range of scenarios, but ADB said government interventions could help offset the losses inflicted by the crisis.

Malaysia's economy grew at its slowest pace in more than a decade during the first three months of the year as the coronavirus pandemic battered the country, but still managed to beat forecasts, data showed Wednesday.Gross domestic product grew 0.7 percent on-year in January-March, the central bank reported, compared with 3.6 percent growth in the previous quarter.It was the worst figure since the economy shrank in 2009 during the global financial crisis, but strong domestic consumption

Yesterday marked Malaysia’s first day of a Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), which is the country’s move to relax its virus lockdown. Malaysia has been under a partial lockdown since mid-March which is due to end on 12 May.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the greatest global challenges in generations. Governments and monetary authorities are correctly using every policy lever at their disposal to prevent a grave public-health emergency from becoming an even deeper economic, political, and social crisis.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Saturday that recovering from the coronavirus might not protect people from reinfection as the death toll from the pandemic approached 200,000 around the globe.Governments are struggling to limit the economic devastation unleashed by the virus, which has left half of humanity under some form of lockdown and reported infections approaching three million.The United Nations (UN) has joined world leaders to speed up development of a vaccine, but effec

Muslims across the world began marking the holy month of Ramadan under unprecedented coronavirus lockdowns on Friday as the United States (US) added another half a trillion dollars to its already-massive support package to help its pandemic-ravaged economy.The virus has upended life around the planet as nations try to stop the spread of the disease that has so far claimed nearly 190,000 lives, infected close to 2.7 million people and hammered the global economy.Ramadan spirits have been dampe