World coronavirus dispatch: Global economies to lose $5 trn in two years

From global economic cost of Covid-19 crisis, to a second relief package by the US, an elusive one by the EU, and Dubai allowing home delivery of liquor - read these and more in today's world dispatch

The coronavirus pandemic has had grave human cost that cannot be put in numbers and figures. But the economic cost can. It’s $5 trillion! That’s the estimate coming in from the Wall Street banks, the first such figures on the impact of Covid-19 on global economies.

"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." Even with unprecedented levels of monetary and fiscal stimulus, global GDP is unlikely to return to its pre-crisis trend until at least 2022.