Coronavirus Toll As of April 13, 2020;
Number of Cases Worldwide: 1,859,011
Deaths: 114,979
Mortality Rate: 6.3%
Source: John Hopkins University
Allies led by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC and Russia reached a consensus on Sunday to balance the oil sector hit by the coronavirus pandemic, falling demand, and a recent price war, with an unprecedented agreement that could reduce global oil supply by 20% overall.
Opec and beyond
The group, known as OPEC+, agreed to cut production by 9.7 million barrels (BPD) per day in May and June to stop the price drop after four days of negotiations and the intervention by the US President Donald Trump.
OPEC+ sources announced that with the participation of countries from the G20, they expect total global oil cuts to increase to 20 million BPD starting on May 1.
However, the step taken has proven not to be enough to raise oil prices due to the lack of demand during this period as giant economies remained locked.
“We hope OPEC + will continue talks to stabilize the oil markets,” Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) President Takashi Tsukioka said on Monday, insisting that the step taken was insufficient.
Review in Germany
Senior politicians in Germany began to discuss the potential easing of the restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
On Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the prime ministers of the country’s 16 states will receive new advice from the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina on a possible relaxation in the social distance rules that have been in force since mid-March.
Merkel’s coalition cabinet and state governments will decide on new steps on Wednesday.
British GDP
The British newspaper The Times wrote that Chancellor Rishi Sunak and his colleagues discussed the possibility that the gross domestic product may contract between 25 and 30 percent between April and June.
Citing unnamed ministers, The Times wrote that Sunak and others push for easing social distancing measures for the sake of the economy while others resisted the idea.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was taken to intensive care last week, was discharged from the hospital over the weekend as the number of deaths from the virus in Britain exceeded 10 thousand.
