Source: McKinsey & Company

The COVID-19 pandemic  in Africa is already disrupting millions of people’s livelihoods, with disproportionate impact on poor households and small and informal businesses—and the pace of this disruption is likely to accelerate in the weeks ahead. Africa’s GDP growth in 2020 could be cut by three to eight percentage points. The pandemic and the oil-price shock are likely to tip Africa into an economic contraction in 2020, in the absence of major fiscal stimulus.

Author: Francesco Giubilei

Since the birth of the European Union, there has been an intense debate about the possibility of creating a two-track Europe, divided between the Mediterranean nations and those of Northern Europe. Supporters of this solution argue that the differences between these two parts of Europe are irreconcilable, in terms of their lifestyle, in the way society is conceived, and especially in the mentality of citizens. The possibility of division first appeared in Greece during the 2008 crisis, and it now seems to be intensifying with the coronavirus emergency.

The European Union's finance ministers have reached a deal on a 540 billion-euro rescue plan to support the continent's coronavirus-stricken economies.

Source: American Enterprise Institute (Authors: Scott Gottlieb, Mark McClellan, Lauren Silvis, Caitlin Rivers and Crystal Watson).