The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Corona crisis: Adidas no longer wants to pay rent - competitor is now producing protective masks

2020-03-29T10:39:36.772Z


The corona crisis threatens the economy with dramatic consequences. Adidas no longer wants to pay rent in Germany - a competitor is now producing protective masks.


The corona crisis threatens the economy with dramatic consequences. Adidas no longer wants to pay rent in Germany - a competitor is now producing protective masks.

  • The corona virus * is causing massive damage to the global economy .
  • Numerous countries set up aid programs *.
  • And the United States has also adopted a $ 2 trillion stimulus package.
  • Here you will find the basic facts about the corona virus * and the corona news from Germany *. You can also find current case numbers in Germany here as a map *.

Update from March 29, 11:04 am: The corona crisis affects the whole world. From citizens to international companies. The airline Lufthansa only operates at five percent. In the midst of the crisis, the fashion company H&M , the sporting goods manufacturer Adidas, the shoe chain Deichmann and many other companies have announced that they will suspend their rental payments for April.

They would no longer pay the rent for their shops closed due to the corona crisis from April. That is what Der Spiegel reports. Of the 5000 H&M stores worldwide, 3400 are affected, reports the fashion company. Not a few of them in Germany and Great Britain.

Deichmann announced that it would no longer be able to make the rent and ancillary payments for the 1200 branches in Germany from April. “It is true that Adidas , like many other companies, temporarily suspends rent payments as a precaution where our stores are closed. We are in close contact with the landlords concerned, ”confirmed an Adidas spokeswoman.

The shoe manufacturer New Balance, on the other hand, changes hands in the middle of the Corona crisis . In the short term, one wants to use know-how and production capacities to participate in the production of protective masks . The company reports this on the company's website. The masks should be made available to the hospital community - the so-called nursing professions .

All hands on deck. Our US factories are working to develop, manufacture and deliver facial masks to the hospital community.

To learn more, visit: https://t.co/qxQ3uqBIyE pic.twitter.com/xGKyCKx8Lm

- New Balance (@newbalance) March 28, 2020

The company is not the first to want to switch in times of crisis. Several car manufacturers have already announced that they want to participate in the production of the necessary protective clothing. Among other things, the automotive group Daimler had announced that it would make its 3D printers available for the manufacture of medical devices.

The Swabian textile manufacturer Trigema alone triggered the announcement to enter the production of respiratory masks, an order rush. The automotive group Daimler wants to provide 3D printers for the manufacture of medical devices. "Municipalities, police authorities, hospitals, just everyone" reported to order masks, said Trigema boss Wolfgang Grupp of the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung . He announced that next week his company would produce around 100,000 protective masks, so this week it should be around 80,000.

Corona virus meets business: IMF boss has new bad news - and dares annual forecast

Update of March 28, 2:15 p.m .: Despite the massive impact of the corona crisis on the European economy, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen does not want to plan corona bonds for the financial support of individual member states. This would entail a billion-dollar debt increase. But countries like France or Italy, which were particularly hard hit by the Corona crisis, spoke out in favor of such bonds. There is currently an explosive discussion in the EU about this.

Update of March 27, 6:01 pm: The travel company Tui is to receive government aid loans of 1.8 billion euros in the fight against the slump in its business due to the corona pandemic. The company said on Friday that it had received a corresponding commitment from the federal government. The loan runs through the KfW development bank, but other banks would have to agree.

Coronavirus: IMF boss has new bad news

Update from March 27, 5.44 p.m.

: According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the global economy is already in a recession due to the coronavirus pandemic. The economy in the US and other rich countries is already shrinking, IMF chief Kristalina Georgiewa said on Friday. The global economy will experience a "severe" recession this year because of the virus, warned Georgiewa. The economy will grow again next year, she said.

The IMF could use up to $ 1 trillion to support member states with loans, Georgiewa said. There are already 81 inquiries from developing and emerging countries.

The IMF had already warned on Monday that the global economy would experience a recession this year that would be at least as bad as that resulting from the global financial crisis of 2008/09 .

Coronavirus: G20 countries bundle package over five trillion dollars

Update of March 26, 2020, 6.44 p.m .: The G20 of the leading economic powers wants to pull together in the fight against the corona crisis and initially support the global economy with a total of five trillion US dollars . At a video summit, the heads of state and government agreed on Thursday to develop concrete packages of measures to contain the pandemic and mitigate the economic consequences. "We are firmly committed to countering this common threat," it said in its final declaration.

You can find all the results of the G20 summit here.

Corona virus: bad news from Trump's USA - huge unemployment wave is rolling

Update of March 26, 1:46 p.m .: Coronavirus hits the U.S. economy hardest: First-time jobless claims have skyrocketed as a result of the worsening of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. Their number has increased tenfold from 282,000 in the previous week to around 3.3 million, as the US Department of Labor announced on Thursday.

In the United States, layoffs are generally possible much faster than in Germany, for example. So far, there has been no regulation in the USA like the German short-time work benefit, which stabilizes the labor market in crisis situations.

The full extent of the economic upheaval of the coronavirus pandemic is still not foreseeable. However, many analysts now fear a dramatic slump in the second quarter and a recession all year round. The stock exchanges too

could be affected by the bad news again

.

The G20 countries and the European countries agreed in a summit on the corona crisis. Angela Merkel provides a video statement about the results.

Coronavirus: Vietnam stops rice export - is food running out?

Update 12.48 p.m .: Vietnam initially stops its travel exports to ensure the food supply of its own population. Both the corona pandemic and a severe drought and saltwater intrusion into the Mekong Delta in the south of the country are cause for concern, the government in Hanoi justified the move late Tuesday evening. Food could become scarce, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc warned in a statement. He also ordered the country to buy additional rice supplies. Customs in the Southeast Asian country instructed provincial authorities not to authorize travel exports as of Wednesday.

+

Vietnam stops rice exports in the Corona crisis. (Icon image)

© dpa / Kate Bartlett

In the Mekong Delta , salt water has penetrated local rivers further than usual this year and threatens the water supply for agricultural production. This affects the rice farmers in the region in particular. According to reports from the state media, climate change and the construction of dams upstream in China have exacerbated the problem.

Vietnam is the third largest rice exporter in the world after India and Thailand. The country exported around 6.37 million tonnes of rice worth the equivalent of 2.6 billion euros last year.

As of Wednesday, 134 cases of Covid-19 lung disease caused by the coronavirus have been reported in Vietnam . At first, no deaths were known.

Corona virus: US government clears way for trillion-dollar stimulus package

Update of March 25, 7:32 am: In the United States , Democrats and Republicans have now agreed on a biolionic stimulus package to alleviate the devastating economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. The Democrats previously refused to approve an economic stimulus package. As it became known on Wednesday morning after Central European Time, the stimulus package is expected to be worth $ 2 trillion, according to the Bloomberg news agency. Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer and Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced in Washington early Wednesday morning (local time) to journalists that the two parties have now reached a consensus.

Update of March 24th, 1:27 pm: Europe's largest low- cost airline Ryanair is stopping all flights for at least two months due to the corona pandemic. The company currently assumes that there will be no flights in April and May , Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said in Dublin. Ultimately, it depends on government orders. Nobody knows how long the pandemic will last. However, according to O'Leary, Ryanair is ready to fly back stranded passengers or, for example, to take part in medication deliveries .

Update of March 24, 9.28 a.m .: Tech billionaire Elon Musk has offered to help fight the corona virus . He bought 1255 ventilators in China and brought them to Los Angeles, wrote the 48-year-old Tesla boss on Twitter. "If you want a free ventilator installed, let me know," Musk said.

Update of March 23, 6:52 p.m .: The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva warned on Monday about the effects of the corona virus on the global economy. The 66-year-old warned of an economic recession that would be worse than the 2008 financial crisis. The pandemic would have "serious" economic effects and the outlook for this year was negative. A "recession is expected to be at least as bad as during the global financial crisis or worse".

Georgieva welcomed measures taken by numerous countries to mitigate the economic consequences of the pandemic. At the same time, she complained that investors had already withdrawn $ 83 billion in capital from emerging markets since the beginning of the crisis - more than ever before. Georgieva said the IMF is ready to use all of its $ 1 trillion in credit capacity.

Coronavirus: Eurowings cancels further flights - EU countries want to suspend deficit rule

Update of March 23, 5:52 pm: The EU states have approved plans to suspend the European rules for budget deficits for the first time due to the Corona crisis. Europe's finance ministers approved a proposal by the EU Commission on Monday to activate a corresponding clause in the Stability and Growth Pact, as they said in a statement. This should ensure "the necessary flexibility" to enable "all necessary measures" to support health systems and the economy in the crisis.

Update from March 23, 5:16 p.m .: The Lufthansa low-cost brand Eurowings has further deletions in its flight program. The capacity of the flights will be reduced to ten percent of the previous plan, the company confirmed on Monday. The aircraft of the Eurowings subsidiaries Germanwings and Eurowings Europe remain completely on the ground.

The Lufthansa Group had already announced on Thursday that its flight offer would be reduced to only five percent of the planned program by April 19. Around 700 of the Group's 763 aircraft will then be on the ground.

Corona virus and the economic consequences: Annual general meetings also possible digitally

Update of March 23 , 3:41 p.m .: Numerous companies have had to postpone their annual general meetings due to the corona pandemic - and with it the dividend payments to their shareholders. The package of measures decided by the federal government on Monday now enables the annual general meetings to be held in virtual form for the first time. This decision had previously been requested by many companies.

According to the draft law, companies will be able to make shareholders' online access available to shareholders by resolution of the board of directors - previously, a statute regulation had been required here. Annual General Meetings can in future take place without the presence of the shareholders if the image and sound transmission is guaranteed. The Deutsche Aktieninstitut (DAI), which represents the interests of capital market-oriented companies, praised the government's decision: quick action deserves great recognition. The bill contains many good regulations - but "still has to be readjusted at one point or another".

On the other hand, the DAI criticizes the restricted questioning options for shareholders. The infrastructure is currently not available to answer shareholders' questions in real time.

Update of March 23, 2:50 p.m .: Lufthansa is badly affected by the Corona crisis . The airline has been providing symbolic photos in two senses since Monday morning: Lufthansa has started to park aircraft on a large scale at Frankfurt Airport - on the Landesbahn Nordwest, which has been closed since Monday.

+

© AFP / DANIEL ROLAND

Initially, eight aircraft were parked, said a Lufthansa spokesman. The aim is to accommodate as many jets as possible in a space-saving manner across the runway. Airport operator Fraport spoke of a historical procedure. The blocking of a runway for parking jets has never occurred because of a virus pandemic in Frankfurt, said Fraport. The airport is currently reducing operations to a minimum and sending at least 18,000 of its 22,000 employees on short-time work .

Corona virus and the economic consequences: Airbus announces good news

Meanwhile there is presumably good news from the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus . After a four-day standstill due to the corona pandemic , it has partially resumed production in France and Spain. The group declared on Monday that the "health and safety" of the employees in the operating facilities was now ensured through additional hygiene measures. To secure its solvency, Airbus took out new billion- dollar loans and canceled the planned dividend payment for its shareholders.

At other locations - including Germany - the hygiene requirements were implemented without stopping production. Airbus employs around 48,000 people in France. "We are securing our activities to ensure the future of Airbus," said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury. "Airlines are massively affected by the slump in demand and travel restrictions," he said at a press conference call.

Corona virus: "Everything will exceed ..." - German economic experts present dark scenarios

Update of March 23, 1:35 p.m .: According to calculations by the Munich Ifo Institute, the corona pandemic is expected to cost the German economy hundreds of billions of euros. Ifo President Clemens Fuest said on Monday that the virus will bring down production, short-time work and unemployment to the economy and will put a significant strain on the state budget. Depending on the scenario, the German economy shrinks by 7.2 to 20.6 percentage points. That corresponds to costs of 255 to 729 billion euros.

"The costs are expected to exceed anything known in Germany from economic crises or natural disasters in recent decades," said Fuest. Strategies are needed that allow a resumption of production to be combined with a further containment of the epidemic.

+

Franco-German reform concept for the euro zone

© dpa / Bernd von Jutrczenka

With three months of partial closure, the costs are estimated to reach 354 to 729 billion euros. This is a 10.0 to 20.6 percentage point loss in growth. For each week extension, the Munich economic researchers expect additional costs between 25 and 57 billion euros and a related decline in growth of 0.7 to 1.6 percentage points.

The Bundesbank also expects a "pronounced" recession in Germany due to the coronavirus crisis. The measures to contain the infection numbers would have massive economic effects, it said in the latest monthly report published on Monday by the central bank. "Sliding into a pronounced recession cannot be prevented." An economic recovery would only start when the pandemic risk was effectively contained.

Corona virus crisis: major bank closes almost half of its branches in Germany

Update of March 23, 11:25 am: From Tuesday, Deutsche Bank will temporarily close around 200 branches for customers due to the corona pandemic . The number of branches in operation has been reduced from more than 500 to around 290, the bank said on Monday. The self-service areas remained accessible everywhere, however, and cash supply was ensured if an ATM was available.

The services were taken over from the nearest Deutsche Bank branches , which are still open, or from locations for mobile sales, the bank explained. Customer support is still "fully guaranteed" in around 300 branches, by phone in regional advisory centers and call centers, and online and mobile.

Corona virus crisis: Airbus chief raises alarm

Update of March 23, 9:32 am: Aircraft manufacturer Airbus is campaigning for "strong support" for airlines from the states in the corona virus crisis . As CEO Guillaume Faury explained at a short-term conference call in Toulouse, France, airlines in particular were hit hard by the effects of the corona pandemic . However, as Faury said, Europe's aircraft manufacturing giant "is not asking the governments for direct help to Airbus". In addition to the airlines, the CEO is also concerned with support for the suppliers who have encountered difficulties. "It's a very complicated industry," says the trained engineer. The Frenchman describes that an aircraft ultimately has up to 500,000 individual parts.

"It is our responsibility to act now," said Faury, referring to the new 15 billion euro line of credit that the European manufacturer wants to use to secure additional liquidity. "I am convinced that Airbus and the aerospace industry as a whole will overcome this critical phase." TV chef Tim Mälzer recently made a call for help for an entire industry at "Markus Lanz".

Corona pandemic: Almost complete standstill at Singapore Airlines

In the meantime, it has become known that Singapore Airlines will leave almost all planes on the ground by the end of April due to the spread of Covid-19 lung disease. The reason was the expansion of travel restrictions due to the corona pandemic, the airline said. In total, 96 percent of the originally planned capacities are to be cut, it said. The slump in demand for air travel has led to a significant decrease in passenger income.

It is unclear when flight operations can go back to normal. At the moment there is uncertainty about when the strict border controls will be lifted, the airline said.

+

The corona virus provides an acute reduction in air traffic.

© dpa / Vasco Garcia

On Sunday, the government in Singapore banned foreigners or people without a residence or work permit from entering the country after the number of imported corona cases skyrocketed. According to the Ministry of Health, around 80 percent of recent infections are people who have come to Singapore from abroad.

Corona crisis: 680,000 smuggled masks and devices discovered - they were intended for Italy

Update from March 22, 6:55 p.m .: Thousands of respiratory masks were found in the Czech Republic for Italy affected by the coronavirus * . The deliveries from China have mysteriously got stuck in the Czech Republic. Czech authorities had confiscated the masks and kept them under the pretext of raiding smugglers. The Italian newspaper "La Repubblica" reports.

Until Sunday, however, it could not be determined whether the respiratory masks were deliberately kept or whether it was a misunderstanding or even a logistics error. There is currently a shortage of protective masks across Europe. As a result, the Czech Republic has tightened controls on trade in such goods.

The Czech police confiscated 680,000 smuggled masks and ventilators during a raid on a warehouse north of Prague on Tuesday.

According to Interior Minister Jan Hamacek , “a smaller part” of the confiscated goods is a Chinese donation to Italy. According to the Czech media, the donation included around 100,000 masks. Now the authorities are investigating to find out how the masks got into the warehouse, said Hamacek. The Minister of the Interior assured Italy that there would be "no loss".

Corona crisis: Airline Emirates cancels all passenger flights

Update of March 22, 2:58 p.m .: Another airline is going down due to the Corona crisis : Emirates wants to cancel all passenger flights from March 25. "This painful but pragmatic move will help our business survive, keep jobs around the world, and prevent cuts," the company tweeted.

Today we made the decision to temporarily suspend all passenger flights by 25 March 2020. SkyCargo operations will continue. This painful but pragmatic move will help Emirates Group preserve business viability and secure jobs worldwide, avoiding cuts. https://t.co/fkQ59ExVxA 1/3 pic.twitter.com/j7ytftExn2

- Emirates Airline (@emirates) March 22, 2020

March 22nd, 2012: Paris - The Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD ), José Angel Gurría , has called on the international community for a coordinated response to the Corona crisis . "This is the third and largest economic, financial, and social shock of the 21st century, and it requires modern, global efforts that are consistent with the Marshall Plan and New Deal of the last century," he said.

Corona crisis: Economist warns of long-lasting recession

Only an internationally coordinated response could cope with the immediate health emergency and cushion the economic shock , Gurría said in his press release. He called for immediate action to prevent a long-lasting recession .

Among other things, he demanded that vaccines be developed and produced as quickly as possible, as well as comprehensive corona tests and treatments for all patients - regardless of whether they have health insurance or not.

To support the economy, he proposed deferring taxes and payments , temporarily reducing or deferring VAT , improving access to finance through loans or government guarantees, and special support packages .

Corona damage for German economy: Experts with a bleak forecast

Economics professor Thomas Straubhaar warns against the fact that, for example, the German economy can become a "case for the intensive care unit" due to the corona crisis: Bild Neither the oil crisis in the 70s, the terrorist attacks of 2001 The financial market crisis of 2008 paralyzed the global production of goods in the same way as the measures now decided by politicians are doing. "

In a guest post for Bild , former finance minister Peer Steinbrück (SPD) made a similar statement: "It will lead to a deeper economic recession than the 2008/9 financial crisis," he wrote.

Corona crisis: Federal government to plan more than half a trillion euros in aid for companies

The federal government in Germany, for example, wants to protect companies and jobs with unlimited credit programs in the face of the dramatic consequences of the corona crisis. According to the Handelsblatt , a draft law for an "Economic Stabilization Fund" (WSF) provides 600 billion euros for companies.

The draft should therefore be adopted by the Federal Cabinet on March 23 . In addition, the Merkel government is putting together a package of measures for companies, artists, the self-employed *. The aim is to mitigate the economic consequences of the spread of the coronavirus *.

Corona crisis: Federal government expects drastic economic downturn

The federal government apparently expects an economic slump of five percent this year. As the Bild reported on Sunday , Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) estimates in his calculations for the supplementary budget that the economy will shrink by this amount. This would lead to lower revenues in the 2020 budget of 33.5 billion euros .

Scholz is planning a supplementary budget with new debt of 156 billion euros. According to his financial planning, it will take 20 years to repay these corona crisis loans, the newspaper continued.

dpa / AFP / frs

* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.

List of rubric lists: © dpa / Wang Quanchao

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-03-29

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.