Countries Rush to Rescue Economies, Germany Allocates 822 Bln

The coronavirus, which has become a global pandemic, is not limited to human lives and health at the present time, but its impact has gone far to threaten the future of people.

Many governments were quick to offer financial stimulus packages to help economies to counter the effects of the crisis as millions stopped activities and businesses and entered quarantine.

In Germany, the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to endorse on Monday an unprecedented economic aid plan since World War II, allocating 822 billion euros to overcome the economic consequences of the coronavirus.

A draft law referred to the "exceptional emergency situation" in Germany, and revealed the government's decision to borrow money to help finance the measure, in a move that the country had not taken in years.

A week ago, Berlin allocated 550 billion euros of loans to help companies and employees overcome the economic consequences of the crisis.

In Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced today that the government will allocate about 38.5 billion dollars in the economy as part of the second stimulus package to protect the country from the financial consequences of the coronavirus.

He added that the government will help provide guarantees for the debt of small and medium-sized companies and will increase unemployment benefits with companies forced to lay off employees.

In Thailand, the authorities announced the creation of a fund of 2-3 billion dollars to support liquidity and reduce the risks in the debt market. Thailand's central bank earlier announced that the authorities will ensure sufficient liquidity and the continued functioning of the debt market.

In Tunisia, Prime Minister Elias El-Fakhfakh announced allocating 2.5 billion dinars (850 million dollars) to meet the economic and social repercussions of the Corona crisis.

Among the new measures, the government will postpone tax benefits and taxes on small and medium-sized enterprises, delay payment of loans to low-income employees and provide financial support to poor families.

In Kuwait, the Council of Ministers decided to establish a temporary fund to receive cash contributions from institutions, companies and inpiduals to support the government's efforts in confronting the spread of the virus.

The Council had approved last week a bill to increase the budget of ministries and government departments by 500 million dinars for the fiscal year 2020-2021 due to the outbreak of the Corona virus.