Obasanjo asks FG to return to the basics

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, the head of Germany's influential Ifo research institute has warned that Europe's biggest economy could fall into recession. Our correspondents have been taking the temperature in the business community.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has called for an emergency press briefing where he is expected to address growing concerns around the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Johnson Chukwu, CEO of Cowry Asset Management joins CNBC Africa for more.

The coronavirus outbreak is expected to push sub-Saharan Africa into recession in 2020 for the first time in 25 years, the World Bank warns. We speak to the Bank's chief economist for Africa. Also, in the Cameroonian city of Douala, a door-to-door medical inquiry has kicked off in a bid to track down potential carriers of Covid-19. Hospitals are on high alert for a surge in admissions, as our correspondents report. And six scientists in Senegal race to develop a ventilator that can be created locally usi

The World Bank says it expects the economy of sub-Saharan Africa to fall sharply from 2.4 per cent in 2019 to a contraction of between 2.1 to 5.1 per cent in 2020, the first recession in the region over the past 25 years. Femi Oladehin, Partner, Investment Banking at Argentil Capital Partners joins CNBC Africa for more.

The global economy is facing its worst recession since the 1930s. That’s according to the International Monetary Fund, which has sharply cut its 2020 forecast because of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns. The IMF predicts a 3 percent contraction for the global economy this year - describing "The Great Lockdown" as a crisis "like no other". The Fund has called on governments to take "swift and sizable" action to support the economic recovery.

The French economy has officially fallen into recession, after a record contraction of 5.8 percent in the first three months of the year. The drop in quarterly economic output is the worst since records began in 1949. The national statistics agency Insee also reported that consumer spending plunged by almost 18 percent in March, while business investment and output from the construction and manufacturing industries also fell. The pandemic has hit economies across Europe, with new figures showing the eurozone registered a record drop in growth of 3.8 percent in the first quarter.

The International Monetary Fund has warned the world is facing the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The global economy has changed dramatically in the past 90 years, so what does a deep recession look like in 2020? Policymakers are doing their best to limit the impact of lockdown measures, but when can a recovery start, and what state will the economy be in a year from now? We speak to Ludovic Subran, Chief Economist at Allianz & Euler Hermes.

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The EU's top Brexit negotiator has said the UK wants "the best of both worlds" in its future economic relationship with the bloc. The OSCE said the UK may feel the effects of the pandemic recession worse than EU members.

The global economy is facing its worst peacetime crisis in almost 100 years, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. In its latest forecast, the OECD warns the effects of the slump will be "dire and long-lasting" after a 6 percent plunge in global growth this year.

The World Bank says the collapse in oil prices coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to plunge the Nigerian economy into a severe economic recession, the worst since the 1980s. Tilewa Adebajo, CEO of CFG Advisory joins CNBC Africa for more.

California has shut down businesses, including bars and gyms, after a spike in new cases of Covid-19. The new measures will hamper a recovery for the state's economy, which is the largest in the United States. It comes as lawmakers in Washington discuss a new stimulus plan and the federal budget deficit hit a record high in June. The gap between the government's income and expenditure for this fiscal year is likely to exceed $3 trillion.