Asian Insider, March 31: Millions to become poor, China to include asymptomatic cases, US-S.Korea alliance takes a hit

Hi,

In today's bulletin: World Bank warns of 11 million people in East Asia and the Pacific being pushed into poverty if the coronavirus outbreak is not contained, China to include asymptomatic cases in its total tally, US asks 4,000 South Korean civilian workers not to report at its bases from tomorrow, mergers & acquisitions in the region hits a new low, an experiment to build a device to protect people from the virus goes wrong, and more.

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The pains from battling Covid-19 could last a long time with the World Bank warning that in a bad case scenario, East Asia and the Pacific could see up to 11 million people driven into poverty, with low wage and informal sector workers the most vulnerable.

The assessment was released as the number of confirmed cases worldwide neared 800,000.

"A region that's been growing at steady 6 per cent overall could see, even in our baseline scenario, as much as 4 percentage points cut off the growth rate," Mr Aaditya Mattoo, the World Bank's Chief Economist for East Asia and the Pacific, said.

Growth in China is projected to decline to 2.3 per cent in the baseline and 0.1 per cent in the lower-case scenario in 2020, from 6.1 per cent in 2019, the World Bank report noted. Growth in the rest of the developing East Asia and Pacific region could slow to 1.3 per cent in the baseline and to negative 2.8 in the lower-case scenario in 2020, from an estimated 4.7 per cent in 2019, it said.

Similar warnings came from other institutions. Nations such as Singapore, South Korea, Japan and China, that have been gaining ground must not let their guards down, the World Health Organisation reiterated today. While US-based Refugees International urged policy makers to keep the world's 70 million displaced people in their policy planning. Many of them are in Asia with Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar alone housing nearly 900,000 largely Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, it noted.

China will start including the number of asymptomatic coronavirus cases confirmed on the mainland in its tally of total number of cases from tomorrow, in a change that will give a more realistic assessment of the number of infections and deaths in the country.

Many people have been concerned about the prevalence of a number of people among them who could be showing no symptoms of carrying the coronavirus bug, but could still be spreading the disease.

Alarm has grown further with a number of imported asymptomatic carriers being reported in several provinces in the country - among them Shandong province, Guizhou province and Sichuan province.

Washington is set to put almost half of its 8,500 South Korean civilian workers on furlough, in a move that could further widen the rift between the United States and South Korea on their military alliance. Reports said almost 4,000 workers have been told not to report to American military bases in South Korea from tomorrow.

The two sides have been deadlocked over their Special Measures Agreement since US President Donald Trump initially demanded US$5 billion (S$7.12 billion) a year from South Korea to pay for US security.

Seoul has shown no signs that it could consider paying that amount and has instead reminded Washington of the perils of Pyongyang's provocative acts and instability it could cause.

With coronavirus prompting governments to impose lockdowns and social distancing measures, businesses are getting impacted and stock markets have taken a plunge. Not surprisingly, mergers and acquisitions in Asia are at a seven-year low and the region's dealmakers are looking to more distressed sales and take-private deals.

Deal value across the Asia-Pacific region, at US$177.4 billion (S$252.6 billion), was down 20 per cent in the first three months of 2020 versus the same period a year earlier, data from Refinitiv showed. Those involving China were down 16 per cent.

Market observers say that with the economic slowdown likely to continue, negotiations will take place but it will be a while before deals are concluded as sellers and buyers reassess business fundamentals.

Australian astrophysicist Daniel Reardon was working to create a necklace-like device that would buzz when its wearer brought their hands too close to their face. But he saw his attempted invention to stop people catching the disease go horribly wrong after he mindlessly started playing with magnets - to be used in his device - and pushed them up his nostrils.

INDONESIA INTENSIFIES FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19: Indonesian President Joko Widodo today approved new regulations that came into immediate effect with the goal of curbing the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country, including a 405.1 trillion rupiah (S$35.22 billion) increase in the state budget to cater to exigent expenses such as spending on health equipment.

CANBERRA'S WARNING ON TAKEOVERS: Australia announced today that foreign investments, regardless of size, must seek approval by the nation's investment review board. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the new rules were "designed to protect Australia's national interest" as the coronavirus outbreak continues. A leading bank said the tighter scrutiny on foreign takeovers is to protect domestic firms from getting picked up at times of weakness.

VISA TRANSACTION VOLUMES DOWN: The world's largest payments network Visa Inc said today its transaction volumes had been hit as the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on consumer spending, leading it to forecast mid-single digit percentage revenue growth for the second quarter

That's it for today. Thanks for reading. Stay safe and we'll be back with you tomorrow.

Shefali