Thousands of Indian expats from across Saudi throng funeral of Emirate Khader in Jubail

Feb 28: The best economic tonic for the coronavirus shock is to contain its spread and worry about stimulus later, said Raghuram Rajan, former head of the Reserve Bank of India.

There’s little central banks can do, and while more government spending would help, the priority should be on convincing companies and households that the virus is under control, he said.

“People want to have a sense that there is a limit to the spread of this virus perhaps because of containment measures or because there is hope that some kind of viral solution can be found,” Rajan told Bloomberg Television’s Haidi Stroud Watts and Shery Ahn.

“At this point I would say the best thing that governments can do is to really fight the epidemic rather than worry about stimulus measures that comes later,” said Rajan, who is currently a professor at the Chicago Booth School of Business.

The spread of coronavirus is pushing the world economy toward its worst performance since the financial crisis more than a decade ago.

Bank of America Corp. economists warned clients Thursday that they now expect 2.8% global growth this year, the weakest since 2009.

“We have moved from extreme confidence in markets to extreme panic, all in the space of one week,” said Rajan, who previously was chief economist at the International Monetary Fund.

The virus outbreak will force companies to rethink supply chains and overseas production facilities, he said.

“I think we will see a lot of rethinking on this, coming on the back of the trade disruption, now we have this,” Rajan said. “Globalization in production is going to be hit quite badly.”

Bengaluru, May 3: The Excise Commissioner of Karnataka has issued an order granting permission to distilleries, breweries and wineries situated outside the containment zones to begin production activity. The permission has been granted on the condition that they strictly comply with COVID-19 related guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

"In view of the state government order and the new guidelines issued by the MHA, permission is granted to distilleries, breweries and wineries situated in rural areas and industrial estates and industrial townships with access control (outside containment zones) to commence only production activity," the Excise Commissioner said in the order.

The Excise Commissioner further said in the order that the Deputy Commissioner of Excise shall ensure that wherever distilleries, breweries and wineries are permitted to carry on production activities, they shall strictly comply with COVID-19 related guidelines issued by the MHA.

Mangaluru: The police team investigating the case of bomb planting at the international airport here on January 20, took suspect Aditya Rao to several places in the city where he had frequented in the past few months, police said on Wednesday.

Police had earlier recovered a box from his bank locker at Udupi that contained a white powder which he claimed was cyanide. The substance has been sent to the Forensic Science laboratory for confirmation.

On further interrogation, Rao told police that he had a locker in a bank in Mangaluru also, where he was taken. Only some papers were seen in the locker, police said. He was also taken to the room where he stayed while he was working at a hotel in Balmatta here and to a hardware workshop from where he had purchased some spare parts, they said.

A 'live' explosive device was found in an unattended bag near a ticket counter of the departure gate of the airport here on January 20, triggering a scare before it was defused at a nearby open ground.

Police had released a picture of a man captured on CCTV camera as the suspect who placed the bomb and Rao later surrendered. Meanwhile, sources said the airport authorities got an anonymous call on Monday evening that a bomb had been planted in the airport. After thorough search, it was found to be a hoax. City police commissioner P S Harsha has warned of stringent action against those who make such calls.