Economy & Business Wednesday, September 2, 2020 11 Germany sees strong economic rebound, no second virus lockdown again. have died with COVID-19 Before a press conference, Altmaier said Germany will avoid lockdowns Last week, the government in Germany since the first the minister even showed off like Germans lived through in March & April announced a minimum fine detected case in January, a a printed V-shaped chart for of 50 euros ($59) for anyone lower rate than other major assembled photographers to AFP the crisis. caught without a face mask countries in Europe that lived highlight the bounce back. Frankfurt am Main Altmaier said Germany in places where wearing one through tougher lockdowns. The German economy “can and will” avoid lockdowns is compulsory, a ban on large It tallies with Germany’s slumped 9.7 percent in the Germany is in a V-shaped like Germans lived through in events until the end of the year considerably better economic second quarter of 2020, the economic recovery and should March and April. and new quarantine rules for outlook. “sharpest decline since quar- avoid a new phase of lock- “Rising infection rates will travellers returning from re- France, for example, is terly GDP calculations for Ger- downs, the economy minister be countered by targeted and gions with high case rates. expected to see its economy many began in 1970,” the fed- said on Tuesday, despite a re- regionally limited measures, Chancellor Angela Merkel, shrink 10.6 percent by the end eral statistics agency Destatis surgence of coronavirus cases. so that the economic recovery a former scientist, has won of 2020, Spain 10.9 percent said previously. However, the German GDP is expected can continue to develop grad- plaudits and seen her approval and Italy 11.2 percent, accord- “low point of the recession” to fall 5.8 percent in 2020, a ually in the coming months,” ratings soar for her handling ing to EU statistics. passed in May, according to narrower recession than the he said. German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier in Berlin recently. (AFP) of the virus, but last week said Altmaier said Europe’s the economy ministry. 6.3 percent drop projected The country, which has coping with the outbreak will largest economy was expe- Recent surveys have al- earlier, Peter Altmaier said, been more resistent to the 1,250 new cases of COVID-19 average of less than 500 in become more challenging in riencing “an unfortunately ready shown an improvement signalling that the country is pandemic than many of its per day on average over the July and August, and is start- the coming months. strong slump but then an un- in business sentiment in the emerging from the worst of neighbours, reported nearly last week, compared with an ing to tighten restrictions More than 9,000 people expectedly fast recovery”. country. Spain foreign Brazil plunges into recession tourist arrivals plummet 75% with record 9.7% drop on virus AFP higher, and visitor spending Madrid 18 times higher. The country’s industrial and services sector saw record contractions of 12.3% and 9.7% respectively In July, the largest num- Foreign tourist arrivals ber of incoming tourists AFP in Spain plummeted by 75 were French, who account- Rio de Janeiro percent year-on-year in July ed for a quarter of all arriv- despite the reopening of als, followed by Germans Brazil’s economy, the big- borders in the world’s sec- then Britons, who are nor- gest in Latin America, con- ond-most popular tourist mally the largest national tracted by a record 9.7 percent destination, official figures visitor group. in the second quarter of 2020, showed Tuesday. The Balearic islands plunging into recession as cor- July was the first full were the most popular des- onavirus lockdowns hit home, month of Spain’s new nor- tination in July, accounting the official statistics agency mality since Madrid reo- for nearly a quarter of all said Tuesday. pened its frontiers on June visitors to Spain, followed Brazil has been hit hard 21 and lifted a state of emer- by the northeastern Catalo- by the pandemic, with the gency that ushered in one nia region then Valencia in second-highest number of of the tightest lockdowns in the southeast. infections and deaths world- the world. Due to the drop in ar- wide after the United States, Tourism is a pillar of the rivals, hotel reservations and stay-at-home measures to Spanish economy, account- slumped by 73.4 percent contain the virus have taken a ing for some 12 percent in July, while other tourist heavy toll. of gross domestic product accommodation bookings “GDP is now at the same (GDP) and 13 percent of em- (such as apartments and level as late 2009, at the height ployment. campsites) fell by 49.9 per- of the global financial crisis,” Foreign tourist spending cent compared with July the Brazilian Institute of Ge- also slumped in July, falling 2019, recent INE figures ography and Statistics (IBGE) by 79.5 percent compared show. said in a statement. with the same period a year When the borders reo- It was the biggest drop earlier, figures released by pened, Spain had hoped to since the current system of re- the National Institute of claw back some of its loss- cords began in 1996, it said. Statistics (INE) showed. es by billing itself as a safe There were record contrac- Per tourist, the average tourist destination. tions of 12.3 percent in the in- amount spent was down But it has since been bat- dustrial sector and 9.7 percent 17.8 percent. tered by an explosion of new in the services sector, which But after more than Covid-19 cases, prompt- together account for 95 per- three months of lockdown, ing many countries to issue cent of the Brazilian economy, the figures showed a big travel warnings or impose IBGE said. increase on June, with for- quarantine restrictions on “These results refer to the eign tourist arrivals 12 times arrivals from Spain. peak of social distancing, when A volunteer wearing PPE disinfects an area at the Babilonia favela, in Rio de Janeiro, (File photo) (AFP) many economic activities were partially or totally paralyzed (-17.1 percent) and Chile (-13.4 ‘GDP is now at the same the government would extend than 3.9 million infections and to fight the pandemic,” IBGE percent). level as late 2009, at the the measure for four more 121,000 deaths. national accounts coordinator “The country suffered one height of the global finan- months, but halve the payout The economy was only just Rebeca Palis said in the state- of the more modest downturns cial crisis,’ the Brazilian to 300 reals. recovering from its longest re- ment. in Latin America,” consulting Institute of Geography and “The Brazilian fiscal pack- cession in history, driven by The contraction was worse firm Capital Economics said in age was brutal, it was abso- the fallout of a massive cor- than the 9.2 percent average a note. Statistics lutely enormous,” Margarida ruption scandal centered on forecast by 49 economists “But with fiscal policy set Gutierrez, an economist at the state-run oil giant Petrobras. polled by business daily Valor. to turn from a tailwind to a been paying 600 reals ($110) a Federal University of Rio de Reeling from the scandal, However, it was better headwind, the pace of the re- month to 66.4 million Brazil- Janeiro, told AFP. which felled a laundry list of than the 11.1 percent drop covery is likely to lose momen- ians hit hardest by lockdown Brazil’s economy shrank a top political leaders and busi- economists were predicting in tum.” measures. revised 2.5 percent in the first ness executives, the economy May. Analysts say Brazil’s im- That is nearly one-third of quarter, as the impact of the shrank 3.5 percent in 2015 and Brazil fared better in the provement was largely thanks the population. pandemic began to hit, IBGE 3.3 percent in 2016. second quarter than many to the decision by President Bolsonaro, who faces said. Economists polled by the A volunteer prepares rations of donated food in need at the other economies, includ- Jair Bolsonaro’s adminis- pressure from deficit hawks Since then, Covid-19 has central bank are forecasting a Santa Anna church in Barcelona.(File photo) (AFP) ing Britain (-20.4 percent), tration to launch a massive to rein emergency spending exploded in Brazil: the coun- contraction of 5.28 percent for France (-13.8 percent), Mexico stimulus program that has back in, announced Tuesday try has now registered more the year in 2020.

LEGAL BLOW TO ELECTRONICS GIANT Samsung empire heir charged with fraud over merger deal

AFP by deploying “various unfair But the South’s economy in the merged entity -- a key Seoul transactions” that damaged shrank 3.2 percent year-on- part of the Samsung structure other shareholders’ interests. year in the same period, ac- -- consolidating his grip on the South Korean prosecutors Lee is already separately cording to a revised estimate conglomerate. indicted the heir to the Sam- being retried on charges of by the central Bank of Korea Lee’s latest legal troubles sung empire on Tuesday over bribery, embezzlement and on Tuesday. Lee’s legal team add a layer of “uncertainty” to a controversial merger of two other offences in connection rejected the charges, calling the company and could “bur- business units seen as a key with the corruption scandal them “one-sided allegations” den the South’s economy as a step towards his succession, that brought down former by the investigators and “to- whole”, said Kim Dae-jong, a in the latest legal blow to the South Korean president Park tally untrue”. business professor at Sejong sprawling conglomerate. Geun-hye. The businessman “Every process for the University in Seoul. Lee Jae-yong, vice chair- was not detained, but the merger was carried out legal- “The fact that he will have man of Samsung Electronics, charges are likely to prove a ly,” they said, adding the in- to stand another trial creates committed stock manipula- distraction as his firm seeks dictment against Lee was “not a cloud of uncertainty and tion, breach of trust and other to navigate the effects of the only beyond comprehension, probably affects Samsung’s offences when two other sub- coronavirus pandemic. it’s lamentable.” long-term investment plans,” sidiaries, Samsung C&T and Samsung Electronics is Chaebol families often he told AFP. With the country Cheil Industries, merged in the flagship subsidiary of the have only a small owner- feeling the economic pain from 2015, the prosecutors said. group, which was founded ship stake in their empires, the outbreak, “the timing isn’t Ten other current and for- by Lee’s grandfather and has but maintain control through good”, he added. Nonetheless mer top Samsung executives grown to become by far the big- complex webs of cross-share- Samsung Electronics’ shares were also charged. gest of the family-controlled holdings between units. closed up 0.37 percent in Seoul. Lee and his subordinates conglomerates, or chaebols, File photo of Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong (centre), vice chairman of Samsung Electronics in Seoul. (AFP) Lee was the largest share- Some chaebol leaders who had carried out “a systemic that dominate business in the holder in Cheil Industries, and have been convicted in the past scheme to take control of the world’s 12th-largest economy. Korea’s gross domestic prod- The firm saw profits rise chips to meet surging demand critics say Samsung sought to have subsequently received Samsung Group with the least Its overall turnover is uct and is crucial to the coun- in April-July with data centres for online activities as a result artificially lower the price of presidential pardons in recog- cost”, said the prosecution, equivalent to a fifth of South try’s economic health. moving to stockpile its DRAM of global lockdowns. C&T to give him a bigger stake nition of their economic roles.