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The coronavirus crisis has continued to deteriorate. Not only are new infections rising exponentially, so is the panic induced. As a result, governments are rolling out massive stimulus policies at a stunning pace. The question then is what net effect these trends will have on the duration and impact of the crisis.

The Covid-19 crisis has turned out to be far worse than we thought only a month ago. It has spread further and is now a global crisis – not just a mainly Chinese one. With the virus causing dislocations in major economic centres such as South Korea, northern Italy and now the United States, Asian economies will suffer from a broader drop in overall global demand.

Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat had to shape the 2020 budget under difficult circumstances. The COVID-19 crisis was a black swan event that no one could have foreseen. It forced policy makers to sharply rethink their basic assumptions for the budget and refocus fiscal priorities at the very last minute.

There is growing alarm over the spread of the Wuhan flu virus, known as the 2019-nCov virus. The population of infected patients continues to grow as more evidence of community spread outside China emerges, while the number of deaths has risen.Officials across the world are reacting with radical measures including…

aspirations for democracy and identity or it could more aggressively pursue its recent pressure tactics to bring Taiwan to heel. Unfortunately, there is nothing in China’s recent conduct to suggest that it might choose the first option. Indeed, China reacted furiously to the election result, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi insisting that Taiwan’s