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The wealth of the world’s billionaires has reached a record high during the coronavirus pandemic – despite millions of people continuing to face the prospect of unemployment.
The richest managed to increase their fortunes to record levels between April and July, when the COVID-19 crisis was continuing to escalate.

A report by Swiss bank UBS and accountancy firm PwC covered about 2,000 billionaires and discovered their wealth hit $10.2trn (£7.9trn) in July.

Image: From 2018 through to July 2020, technology billionaires saw their wealth rise 42.5%
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The figure broke the previous record of $8.9trn (£6.9trn) at the end of 2019.

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The billionaires had mostly increased their fortunes through betting on the recovery of global stock markets, taking advantage of gains in the technology and healthcare sectors.

It comes in a year when unemployment levels are expected to continue to rise around the world amid the ongoing economic impact caused by the pandemic.

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Last month, the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) revealed the crisis had wiped out $3.5trn (£2.7trn) of income for millions of workers.
The ILO said Latin America had been particularly hard hit, with about 34 million jobs being lost since the outbreak of COVID-19 at the beginning of the year.
Billionaires across every industry covered by the UBS and PwC study saw their wealth rise by double digits, with those involved in the technology, healthcare and industrial sectors leading the pack with gains of 36% to 44%.
From 2018 through to July 2020, technology billionaires saw their wealth rise 42.5% to $1.8tn (£1.4tn), while those building their fortune from healthcare enjoyed a rise of 50.3% during the same period to $658.6bn (£511.5bn).
The report said many of the billionaires had donated funds which were equivalent to $7.2bn (£5.59bn) to help fight the coronavirus.

A US congressional report has accused Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google of monopolising the digital market and recommended antitrust laws be used to break up these companies.
The 449-page report criticises how the technology giants have purchased competitors to retain their market dominance and for designing services in preference of their own revenues rather than in consumers’ interest.

Written by the House Judiciary Committee, the report recommends Congress introduces new laws which would ban platform operators from competing with businesses on their platforms, where they have an advantage.
“To put it simply, companies that once were scrappy, underdog start-ups that challenged the status quo have become the kinds of monopolies we last saw in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons,” the report warned.

Image: The report from Congress warns about digital monopolies
“Although these firms have delivered clear benefits to society, the dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google has come at a price,” it added.

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“These firms typically run the marketplace while also competing in it – a position that enables them to write one set of rules for others, while they play by another.”

The report warned that although the four companies “differ in important ways”, their business practices revealed common problems, citing “nearly 1.3 million documents” as extensive evidence collected over the course of the investigation.

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“Each platform now serves as a gatekeeper over a key channel of distribution. By controlling access to markets, these giants can pick winners and losers throughout our economy,” the report stated.
“They not only wield tremendous power, but they also abuse it by charging exorbitant fees, imposing oppressive contract terms, and extracting valuable data from the people and businesses that rely on them.”

July: Tech bosses grilled over having ‘too much power’

It added: “By controlling the infrastructure of the digital age, they have surveilled other businesses to identify potential rivals, and have ultimately bought out, copied, or cut off their competitive threats.”
Among the recommendations are increased oversight and stricter rules regarding the acquisition of technology companies by the largest platforms – an issue which has regularly been cited as allowing the giants to become monopolistic over their slices of internet commerce.

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July: Insurance giant joins list of companies boycotting Facebook

Finally, according to the report, “these firms have abused their role as intermediaries to further entrench and expand their dominance,” in classical monopolistic behaviour.
“Whether through self-preferencing, predatory pricing, or exclusionary conduct, the dominant platforms have exploited their power in order to become even more dominant,” it stated, calling for Congress to introduce new laws to tackle these issues.
According to The New York Times, the report was delayed due to disagreements between Republicans and Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, with the former upset that the report didn’t go into more detail on technology companies’ perceived bias against conservative views.
An alternative report drafted by the Republicans and obtained and published by Politico described some of the recommendations as “non-starters for conservatives”, particularly the calls to enforce a structural break-up of platforms such as Amazon so they are not directly competing with companies using their platform.

One of Britain’s biggest pub operators is preparing to close dozens of venues and cut hundreds of jobs following a slump in trade exacerbated by the government’s 10pm hospitality industry curfew.
Sky News has learnt that Greene King on Wednesday started a consultation with 800 employees about a redundancy process.

Sources close to the company, which has an estate of almost 1,700 managed pubs and 1,000 tenanted venues across Britain, said it would seek to redeploy affected staff wherever possible despite the continuing COVID-19 crisis.

Image: Table service at the Fort St George in Cambridge

Where jobs are being lost in the UK economy

In total, 79 of Greene King’s pubs and restaurants will close, with roughly one-third of the closures expected to be permanent.
The redundancies represent a small fraction of Greene King’s 38,000-strong workforce but underline the anxiety of employers as the government’s furlough scheme nears its end.

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The latest round of cuts across the hospitality sector underline the enormous financial toll being taken on an industry that is among Britain’s largest employers.

Some of the country’s best-known restaurant chains have already been forced into insolvency processes since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, while the industry association UK Hospitality has forecast that hundreds of thousands of jobs will disappear before Christmas without additional government support.

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Greene King’s venue closures include 11 Loch Fyne restaurants signalled several days ago, while other pub groups including Young’s and Fullers are also in the process of cutting substantial numbers of jobs.

Image: Greene King hopes to redeploy many of the staff affected

Track the UK economy’s recovery from lockdown

In a recent statement, Nick Mackenzie, Greene King’s chief executive, said: “The industry is still dealing with the crippling aftereffects of the nationwide lockdown and the cumulative effect of the new restrictions, combined with the singling out of pubs, mean the measures announced by the chancellor don’t go far enough, especially for drink-led city centre pubs.
“With Public Health England figures showing only 5% of all outbreaks are linked to hospitality, it feels like pubs are being unfairly targeted when there is little evidence that they enable the spread of Covid-19.”
A spokeswoman for Greene King said: “The continued tightening of the trading restrictions for pubs, which may last another six months, along with the changes to government support was always going to make it a challenge to reopen some of our pubs.
“Therefore, we have made the difficult decision not to reopen 79 sites, including the 11 Loch Fyne restaurants we announced last week.
“Around one-third will be closed permanently and we hope to be able to reopen the others in the future.
“We are working hard with our teams to try and find them a role in another of our pubs wherever possible.
“We urgently need the Government to step in and provide tailored support to help the sector get through to the spring and prevent further pub closures and job losses.”

Apple has announced a special event on 13 October at which it is expected to launch the iPhone 12 and a handful of other products.
The company unveiled a range of new products including Apple Watches and iPads in its September event last month, but for the first time in years it did not released a new iPhone.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the iPhone launch event in October is being held online – like the September one and Apple’s developer conference in June – and will broadcast at 6pm UK time.

Image: Apple’s September event focused mainly on the Apple Watch
You can follow it live on Tuesday with Sky News, but here’s what to expect ahead of time:
The main invite that has been sent out has the title “Hi, Speed”, suggesting the company is going to be making a big deal out of the inclusion of Apple Silicon – or its in-house developed computer chips – as it did in September for the A14 Bionic, available in the new iPad Air 4.

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The chip was described as “by far the most advanced we’ve ever made” with transistors so small they “challenge the laws of physics” with about 11.8 billion packed into a single chip.

“We’re talking about a scale so small, they’re measured in atoms,” Apple said.

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It is the first time such a chip has been announced in any product line other than the iPhone, potentially due to the delayed release date which the company warned investors about earlier this year.
According to Apple, the iPad Air 4 is three times faster than the top-selling Android tablet, and six times faster than the top-selling Chromebook. We’ll have to wait and see what comparisons Apple makes with the iPhone 12.
Apple is expected to unveil four devices in three different sizes in the iPhone 12 range.
They are rumoured to include super-fast 5G wireless connectivity for the first time, with the models going on sale to consumers on 23 October.
The smallest device will have a 5.4-inch screen from corner to corner, two will measure 6.1 inches, and the biggest one will have a mammoth 6.7-inch display.
The 6.7-inch version and one of the 6.1-inch models are expected to be Apple’s higher-end devices, potentially called the iPhone 12 Pro range, and feature the latest technology that the company has developed.
These Pro models are expected to retain the triple-lens housing which debuted with the iPhone 11 Pro, while the regular and smaller iPhone 12 models will have a dual-lens set-up for its rear cameras.
It isn’t clear what the smaller iPhone 12 will be called, but there have been some suggestions it might be named the iPhone 12 mini.

Image: Apple could be set to drop the iPhone charger from its next device
Apple is rumoured to have added a new distinctive metal frame reminiscent of that used for the iPhone 4 and the newest iPad Pro models too to differentiate the devices from the iPhone 11 range.
The design is expected to align with that of the iPad Pro, with the stainless steel frame giving the device a square-edged look – although for most consumers these design features tend to be hidden by protective casings.
For months it has been rumoured that the iPhone 12 will be sold without headphones, a charger or a plug adaptor in the box.
The best features are rumoured to be packed into the 6.7-inch device, including a rear camera system which will use lasers to calculate depth information for the immediate environment – opening up a range of new photography and augmented reality features.
Apple is also rumoured to be working on over-the-ear headphones to add to the AirPods family, potentially called AirPods Studio.

Image: Apple will reportedly launch bluetooth-tracker tags
Perhaps the most novel new addition will be the Apple AirTags – similar to the Tile Bluetooth trackers, which can be added to a keyring or other physical items and located using an iPhone app.
Particularly exciting is the idea of an augmented reality tracker, which would enable users to pull up the app on their iPhone and get an overlay of where the tag is located in the immediate environment.
It could be particularly handy if you don’t know which room you left your keys in. But even if the tag has been left further afield, there are suggestions it could be located by other iPhones through Apple’s “Find My” app mesh network.

Tesco has revealed a £533m hit from coronavirus crisis costs – but a leap of more than 20% in shareholder rewards thanks to surging sales.
The UK’s largest supermarket chain said the vast COVID-19 cost bill was also offset by business rates relief of £249m during the first half of the year.

Tesco reported profit before tax of £551m – a rise of almost 29% on the same period in 2019.

Image: Empty shelves in the pasta aisle of a Tesco store in the run-up to the UK lockdown in March
Group sales were up by more than 6% at £26.7bn, with sales in the UK and Ireland rising 8.6% to £24.3bn at a time when the grocery sector adapted to feed customers as economies were placed in hibernation to curb rising infection rates.
Chains were forced to shell out for safety equipment such as PPE and ramp up online delivery services in the face of the public health emergency, with supply chains being severely tested by demand for household essentials.

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Handling the crisis proved to be the final act for chief executive Dave Lewis, who stepped down last week after driving an overhaul of the business since 2014 – a time when the chain was bleeding customers and mired by a profits scandal.

Investors were handsomely rewarded for their patience on Wednesday.

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In a break with the behaviour of many companies during the crisis to date, Tesco said it was to not only maintain an interim dividend, but raise it by 21% to 3.2p per share.

Track the UK economy’s recovery from lockdown

A further £5bn is to be returned to shareholders as part of a special dividend related to the £8bn sale of its Asian operations earlier this year.
Shares rose by more than 4% in early trading.
Staff were also rewarded with a 10% bonus covering the period from 9 March to 30 May.
The chain added 16,000 staff in August as it moved to bolster its market leading position.
New chief executive Ken Murphy said: “The first half of this year has tested our business in ways we had neverimagined, and our colleagues have risen brilliantly to every challenge, acting in the best interests of our customers and local communities throughout.”

Where jobs have been lost in the UK economy

He added: “Tesco is a great business with many strategic advantages. I’m excited by the range of opportunities we have to use those advantages to create further value for our customers and, in doing so, create value for all of our other stakeholders.”
Tesco also confirmed a story by Sky News that it had appointed a new chief financial officer to replace Alan Stewart once he departs next year.
Imran Nawaz will join the company from Tate & Lyle.

Taxpayers face losses of as much as £26bn on coronavirus “bounce back” loans that cannot be repaid or are the subject of fraud, the spending watchdog has found.
The scheme provides rapid access to 100% government-backed finance worth up to £50,000 to struggling small firms, with fewer checks than other COVID-19 business loan initiatives.

It has proved much more popular than anticipated when launched in May, with the total value of loans now expected to be £38-£48bn, up from an initial estimate of £18bn-£26bn.

Image: The scheme was launched to support struggling small firms
But it relies on firms self-certifying details of their applications and no credit checks by lenders on existing customers, increasing the risks of losses to taxpayers, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.
Senior officials raised formal concerns about it from the start which were overruled by the Treasury, according the NAO.

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It also found that officials were not able to put in place measures to prevent duplicate loan applications to different lenders until nearly a month after the initiative launched.

The NAO concluded that the government “acted decisively” when launching the scheme to save small businesses from running out of money.

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But Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “Unfortunately, the cost to the taxpayer has the potential to be very high, if the estimated losses turn out to be correct.
“Government will need to ensure that robust debt collection and fraud investigation arrangements are in place to minimise the impact of these potential losses to the public purse.”
The department for business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) and the British Business Bank (BBB) estimate that “as a result of credit and fraud risks” 35% to 60% of borrowers may default on the loans, the NAO’s report said.
That would imply, based on the scheme lending £43bn, a loss of £15bn to £26bn, though the estimates were “highly uncertain”, the report added.
Under the BBB’s “downside scenario” the level of default could be as high as 80% – if the pandemic lasts longer than expected and efforts to curb loan losses prove ineffective.
Within the overall loss, the extent of fraud on the scheme was “likely to be significantly above” the usual 0.5%-5% estimated for public sector fraud, the NAO report said.
Fraud risks included multiple applications from the same borrower, loans being made to people without a legitimate business, impersonation and organised crime.
These were among issues raised by BEIS and the BBB with ministers.

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April: Sunak announces small business loan scheme

They were also “concerned that the lower level of credit checks may result in lenders making loans to businesses which are unable to repay, leading to the loss of taxpayer money”, the NAO found.
However the Treasury “felt on balance it was necessary to increase delivery speed”, the report said.
Details of the BBB’s warning to the government about the potential for fraud, in a letter from then-boss Keith Morgan, were first revealed last week.
On Friday, the National Crime Agency said it would investigate serious and organised crime linked to the bounce back scheme after intelligence suggested it was being exploited.
A government spokesperson said: “We’ve looked to minimise fraud – with lenders implementing a range of protections including anti-money laundering and customer checks, as well as transaction monitoring controls.
“Any fraudulent applications can be criminally prosecuted for which penalties include imprisonment or a fine or both.”
Applications for new loans remain open until 30 November.

Small restaurants are accusing Deliveroo of unfairness and claim the delivery app is charging some large chain restaurants significantly lower commission rates than many small independent partners.
They believe in some cases chains are paying roughly half the amount paid by those on the highest commission rates offered by the app.

Sky News can reveal that the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has written to the chief executive of Deliveroo asking for “clarity” on how commission rates are determined and stressing the importance of independent businesses being treated “fairly”.

Image: Deliveroo is an online food delivery company founded by William Shu in 2013
Deliveroo has launched a number of measures this year to support its small business partners during the pandemic and says it has invested millions of pounds in them.
But the pandemic has hit the hospitality sector very hard, with social distancing, curfews, and customer anxiety keeping many diners at home.

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Many restaurants that previously saw delivery apps as a nice extra have, at times this year, relied on them for survival and expect them to play an enlarged role in business through the autumn and winter.

In this context there is frustration over high commissions.

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Image: Emanuela Dei Giudici and Pietro Mingolla run small Italian trattoria Bianco Nero
In Maidenhead, husband and wife team Pietro Mingolla and Emanuela Dei Giudici run small Italian trattoria Bianco Nero.
When lockdown came they closed for a period and reopened in May, using delivery apps to reach their customers.
Deliveroo was charging them a commission rate of 35%, one of the highest on the network.
“You know, for an £100 pound order, if it is 35% [commission] and then the VAT on top of that, that’s easily £40 gone already so it isn’t really worth it,” Mr Mingolla explained, adding that during lockdown, “you had to rely on that, otherwise there is no income”.
“I’m sure other restaurants get a better deal, and speaking to some of them locally it seems like they do, and that is the most frustrating thing for us really because we are a family business, we’re a small business.”
They have recently left the platform, citing a combination of high commission, low orders and lack of capacity.

Image: The restaurant industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic
There is nothing new or unusual about businesses offering different rates to different customers of different sizes and similar practices exist at Deliveroo’s competitors. But it is the context of the pandemic that has left many feeling they have been treated unfairly.
Sky News can reveal the mayor of London has questioned the issue.
In a letter seen by Sky News, Sadiq Khan wrote to Deliveroo’s chief executive Will Shu asking for “clarity on how you determine the commission rates for businesses that sign up to Deliveroo”.
It says: “It is important that independent businesses are treated fairly, particularly at the current time when they are vulnerable, and many depend on your services to survive.”
Neither Deliveroo nor City Hall would confirm if Mr Shu has replied but in a statement a spokesperson for the mayor said he “recognises the important role Deliveroo has played in supporting London’s hospitality sector through the challenges posed by the COVID-19 lockdown and the clarity it has provided around its commission model”.
James Chiavarini runs Italian restaurants in west London including Il Portico, the city’s oldest family-run eatery.
Mr Chiavarini is angry about varied commission rates and has started a petition calling for change. He has also lodged a complaint with the UK’s competitions regulator, The Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA).
He said: “I want to see a vibrant future for restaurateurs in London and the only way to do that is if we can all play on the same level playing field.
“There is no reason why the big chains should be paying half of our commission. We just want to have a fair system for everybody. If the big chains are paying 18% commission, everybody should be paying 18% commission. So that’s what we’re asking.”

Image: Customer anxiety has kept many diners at home
Deliveroo says it has since lowered Mr Chiavarini’s commission, given a rebate and speaks to him regularly.
Many restaurants credit Deliveroo with their survival over lockdown. Some 11,000 have joined the platform in recent months.
The firm has also introduced measures to help small restaurants. They include a cut in joining fees, encouraging customers to tip restaurants via a new feature on the app called Love Your Local and in September, an offer of “Eat In To Help Out” discounts to customers ordering from small independent restaurants.
Carlos Alvarado from Mestizo London, a Mexican restaurant in the north of the city said he has been very happy with Deliveroo’s support during the pandemic.
“They were able to get my restaurant up and running in record time,” he said.
“Before I knew it I was providing delicious food to my customers once again during lockdown and now it’s helping me boost my sales in these difficult times.”
The platform has run other social good campaigns over the summer such as delivering hundreds of thousands of free meals to the NHS.
During the weekend Sky News revealed that Deliveroo is working with investment bankers Goldman Sachs to oversee a long-awaited flotation.
In August the CMA approved a minority investment from Amazon in Deliveroo as part of a $575m fundraising round.
Deliveroo had previously warned that a refusal by competition regulators to sanction the investment could undermine its chances of survival.

Where jobs are being lost across the UK economu

In a statement a Deliveroo spokesperson said: “Deliveroo is a company founded on a love for small, independent restaurants and our absolute priority is supporting their businesses, especially during COVID-19. We are proud that we help them reach new customers and boost their sales through delivery. Over 11,000 new restaurants have joined Deliveroo in recent months, 7,400 of which are small restaurants.
“Throughout the COVID crisis we have invested millions in our restaurant partners, helping them increase their sales and producing new tools to support both their dine-in and delivery businesses.
“Deliveroo charges different levels of commission depending on each individual arrangement with a restaurant partner. This is then reinvested back into our business, paying for riders’ fees, customer services and upgrading our services for restaurants.”
Many in the industry also say commission rates are reasonable and what the market demands.
Peter Backman, industry consultant and analyst, said: “They want to get the big names on their platform – when you search through the app, or the website, you look for the big names that you know.
“From a business sense it is perfectly understandable: you give the best rate to your biggest customer. There are a whole variety of reasons for it – it’s not a bad proposition, dealing with one customer for lots of orders is more efficient than dealing with lots of customers for lots of little orders.
“The reason why commission rates are high is because these companies have got to make some money somehow. If they could make money out of a 5% commission, they would, but they can’t so they don’t.”

Britain’s main banking lobby group will on Wednesday name David Postings as its next boss with a brief to help steer the industry through the remainder of the coronavirus crisis.
Sky News has learnt that Mr Postings, who recently stepped down as global chief executive of Bibby Financial Services, will be appointed as the chief executive of UK Finance.

The appointment will come as the UK’s major banks grapple with the financial and reputational fallout from the emergency loan schemes set up by ministers to help the economy weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Postings’ appointment will see the installation of a respected bank executive in one of the industry’s most important posts.
He is already a non-executive director of UK Finance.

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However, his appointment may also spark disappointment in some quarters that the job has not gone to a woman.

Stephen Jones, UK Finance’s former chief, resigned from the role several months ago because of remarks he had made 12 years ago about Amanda Staveley, the prominent financier.

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Sapphire Partners, a headhunting firm with a long track record of producing diverse shortlists for traditionally male-dominated boardroom roles, was subsequently hired to recruit a new chief executive for the trade body.
Some directors of the organisation, which represents Britain’s banks, mortgage lenders and payment firms, had been pushing for it to name a female successor to Mr Jones.
Sapphire’s involvement reflected UK Finance directors’ desire to ensure that female candidates were appropriately reflected on the shortlist, according to one insider.
The search for a new chief was launched at an awkward time for the lobbying group, which has played a major part in the economic response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The coronavirus outbreak has catapulted lenders into a pivotal role tasked with keeping credit flowing to millions of businesses – while also raising concerns about the reputational risks of trying to enforce those loans when repayments are due to commence next year.
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme has also become mired in controversy about the scale of fraudulent applications arising from its launch.
Before his departure last month, Mr Jones helped to orchestrate – alongside the Treasury – the emergency financing schemes which have channelled tens of billions of pounds of state-guaranteed loans to struggling businesses.
He resigned because of comments he made during telephone calls with then colleagues at Barclays during the 2008 banking crisis.
The issue of his remarks had resurfaced because transcripts of the calls could be read aloud in court in the coming weeks as part of a case brought by Ms Staveley against the British lender.
Mr Jones had already written to UK Finance staff to apologise for the “wrong” and “inappropriate” comments.
Ms Staveley alleges that Barclays deceived her over the substantially higher fees it separately paid to Qatari investors which helped bail out the bank and keep it out of the clutches of the government.
The trial, which began last month, continues, and Barclays denies any wrongdoing.
One ally of Mr Jones said he had been determined not to allow the sexism row to overshadow UK Finance’s work on gender and other forms of diversity during a period when they have become politically explosive issues.
During his three years at UK Finance, he had been heavily involved in a Treasury-sponsored initiative to improve diversity across the financial services sector.
UK Finance is one of the few City organisations which has equal gender representation both on its board and in its broader workforce.
The group declined to comment.

The global economy is in “less dire” shape than it was earlier this year but now faces a “long, uneven and uncertain” road to recovery, the head of the International Monetary Fund has said.
Kristalina Georgieva told an online event at the London School of Economics that the IMF would make a small upward revision to its world economic forecasts when they are unveiled next week.

“The global economy is coming back from the depths of this crisis,” she said. “But this calamity is far from over.”

Image: The IMF will publish revised forecasts next week
Ms Georgieva warned that the recovery risked being curtailed if governments cut off support too soon, fail to control the coronavirus and ignore debt problems in emerging markets.
“All countries are now facing what I would call ‘the long ascent’ – a difficult climb that will be long, uneven and uncertain. And prone to setbacks.”

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The IMF managing director said economies across the world saw an “unprecedented fall” in the second quarter of the year when around 85% of them were in coronavirus lockdowns for several weeks.

In June, the organisation forecast a 4.9% contraction in GDP for 2020 – including a 10.2% collapse for the UK – marking the sharpest slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

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“The picture today is less dire,” said Ms Georgieva in her latest remarks, with developments since June “somewhat better than expected”.
She said $12trn (£9trn) in support from governments for households and firms, together with central bank monetary policy – which has included ultra-low interest rates and bond purchases – had “put a floor under the world economy”.

Where jobs are being lost across the UK economu

For the US and the eurozone, the downturn has been “extremely painful” but less severe than expected while China was experiencing a better than anticipated recovery.
Yet the scale of policy support has been uneven, and some countries “still hurting badly” would see their outlooks revised on the downside next week, said Ms Georgieva.
That was because richer countries were able to do “whatever it takes” but poorer nations had to “strive for whatever is possible”, she added.
Ms Georgieva’s slightly improved outlook for the world economy overall was echoed by a new forecast from the World Trade Organisation.

Image: The WTO predicts global goods trade will shrink by 9.2% this year
It now sees global goods trade shrinking by 9.2% this year, far from the collapse of 13-32% predicted in April and short of the 12.8% decline experienced during the global financial crisis in 2009.
The WTO also credited aggressive fiscal and monetary policies with supporting demand.
Comments from Jerome Powell, chair of the US Federal Reserve, also seemed to chime with those of Ms Georgieva.

Image: Jerome Powell said extra support was needed
He warned that a tentative recovery from recession in the US could falter unless the government supplies additional economic support.
Meanwhile Spain, suffering from a second wave of coronavirus infections, downgraded its outlook.
It now expects the economy to shrink by 11.2% this year, down from a previous prediction of a 9.2% contraction.

Tesco will on Wednesday complete the overhaul of its top executive team by raiding Tate & Lyle to recruit its new finance chief.
Sky News has learnt that Britain’s biggest supermarket chain will announce alongside its half-year results that it has appointed Imran Nawaz to the role.

Mr Nawaz, who has only worked at Tate & Lyle, the food ingredients producer, for two years, will be the first major appointment by Ken Murphy, who took over as Tesco chief executive last week.

Image: Dave Lewis stepped down as chief executive last week
The new chief financial officer, whose appointment will be announced to the London Stock Exchange, will replace Alan Stewart, who will leave in the spring after seven years at Tesco.
Tesco and Tate & Lyle both declined to comment.

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The speed with which Mr Murphy has moved to recruit a new finance chief is likely to please the City, which has become accustomed to a period of steady growth at the UK’s biggest retailer.

Dave Lewis, Mr Murphy’s predecessor, stepped down last week after steering Tesco through the most turbulent period in its 101-year history after the discovery of an accounting scandal just weeks after his arrival.

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He overhauled the strategy of Philip Clarke, the Tesco “lifer” he replaced, shedding many of its overseas and non-core UK businesses, and restoring the sharp focus on price, range and availability that had seen the chain become the dominant player in Britain’s food retailing sector.
During Mr Lewis’s tenure, Tesco also reached a deferred prosecution agreement with the Serious Fraud Office which resulted in it paying a £129m fine.

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Tesco: COVID panic buying ‘unnecessary’

He also played a prominent role in industry calls to tackle food waste, and urged a levelling of the tax playing field for physical and online retailers.
Mr Lewis’s final months in the role were slightly overshadowed by a huge investor revolt over his £6.4m pay package.
While shareholders professed themselves delighted with his performance, they were angered by Tesco’s board’s decision to adjust the terms on which his discretionary remuneration was calculated.

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Changing face of retail under coronavirus

Like other grocers, Tesco has benefited from a surge in demand during the coronavirus pandemic, although the big chains have all insisted that they have not earned “windfall” profits because of the additional costs they have incurred in recent months.
Mr Murphy’s principal task will be to demonstrate to shareholders that he can ignite faster growth from a business with a much smaller geographical footprint than the one inherited by Mr Lewis.
A former executive at Walgreens Boots Alliance, he will preside over Wednesday’s half-year results announcement, although he is not expected to make detailed comments about Tesco’s strategy until next year.