The coronavirus outbreak may have a bigger and longer-term impact on China’s economy than thought, as fewer migrant workers have returned for work than in previous years and business activities have been slow to pick up, according to Nomura Holdings Inc, Bloomberg News reported. To contain the spread of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP), Chinese authorities have ordered city lockdowns and extended holidays at the expense of near-term economic growth.

Indian tycoon owners of bankrupt companies are being told their assets aren’t off limits, Bloomberg News reported. Weeks after India’s criminal enforcement bureau announced a second auction of the prized personal possessions of fugitive jeweler Nirav Modi including his favorite watch and his Rolls Royce Ghost, the U.K High Court recently asked Anil Ambani to deposit $100 million of his personal wealth to partially pay back debt due to a trio of Chinese banks. The rush to collect on the assets includes a swoop on Vijay Mallya’s French island mansion and yacht by Qatar National Bank.

Noble Group, the commodity trader that almost blew up in an accounting and debt scandal before pushing through a dramatic financial restructuring, has hired a new finance chief, the Financial Times reported. The Hong Kong-based company said on Friday that it has recruited Jacques Enri, the former chief financial officer of Gunvor, one of the world’s leading energy traders. He replaces Paul Jackaman who left in July.

Singapore Exchange Ltd. published a list of firms that are now required to provide quarterly earnings reports based on its risk-based approach, a few weeks after the city-state scrapped the requirement for most companies, Bloomberg News reported. Hyflux Ltd. and Best World International Ltd. were among 109 names published on the SGX website. The companies either have a qualified report from auditors, worries about them as a going concern or have been identified by the exchange itself for regulatory concerns.

The Australian dollar tumbled to its weakest level since the financial crisis as investors continued to weigh the impact of the coronavirus on economic growth in China, Australia’s biggest trading partner, the Financial Times reported. The currency, typically regarded as a proxy for Chinese economic growth, fell as much as 1 per cent to $0.6662 in New York trade on Friday morning, the lowest level against the greenback since March 2009.

New measures by New Delhi designed to encourage banks to boost lending and take more risks are unlikely to revive anaemic credit growth in Asia’s third-biggest economy, industry observers have warned, the Financial Times reported. The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday eased new lending for cars, residential housing and small businesses and introduced a $14bn facility that allows commercial lenders to borrow more cheaply from the central bank.

Natural disasters are unpredictable events with broadly predictable results: a destruction of property and wealth, but no lasting impact on economic growth, The Wall Street Journal reported. Australia’s wildfires, which have ravaged more than 26,000 square miles of land and killed at least 30 people, will be the latest big test of that view. At stake is the country’s 28-year run without a recession—the longest ongoing streak in the developed world.

Chinese car and car-parts factories may stay closed longer than expected because of the coronavirus, increasing the chances that assembly lines in Asia, Europe and the United States could grind to a halt because of shortages of components, the International New York Times reported. The hit to the auto industry, which employs eight million people worldwide, comes as output from the world’s factories is already sagging. It is likely to amplify the already alarming human and economic cost of the outbreak.

After Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting Union Budget 2020 on 1st February, said the government has asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to extend the debt restructuring window by another year ending March 31, 2021, RBI in its Monetary Policy Review Meeting today said that it would be extending the scheme to 31st December 2020, Mint reported.

India’s real estate financiers surged after the central bank relaxed conditions to set aside cash for loans offered to small businesses or to fund individuals’ purchases of homes and vehicles, Bloomberg News reported. The Reserve Bank of India also allowed banks to continue to treat as ‘standard’ defaulting loans to commercial real estate borrowers if the repayment delays were due to reasons “beyond the control” of the company.