British economic output is set to crash 14% this year owing to the coronavirus, the Bank of England said Thursday as it left its interest rate at 0.1 percent. UK gross domestic product would rebound by 15% in 2021 however, the BoE said following a meeting that took place Wednesday.

Iran's parliament approved a bill to change the official currency to 'Toman' which equals 10,000 Rials. Iranian lawmakers voted on Monday for the details of an amendment to the Monetary and Banking Act of Iran to change their country's official currency to "toman", according to the official news agency of Iran. The new law tasks the Central Bank of Iran with recalculating the foreign exchange ratio with "toman", taking into consideration the currency reserve and the country's commitments to the IMF.

World stock markets and the price of oil rose on Tuesday as more countries eased restrictions on business and public life, raising hopes for a recovery from a historic economic plunge. Shares advanced in Paris, London and Hong Kong and Wall Street futures suggested a rise on the open. Markets in Tokyo, Shanghai and Seoul were closed for holidays.

The economic paralysis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic is forcing the US Treasury to borrow far more than it ever has before - $2.99trn in the current quarter alone. The amount is more than five times the government’s previous record borrowing for a quarter, $569bn, set in the depths of the 2008 financial crisis. It also dwarfs the $1.28trn the government borrowed in the bond market for all of 2019.

The European Central Bank is ramping up its measures to cushion the region against a record economic downturn caused by the lockdowns on business amid the virus outbreak. The monetary authority for the 19 countries that use the euro currency on Thursday lowered the interest rate on cheap loans it provides to banks. It also offered new credit lines to banks to cushion the economy, which suffered its biggest contraction in the first quarter since records began in 1995.

The eurozone economy contracted at a record rate in the first three months of the year and inflation slowed sharply as much economic activity in March came to a halt because of the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed on Thursday. Economists expect even worse numbers for the second quarter.

HSBC on Tuesday said first quarter pre-tax profits almost halved as the banking giant was battered by the global coronavirus pandemic while it embarked on a major restructuring. One of the largest lender in the world reported pre-tax profits of $3.2 billion, down 48% from the same period in 2019, citing credit losses from clients struck by the economic slowdown as a major cause.

The US Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan (BoJ) and European Central Bank (ECB), which together cover almost half of global output, will all convene meetings of policymakers this week after the pandemic-driven freezing of economies and turmoil in financial markets propelled them into action.

Germany's biggest lender Deutsche Bank said it expects to report a net profit of €66 million ($71 million) for the first quarter, beating market forecasts. Turnover is expected to reach €6.4 billion while provisions for credit losses should amount to €500 million, it said in a statement on its website late Sunday.

Sentiment at German companies is catastrophic. The Munich-based ifo Business Climate Index crashed from 85.9 points, seasonally adjusted, in March to 74.3 points in April. This is the lowest value ever recorded, and never before has the index fallen so drastically.