Daughter who works in Berlin just got told to stay home until mid April, as that is how long her workplace intends to stay closed.
Meanwhile the German government fires a "bazooka" ........
https://www.ft.com/content/1b0f0324-6530-11ea-b3f3-fe4680ea68b5
Germany pledged unlimited cash to businesses hit by
the coronavirus, in what finance minister Olaf Scholz described as a big “bazooka” to avert a crisis in the eurozone’s largest economy.
Mr Scholz said the government would provide unlimited liquidity assistance to German companies hit by the pandemic, which has played havoc with supply chains and led to a spate of production stoppages across the country.
The package unveiled on Friday envisages a massive expansion of loans provided by KfW, the state development bank.
Companies will also be allowed to defer billions of euros in tax payments.
Whatever it takes.......
The German budget currently guarantees KfW a financial framework of €460bn, but officials said this could now be raised by €93bn, giving the bank more than €550bn in available firepower. “And that is just the start,” Mr Altmaier said.
The terms of KfW loans would be changed so that the federal government assumes more risk, he said, while loan application procedures would be simplified and speeded up. Access to credit guarantees would also be expanded. “We are making an unlimited pledge, to the smallest businesses, from taxi-drivers, to the creative industries, to really big firms with tens of thousands of workers,” said Mr Altmaier.
