>> coming up on "bloomberg best ," the stories that shaped the week in business around the world. investor struggle between hope and fear. coronavirus and oil price war, and plunging interest rates all part of a volatile mix. >> this is a fire sale. >> investors are getting out of risk assets. >> parts of the economy shut down all the same time is like nothing we've ever seen. banks makecentral decisions on how to contain the outbreak and limited economic damage. >> the whole shock and aw. scene central banks finally starting to get it. >> we have some actual details

as to what the fiscal responses? >> we do not. sebastian: businesses size up their bottom line with continued headwinds. >> we see the business down 85%. >> colleagues in china say it is getting better everyday. >> can want to do our best to fight this crisis and achieve our targets. sebastian: investors, economists, and policymakers offer guidance in a time of financial turbulence. >> i think the odds are 80% we will have a recession. >> the oil price decline is very good for india, good for china. liquidity, three months, six months, nine months, people will go bankrupt. sebastian: that is all straight ahead on "bloomberg best." hello and welcome. and this isn salek

your weekly review of the most important business news, analysis, and interviews from bloomberg television around the world. let's start with a look at the top headlines. last friday and talks between saudi arabia and russia as oil output cuts collapsed in vienna. opec officials say they will work toward a deal, but the kingdom announced it would start pumping more, leading to an uproar when markets opened monday. implosion ofmic confidence in the oil market, in equity markets. for the oil market, the biggest one-day plunge since 1991. >> a significant breach between saudi arabia and russia. talks broke down very badly last week, and over the weekend, the saudi's have escalated. pump 10 they can million, 12 million, big increases. they clearly want to punish russia for what they see as

being disappointment between talks, the breakdown. this is unprecedented. with a market that was already trying to digest the supply and demand shocks from coronavirus. now we add the collapsing crude oil prices and that is sending markets potentially into full-blown panic mode. investors, selling everything they can get their hands on in their grandpa liquidity. >> bond markets, sub 1% across the curve. we are shredding levels and history in the bond market. >> if you look at the u.s. yield curve, some say a zero bound is a negative lower bound. u.k. two-year at four basis points, japan's two-year, -31 basis points and germany's, -1%. on the s&ppening up 500 and rollover immediately, down five, 6%.

we are rolling over and rolling over again, down 7% on the s&p 500 and triggering a market wide trading hold. >> a lot of investors are trying to figure out when does it come. >> we will feel it. not panic and the fear, and just stocks and oil are selling off, high yield, credit is selling off. investors are getting out of risk assets. technically, we are nowhere near the bottom. we could see days and weeks of this relentless selling, reminiscent of 2008. >> stocks deep in the red and ever closer to the bear market which would be a 20% drop from the highs to lows. >> now that we do have a large reaction in the markets, the white house might be a step closer to giving us something by way of stimulus. >> equity futures with a left, up by 3.54% off the back of a couple words by the president. ,> we are seeing the senate

going to be meeting with house republicans, mitch mcconnell, everybody, and discussing a cut ore payroll tax relief, substantial relief, very substantial relief. >> there seem to be two camps. the peter navarro, jared kushner camp that is looking to do aggressive action, and then larry kudlow and secretary mnuchin and are looking for timely actions. a debate between fdr and herbert hoover in terms of how they should manage the situation. >> president trump meeting with republican senators earlier on, capitol hill, telling them he wants a payroll tax holiday dealing with economic fallout from the outbreak. that isa market rallying on the hopes there will be some bipartisan compromise. do we have some actual details up to what the fiscal response is? >> we do not. aboutgot a lot of talk, bu

some sort of economic stimulus bill. trump told senators he wants a payroll tax holiday through the election. i don't think anybody, among democrats, think that is enough of the stimulus for the economic threat coronavirus prevents -- presents. >> we have a little with flash because a lot of green on the screen. pretty much a straight line up in the last two hours of trading. we closed at session highs. >> it has been a busy day in the u.k. first thing this morning, the bank of england surprised the market with a 50 basis point cut. news of a plan to provide easy credit to businesses. we also saw a reduction in banking capital buffers. then came the second part. the thanks move, followed by the u.k. budget which delivers 30 billion pounds in stimulus. that's what the market has been waiting for.

monetary and fiscal policy working in coordination. this, the 50 basis point cut was the shock and awe, so i am more than impressed with the delivery, particularly what the government has done for the budget. this i set a template for the world. >> market losses accelerating as the who declares covid-19 a pandemic. this amid concerns about the trump administration's response to the novel coronavirus. the president has failed to deliver on his promise of a sweeping stimulus package to combat the outbreak. >> massive rallies yesterday after the close. going to hear about a policy prescription from the health standpoint but addressing the economic issues here. he did not show for that can be futures began to plunge. we got down 57 points this morning and have gone down since. >> in the 10-year treasury yeild, higher on the day. the last time we saw a selloff like this in equities and people

also selling treasuries, we have to go back to october 2008 to see that. >> 19% down, the drawdown from the highs. 19% on the s&p 500 so we haven't got into official bear territory but 20%, does that matter at this stage? donald trump suspended all travel from europe for the next 30 days. travel ban excludes the u.k. to president has promised boost market liquidity by $200 billion and asked congress to improve -- approve immediate payroll tax cut relief. >> the big headline was the travel ban from europe and he said it just that way, that it would be for 30 days, take effect friday and he basically blamed europe for allowing visitors intonts, europe and he said that caused the spread of the virus. he called it a foreign virus. he then mentioned other measures

like the tax extension and things like that, but they were more limited than the markets had hoped for. >> the ecb leaves the main refi rate unchanged at 0% but they announced a new tltro. they boost qe, adding a temporary envelope in asset purchases, boosting liquidity, boosting qb, interest rates on hold and go nowhere. >> wonderful to see the central banks finally starting to get it. first, in terms of what the ecb did not do. they did not cut interest rates further negative. that's a good move. people realized that just cutting interest rates is ineffective, but also in the case of the ecb, counterproductive. that is a really important signal they understood when policy can be counterproductive. >> it has been absolutely brutal

out there for european equity markets. the stoxx 600, we've never seen a day like it in the scale of the downside move in europe today, down 10, nearly 11%. thenvestors look past liquidity injection today after being underwhelmed by the ecb's measures and president trump has addressed the nation. we are getting ready to close the books on another day of massive moves to the downside. >> now the s&p is in a bear market. >> it is just unbelievable. i think the combination of the everyone watching the parts of the economy shut down all at the same time, like nothing we have ever seen. bounceback following the worst day since 1987, central banks stepping in and finally, the fiscal plan slowly coming together. far, the pboc

reducing its reserve ratio, getting more money into the economy. the norwegians cut their key rate from one to 1.5%. the riksbank is setting up a lending program, the bank of japan is buying gtb's. the australians are going to the like korea is considering an emergency meeting. where does that leave the fed? basise looking at a 100 point cut according to fed funds futures. yesterday's fed action, having an impact. $500 billion on offer. >> the right things for germany, hearing the writings for brussels, are we taking that big leap toward fiscal stimulus? we have the german finance minister saying there will be unlimited cash to help german companies and he's using that term now, saying the countries are determined to keep liquidity going and here in brussels, you got the european commission saying they are ready to ditch the fiscal rules and that means you can spend that money, and you won't be punished for it.

to the commission is saying countries that need to spend to protect themselves from the coronavirus and shield their economies from further turbulence should do it now. >> to unleash the full power of the federal government today, i am declaring a national emergency. >> president donald trump, speaking to the nation for the second time this week. the main headline, obviously the mobilization of health efforts, the idea testing kits will be available. is also waving some regulation for hospitals. he also talked about some potential economic member -- measures. he said he would buy oil for the strategic petroleum reserves. as he started speaking, we saw the stock market in the u.s. have a tremendous bump up, about 170 points. to close was the best day we've had going back to 2008. >> i think the appearance that there is actually some plan in motion, a huge relief to investors. expectations or the response

have become pretty -- for the response have become pretty low. sebastian: still ahead as we review the week on "bloomberg best," larry summers says only a huge stimulus can hold off the worst economic facts of the coronavirus. conversations with some of the brightest minds in business about the shock that is bringing back memories of 2008. >> we will have a global recession and it is not just my view anymore. "bloomberg best more of the week's top headlines from italy to australia. governments take action against the coronavirus threat without a clear view of what lies ahead. >> we are very much focused on providing temporary relief, temporary support. "bloomberg best -- sebastian: this is bloomberg. ♪

sebastian: this is "bloomberg best."

let's continue our tour of the top stories as coronavirus spreads around world. to takents were forced extraordinary measures to protect public health and provide economic support. >> italy has gone into a nationwide lockdown. is the first country in the world to attempt a complete shutdown, affecting more than 60 million people. what does this entail? >> basically, they've taken the limited lockdown they did in the northern parts of italy and just blanket extended it to the whole country. all the universities, all schools, almost all activities you don't absolutely have to do our recommended against, and travel has to be justified. manus: the italian prime minister is looking to increase the country's fiscal stimulus for the fourth time in a month. ministry officials are looking at how to double the existing package. as much as 16 billion euros. >> the situation is so serious the government has decided it

needs to act strongly. by friday, they will already have a package for 12 billion euros. that is really for mortgage payments, to have a moratorium on mortgage payments for small to medium-sized businesses. to boost the economy, with the complete lockdown, at a standstill. the japanese economy, contracting more than initially estimated in the last quarter. like a is it we are looking down the barrel of a recession in japan? >> i think it is likely. i think most economists now think we are already in recession in japan. today's figures, the revised gdp showing the slide in the fourth quarter. some of the figures are quite alarming. business investment was being cut at the fastest rate since the global financial crisis and that is before the virus hits,

so chances a recession are, i would say, very, very high. aberime minister shinzo announced a fiscal support package around ¥430 million to support the economy from any virus fallout. >> two steps taken by the government today. they have today put in place a system that will allow them to declare a state of emergency if things get worse, and the virus has been pushing the economy into recession according to economists and at the same time, that's why we had some new fiscal measures announced today. money, but they are allocating extra spending about 480 billion on yen to the medical sector and that brings the total loan package around one trillion for small businesses and families struggling with the virus fallout. important to note it is not new money, but another sign of the government moving toward fiscal stimulus.

anaustralia hasn't unveiled $11.4 billion fiscal stimulus economicight the fallout from the coronavirus, threatening to take the country to its first recession in almost 30 years. scott morrison outline measures to protect jobs from small to medium-sized businesses. >> we are not imposing>> a structural increase on the budget. on providingd temporary relief, support, significant as it is. when we are on the other side of this, and we experience the strong recovery that we are very obviously,ill occur, the budget will bounce back at that point, as well. major league baseball in the u.s., that will be the latest sports league to suspend operations due to concerns about the coronavirus after we had similar announcements by the nhl and the nba with regards to suspending their season. baseball,eague

suspending spring training, delaying the regular season and the ncaa minutes ago, canceling march madness. this is devastating for the players, a huge cash cow for the lead, cbs, turner sports, which broadcasts these games. certainly an evolving situation here. the olympics, of course, coming up. we can imagine they are considering contingency plans. global soccer league, and certainly not a good situation. presidential candidate joe biden, widening his lead against bernie sanders. the former vice president, winning michigan, the biggest prize of tuesday's democratic primaries. he also won in missouri and mississippi, also idaho. >> he's consolidating the democratic party. when you look ahead to next week's primaries, he is significantly ahead in almost every single state. it is pretty clear the rank-and-file are moving behind biden.

's overwhelming advantage among african-american voters and suburban voters is just going to dwarf him. bernie continues to hold onto the youth vote in a pretty significant way and will have a chip to play when it comes time to negotiate terms, but this primary is pretty much done and i think the sooner they turn and start looking at what the campaign against donald trump is going to look like, the better off it will be for the party. oil, heading for its biggest weekly drop since 2008 is an unprecedented supply demand shock shows no signs of abating. >> we expect a crude build of 6 million barrels per day in april. we have never seen a build of this magnitude or this velocity and as it hits the system, the question will be the logistics, ships, pipelines, storage facilities, and a key issue that may hit a bottleneck. reale bottleneck is the downside risk.

in 2016, oil prices in minnesota went negative. why? the producer had to pay someone to get rid of it because you couldn't push another barrel into the system. as the system blows outcome you breach capacity to be able to deliver or put into a pipeline or put into a ship the downside really begins to open up. as soon asmphasize, the system starts going again, the prices spike back up. the key point is volatility, mainly to the downside, is likely to behind in the coming months. ♪

sebastian: you are watching "bloomberg best," and i'm sebastian salek. as governments and central banks

rolled out plans, bloomberg wall street contributor larry summers discussed the response with david westin. he argued the scale of the problem takes an aggressive set of solutions. >> i think we had better have an apparatus in place that will enable us to be spending at a rate of above $.5 trillion a year by the end of the summer. not certain at all that will be necessary, but we've got to have the capacity to be spending it more than that rate. i wouldn't be surprised if we had to escalate beyond that. i think the odds are 80% that we will have a recession, and we need to have contingency planning for a likely recession, and we need to do that planning with the awareness that a

serious inflation problem really looks very unlikely from here. >> one of the people you used to work with, don't let a good crisis go to rate -- waste. upsidee a possible to this? name was invoked, saying we may have enough stimulus to get past the secular stagnation. >> this may be an opportunity where we look back, hopefully five years from now, we could say that was the moment that got us out of this secular stagnation trap to get what larry summers calls escape velocity. whether that will happen, who knows? i think that is where the market is going to really focus on government action in the months to come. >> is that hoping for too much, escape velocity? >> i hope so. it will take our being willing to act more decisively and more ahead of the curve than we have

traditionally as the economy goes toward downturn. that's about fiscal policy. that's about public investment in infrastructure. that's about the federal reserve's action in spurring the flow of credit. frankly, the announcement yesterday about the fed hopes banks will lend more struck me as being pretty empty and not thinkell specified, so i there's the prospect that we will use this as a moment to push forward on the economy, but we can't just assume it will happen. coming up, more compelling conversation on the most serious of subject. the covid-19 virus has been officially declared a pandemic. experts discuss the economic imprint it may leave, but what investors should be doing their money at this moment.

be buying.he time to sebastian: this is bloomberg. ♪

sebastian: welcome back to "bloomberg best." coronavirus and its impact on markets dominated the discussion this week on bloomberg television. there are highlights from some of our interviews with high-profile guests in business and finance. >> we've got stock prices and bond prices at the moment effectively discounting a global recession, and potentially some period of deflation. weather returns out like that -- toot is going to bend depend on the economic impact of the supply shocks? >> do you see recession in 2020

and is this like 2008 for you? do you find those comparisons useful? is that the scale of it? >> i think the panic and the scale is in similar territory. i think it is very different than 2008 because we are not looking yet at the financial system which is under threat, what we are looking at is to supply shocks. and the the virus, other from the issue with the oil price war. one of the things i've learned in 40 years in the business, don't see around too many corners. if the virus is well-controlled, and that is a big if, and if we get peace and love breaking out, we could see a stronger second half and a bounce back in economic activity. if we don't, then actually, it is going to be a much tougher environment. >> where are you putting money right now? >> right now, we are looking at

all these markets because some of them are down substantially. we are seeing incredible opportunities in markets. our focus is on india to begin with, because there are lots of things happening there. the oil price decline is very good for india, good for china. it is good for all these oil importing companies. things are looking good in some of those areas. of course, now is the time to be buying like porcupines, make love. >> you mentioned you like india. what areas/sectors do you like right now? >> i think turkey deserves a aose look because they are big oil importer and the oil bill will be going down. that is one factor. of course, the problems at the border is something we have to look at but generally speaking, it there are terrific bargains in turkey right now. we are looking particularly in the consumer area and companies not so affected by the fault in

the turkish lira. they are exporting. the other area would be indonesia. indonesia is quite interesting. again, oil importers will benefit from lower oil costs, and there are lots of consumer stocks that look quite interesting that we are looking at. most people in terms of the longevity of this particular shop think it will be temporary. i agree if you get the right keep that fromto transpiring into a deeper financial situation. if we are talking about a three-month hit, do you think it can do that kind of damage? >> first of all, we are going to have a global recession and that is not just my view anymore. if you look at pimco, jpmorgan, they are saying we are rolling recession the first half of this year. is, only first half

of the year or spills over into q3 in the u.s. and europe? depends on one, the policy response. , secondly, whether we continue spread. coney andthe most to thing and in three months, they stopped it. what will happen in the united states, it will be six months to contain it and things get much more ugly. also, for the financial system because they liquidity will help for three months, six months, but nine months, many people will go bankrupt. even some highly leveraged players. becausel be bailed out they are national security, so we will not let them go bankrupt. >> the see double-digit growth in our southeast asian markets and as we are sitting now, the effect of the virus there is minimal.

in hong kong, you've seen some of the most impact on political and health and in china in the shape of those businesses. >> that is the rearview mirror, to an extent. what is the forward-looking looking like? how will it work in europe and the united states? >> i think europe has -- there are a couple of dynamics. the speed is coming from the same in the speed of social media, some of the protests last year, so everything accelerates with automation, automated trading, social media platforms, 24 hour news. is the gasoline on this fire to a number of participants, but they are there. you get good and bad information that pace. europe expanding their fiscal

policy to increase these economies, they were already struggling for growth and i think that increases the challenges. the number of sectors hit by small businesses, travel and leisure, restaurants, that is really the piece of it you saw in hong kong that has taken the brunt of it. big corporations adjust and markets like china are on the back end of this as far as their policy is concerned and gearing up for what to do as soon as they effectively have an open market again. there are multiple steps to it. u.s., europe going into the first round and then we will see how that plays out. a lot of areas will be affected at all. certain areas with less infrastructure will be affected more, as you are seeing in other markets. >> the fed has acted aggressively. they might move again on march 18. the ecb has made a move. we've heard from the bank of

england but still, we can't stabilize these markets. have we lost faith in the central banks' ability? can we say that definitively? -- we have been vulnerable for a long time, but there are three dynamics. i want to caution a little bit about throwing out all the fiscal -- we should do this, that. we have to understand what the issue is. we have an economic sudden stop where people have lost confidence in interaction. have the economics of fear that amplify all that and now, we have market malfunction and to expect a general policy response to act as a circuit breaker is just wrong. it will be wasted. targetu need to do is first and foremost the areas of market failure and you need to protect the most vulnerable people, and segments of the economy. that is phase one.

if you deploy all these other general measures like the fed cutting 50 basis points, like cutting taxes, is not going to make people go on a cruise. focused, veryvery careful as to what we think a circuit breaker looks like. the time will come for these general policies. it will come, and the economy will bounce right back up, but don't use your ammunition too otherwise, we will repeat the same mistake of replacing one balance sheet with another balance sheet with another balance sheet and not address the issue we have to have progrowth policies that are genuine. is increasing coronavirus cases against a backdrop of political instability. the new prime minister took office this month after a power struggle. cabinet was announced including the finance minister who headed one of the come -- country's leading banks.

the new administration has ties to the former ruling party that faces misconduct charges in the 1mdb scandal. haslinda amin spoke with the former prime minister, who expressed concern over the cabinet selections. they are still tainted with and when thiss, crisis unfolded, they did nothing to actually help stop it it.prevent suggesting -- if that is so, are there any policy measures that may be implemented that maybe you are hoping not to see? old wine in a new bottle and .opefully this wine does not

we want to see the policies, it or someone, corruption and this in the last election, we fought against so much, so hard, and the people voted us in. disappointment, up to 60 years of power, they now have a chance to change though peopleven have high expectations, they did change, yet ipid think they were willing to give us a chance. this happened and i don't think the voters are really for it. the voters are actually thinking this is not credible or

legitimate, even though it is legal. ♪

sebastian: this is "bloomberg best." the impact of the coronavirus on individual businesses has been severe. this week, several companies reported quarterly earnings that in many cases announced a dip in rockets. -- profits. our roundup begins with one of asia's most prominent airlines. >> let's turn to cathay pacific, tumbling 28% last year and more pain appears on the way. airlineg's flagship says it expects to post a "substantial loss for the first half of this year." looks like a pretty dire outlook based on their statement today. >> they are in a dire situation

at the moment. saids the industry, cathay in february, they have to cut capacity by 30% and in march and april, 65% of capacity has been cut. they are looking at further cuts probably into may. that is really bad news because we get into the travel season and things might have been better for cathay this year with protest subsiding toward the end of the year but with the coronavirus, it has really become a serious problem for not just cathay, across the industry. says it could take a first-quarter revenue hit of up to one billion euros as a result of the coronavirus. in sports brand said sales china were 80% below 2019 levels from january 25 through the end then,ruary, but since

stores and warehouses have gradually reopened and consumer traffic in china is slowly picking up. what is it like on the ground in china? how quickly and how much is traffic coming back to normal in your stores? february, thein business was down 85%, which means we are seeing in china and decline in this court including take backs around one billion. we are growing the other regions. we are seeing a return into the stores. we are seeing a slight increase in traffic, but we are at the end of the food chain. in two weeks in your apartment, buy first move isn't to sneakers, it is to buy food. we are seeing slow china, which will last for a while. fourth -- fourth quarter ebit falling short of estimate, the largest express

delivery company large and -- suffering the largest of 60, 70 million euros but confirmed guidance for the full year. brave move. does this feel like the beginning of a global recession? you lived through the eye of the 2008 storm. your interpretation? >> you are not at that moment. the headlines are, but not the reality. it was a different situation in 2008 and 2009. our colleagues in china say it is getting better every day, so i think there are encouraging signs, even if that is not over. think we have to stay calm. you have to be clear what your strategy is. strong player know what we need to do to help our customers and we definitely will go out of that stronger than we went into it in this situation as a company. schaeffler has reported 14.2 -- 14.4 billion euros for the

year, expecting revenue contraction this year between -2% and zero. i'm assuming the forecast for contraction is a lot to do with china and the coronavirus. how severely is that impacting your business? >> numbers today are better than expected for the year 2019. it is not only topline that counts, but margin and free cash flow. i think we have shown in 2019 that we are able to generate significant free cash flow even better than expected. that gives me confidence we will also cope with the unexpected situation now with this coronavirus. our guidance says -5% for the auto sector in 2020. that's in line with what others have said so far, and a clear commitment that we want to do our best to fight this crisis and achieve our targets. >> china's third-largest e-commerce platform reporting

fourth-quarter sales that missed analyst estimates, but even with the added challenge to the business, the vice president of strategy said the view was staying positive. >> we expect the first quarter because of the coronavirus to see negative impact two-hour growth. that said, we have been observing positive trends in consumer behavior. workina begins to resume since february 10, so we are roughly a month into the resumption of work. we have seen 90% of recovery of the delivery network in china and pick up in activities among merchants and users. >> the airlines, under pressure. at least those exposed to the transatlantic traffic that has been so profitable. we have seen basically a reaction to president trump's theon europeans visiting

united states, another hammer blow to the airline industry. do you think good airlines will fail as a result of what the president announced? >> i think those airlines which are operating over the atlantic will survive. everywhereernments in the north america, united states, but europe and the world to engage strong, financial support to help the industry. we are facing an exceptionally difficult situation, among the worst we have had for the last 20 years, so we need an exceptional set of measures, financial, regulatory, and cost reduction measures to help us. >> the world's largest carmaker is the manufacturer most exposing china according to s&p,

but as the effects on supply chains grow around the world, how is volkswagen preparing? what do you expect in terms of sales? we had that figure for february, a drop of 80%. a lot of people already saw chinese sales on a decline, so what do you think for 2020? us.t is very relevant for and the well-managed, government is focused on finding the right balance between containing the virus, but pushing for economic growth. they are doing it in a very balanced way, so we expect over the rest of the year there is the potential to recover. to have scenarios between minus three, -15, or worst-case scenarios for the market, but we still think china could be secure. -- a decent year in china. ♪

>> you are looking at virus and what we have done is put together a couple of things. factories in the spots in yellow and your purple circles, if you see it clearly, those are your hotspots. largely disappeared in china. sebastian: about 30,000 functions on the bloomberg and we enjoy showing you our favorites on bloomberg television. maybe they will become your favorites. go will take you to our

quick takes, where you can get fast insights into timely topics. as china's economy takes a hit from coronavirus, the impact rippled across the many products that make up its belt and road initiative. what is that program? appears a look. >> chinese president xi jinping calls it the project of the century. china's sprawling belt and road initiative, sometimes called the new silk road. measured in today's dollars, it has already cost more than the u.s. marshall plan that rebuilt europe after world war ii. someorld bank estimated 570 $5 billion worth of energy plans, railways, roads, ports, and other projects have been built or are in the works. 130 nations signing deals are expressing interest from power plants in pakistan to a high-speed rail line in east asia, it is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in human history.

the stakes for the belt and road projects are astronomical monetarily, as morgan stanley estimates spending will total $1.3 trillion by 2027 and for china's global image on the role stage. >> china would like to make a deal much more than i would. >> as president donald trump scales back u.s. involvement in international trade agreements, xi is using belt and road to position himself. but the project is not without critics. isre are accusations china luring poorer countries into debt traps for its own political and strategic gain with some countries downsizing or completely canceling projects,, even as new deals are being signed. had to countries had rethink involvement after popular backlash or change of government or both. filed $8 billion to build a new port, couldn't

repay, and gave a 99 year lease in exchange for debt relief. the port has little business now but provides china strategic berth on key shipping lanes. myanmar scale back a deal struck under its previous military regime, initially to be 75 billion, reduced to 1.3 billion. >> china would like to get -- >> the trump administration saw to capitalize on doubts with mike pence telling southeast asian nations the u.s. would not offer a constricting belt or one-way road. in the face of criticism, president xi jinping is doing damage control, calling the project a road for peace. in 2018, the initiative extended to south korean -- south america, the caribbean, and arctic. in 2019, italy became the first of seven nations to sign up, brushing off warnings from allies. in asia, these are the countries that approve of the belt and road projects. these are cautious, and these are opposed.

overall, the world bank says the revived silk road has the potential to stimulate economic growth, but with the growth -- with the growth, comes challenges. some risks include allegations of corruption, like those the former care to stan pratt minister is facing, which prompted a kenyan court to halt a power plant being built on a major tourist destination. who is dealing with china's debt problems and slowing economic growth, has promised debt relief to some african nations and a top chinese regulator called for greater social responsibility in overseas investments. that's the kind of sensitivity china will need to show and follow through on if it is to win over their skeptics. sebastian: that was just one of the many quick takes you can find on the bloomberg. you can also find them on bloomberg.com along with the latest news and analysis 24 hours a day. that will be offer "bloomberg best."

i'm sebastian salek. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ david: the coronavirus cast a stalksde shadow and fear the market. i'm david westin. welcome back. this week, bob diamond, former berkeley ceo. >> always a challenge it's been. how do we make the system safer while also, promoting jobs and economic growth, meaning getting risk and lending into the economy? david: and atlas merchant founding partner and rick rieder. >> the credit markets tonight are challenging. david: the chief investment officer of global fixed income. >> liquidity down the credit spectrum is really, really tough. we're all in, all out, and you