world. measuring starts playing. this is g.w. news live from berlin not since the great depression of the 1930 s. a bleak economic forecast for the world from the international monetary fund with the coronavirus smothering growth the i.m.f. says 2020 could be the worst year for the global economy in almost a century also coming out turkey releases prisoners to ease overcrowding amid the

pandemic but opposition parties in the country say anti-government critics are being kept behind bars while murderers and rapists are going free. as european states gradually read last walk down restrictions will germany follow suit the country's disease control center is urging coal should. go off it's good to have you with us we begin with a bleak forecast the likes of which the world has not seen since the 19 thirty's the international monetary fund says that the global economy is on track this year for the kind of downturn that wrecked many economies and many lives during the great depression and it has everything to do with far reaching measures designed to save lives in the coronavirus spend. amid lockdowns business shutdowns and travel

restrictions due to the covert 19 pandemic the outlook is bleak for the global economy the i.m.f. is now forecasting at the kleine of 3 percent this year before the pandemic emerged as a grave threat to public health and economic activity the organization was expecting over 3 percent growth in 2020. the i.m.f. chief economist says the current measures to contain the pandemic make a severe slowdown on avoidable remarked but this is a deep recession it is a recession that involves solvency issues it is deeper than that in was unemployment rates going up dramatically and these tend to leave scars and while there are many very strong policy actions being taken some of this will spill over into the end the 2nd half of this year into 2021 the i.m.f. is optimistic about a robust recovery next year predicting global growth of 5.8 percent the institution

is providing loans to nations that need help in dealing with a pandemic. we are actively deploying our one trillion dollar lending capacity to support vulnerable countries including through rapid dispersing emergency financing . and debt relief to our porous member countries and we are calling on official credit has to do this saying the i.m.f. cautioned that its forecast is clouded by on certainty about the path the coronavirus will take a 2nd outbreak of a pandemic next year could make the economic collapse far more extreme. a bleak picture there and it's amazing how the forecasts of change in just a matter of months let's talk about that now with business reporter she tossed bandy good evening to you wish you to watch which parts of the world stand to be worst affected by the lockdowns that we're seeing now.

and it is clearly a view of this crisis is. just not going to would be said. to be actually the state of this crisis but particularly the. ease emerging countries don't want to be seen lot of capital out through the global investors. and investments. and lots of those countries which are usually dependent on no good trying to reason countries like south africa and those are those countries which actually a good piece of the crisis is under way to the front. so that we've got the user countries are particularly when it with. the massively because of this crisis particularly the speed of the worst hit of. taking some of the.

most sweeping you don't that's not a. disease. i should touch the i.m.f. has already announced debt relief for 25 countries and how far is this going to go to help these nations that are struggling economically. it's a good beginning it's not enough it's just so i think i mean it is the starting sure that what is needed and that's what the other countries should put out a great edition being mauled by due to be the speed with the crisis it cannot be good with individual human rights that countries have come up with each trillion $1.00 and $1.00 lady girls are stimulus spending from countries the and it says that's not enough and that's the reason why the need to come up with not with aboriginal efforts bishop give more discussion it's not going to be coming together to be. very good richer countries to the rescue of countries so this is the kind of

effort that the i.m.f. is looking at least so far not much has happened if you look at the g 20 the only thing they came up with was a shortage that be added to do what they might. have expected what that means so few people i do actually measure and steps that we actually had even the prices and also ahead we're going to cut big profits once. easy there's going to need yeah you're speaking there to a leadership vacuum in international geopolitics that is for sure you know we used a few times spending with the latest tonight thank you. what turkey's parliament has said yes to releasing tens of thousands of prisoners as the country tries to reduce overcrowding in jails and curb the spread of the coronavirus opposition parties however say that the law excludes anyone critical of president to one's government that temporary releases do not cover people imprisoned on terrorism

charges including politicians and journalists who were arrested in the crackdown that followed the attempted coup in turkey back in 2016. it's an awkward moment for a group photo members of air to one's party ignore appeal is your physical distancing from the president of the turkish parliament perhaps not too surprising since they also ignored the opposition's criticism of a bill that commute sentences for about a 3rd of turkey's prisoners excluded from the bill are journalists aligned with the opposition or others critical of the government jailed on what are widely seen as flimsy terror charges. this is a sentence commutation that fits your political priorities. the law introduced by edwin's a k party and backed by his nationalist allies the m h p converts some prison terms to house arrest the turkish justice minister says 17 prisoners have the corona virus and 3 of them have since died women's organizations

and human rights activists have been campaigning against the legislation. almost all the crimes committed include theft fraud physical assault sexual assault and violence against women all of them $90000.00 inmates will be released from prison the corona virus pandemic is keeping turkey's daily life on hold a 48 hour curfew went into effect last weekend and beginning friday residents of over 30 cities in the country will be on lockdown. earlier d.w. news spoke with green party parliamentarian jim is to me here he is a prominent voice on turkish german relations and we asked him what he makes of this move by the turkish part well turkey's. given the number of the council in europe their country does has most prisoners under 65 years in all member states of the european council. has a lot and. surveillance 296000 people are in prison in church and

the decision of the turkish parliament includes criminals includes people killed other people or a person but not political prisoners so he she makes reports about corruption you stay in prison and a guy who was corrupt street so that explains everything out the situation too if he looks like. and that was the green party's chim his demeanor speaking to w. earlier today when germans are waiting to hear what chancellor angela merkel will say on wednesday about scaling back the lockdown here she's didn't discuss with state premiers recommendations that include gradually reopening schools and shops but any rollback of the current restrictions will involve a delicate balancing act. germany has a tough decision to make keep restrictions in place like france or like austria start the country down the path towards normal life the consequences could be

enormous either way easing restrictions could put people's physical health at risk but there are also risks to keeping them in place and the contradictions are warranted but they have a very high cost not just an economic cost but also a social and psychological cost we need to think about how we can transition responsibly step by step into some sort of renormalizing nation and i think we need to do that quite soon. germany's public health institute the r k i is not against relaxation but wary of how it happens as of tuesday morning the r.k. ised latest figures for germany were $125098.00 total cases that's an increase of $2902.00 from the previous day total deaths are now at $2969.00 overall new cases have slowed that's the good news the r.k. i said but they've plateaued at a high level so any optimism must be the cautious kind macas cabinet ministers

weighed in today some are hinting at a rollback on restrictions with caviar. and we should do it step by step and keep control over the outbreak and make sure that we're able to keep treating patients patient and 100. on wednesday the chance there is set to discuss the country's options with the leaders of germany's texting states as a federal system they have to be on board with what happens next a final decision is expected shortly thereafter a change in social distancing regulations would require all to comply but is this image shows even politicians and doctors sometimes have difficulty following the rules. all right here's a look now at some of the other stories making headlines around the world india's coronavirus locked down the biggest in the world affecting 1300000000 people is being extended into at least the 3rd of may in a nationwide t.v.

address prime minister narendra modi says that people's lives are more important than the economy the restrictions have left millions of irregular workers dependent on food handouts profits at 2 major u.s. base plunged in the 1st quarter wells fargo reporting an 89 percent drop in earnings that as it set aside almost $4000000000.00 to cover potential losses on loans due to the coronavirus pandemic earlier in the day j.p. morgan chase announced a 69 percent drop in quarterly earnings former us president barack obama has endorsed democratic contender joe biden in the race for the white house obama gave his support to his former vice president in an 11 minute video the endorsement comes a day after biden's chief rival bernie sanders also backed the former vice president of. spain is one of a number of european countries that has taken those 1st cautious steps to lifting

coronavirus restrictions the nation has recorded the 2nd highest number of coronavirus deaths here in europe so far it's allowing some people to get back to their jobs but only in accordance with strict safety guidelines take a look. volunteers distribute face masks in central barcelona as spain allows some sectors of the economy to reopen. the government hopes the masks can prevent a surge in new infections though opinion is divided on whether restrictions are being relaxed too soon or where we were running out of money our food supplies were running short so i'm glad i can return to work. it seems premature to me there are too many people out today. for 2 weeks the people of spain were told to stay at home except for those working in essential sectors like supermarkets or hospitals now construction and manufacturing

firms are allowed to operate again unions are concerned that workers are being put in danger. we've already received several complaints people arrived at work and there was no protective gear nothing they observed that the risk of infection is extremely high. the spanish government believes the peak of the outbreak has passed but by relaxing the lock down now many fear it could end up contending with a new wave of infections. well for lots of us stuck at home during this coronavirus crisis the lockdown is an opportunity to hone certain skills here's one from a budding ghafar in miami take a look see after lots of attempts 8 year old nicholas managed to pull this off teeing off on one cup and landing getting it to land inside another he's been unable to play outdoors so for more than a month he's been practicing his indoor shot leading to this hole in one tiger

woods part of. i can't do that all right more world news coming up at the top of the hour kate is going to be the new business to stick around for that. i subscribe to d.w. books there's always something more in the world than what we may be kept there 5. books. like. it's. food for the russian soul. how to run steam.

and so many different walks of life. some are company. on.