Monday newspaper round-up: UK output, railway pensions, banks

The coronavirus pandemic could cause UK economic output to plunge by an unprecedented 15% in the second quarter of the year and unemployment to more than double, according to dire forecasts. The deepest recession since the financial crisis is now all but unavoidable, according to analysts at the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), after businesses shut up shop and consumer spending fell dramatically as a result of lockdown restrictions. – Guardian

The coronavirus pandemic is expected to lead to the demise of thousands of restaurants, pubs, shopping chains and other high street businesses, despite the government offering unprecedented financial support and changing insolvency rules to give companies more time to pay debts. The nationwide lockdown has already forced the permanent closure of almost all branches of the restaurant chains Carluccio’s and Chiquito. Other big restaurant groups, pubs and shopping chains have warned that they could collapse if the government extends the self-isolation conditions beyond the initial three-week period. – Guardian

Italy’s political leaders from Left to Right have erupted in fury over the EU’s minimalist, insulting, and cack-handed response to the Covid-19 pandemic, warning that lack of economic solidarity risks pushing the bloc’s festering divisions beyond the point of no return. “Don’t make a tragic mistake. The whole European edifice risks losing its raison d’etre,” said the Italian premier, Giuseppe Conte, demanding a giant Marshall Plan funded on the EU’s joint credit card to relaunch the productive system once the current nightmare is over. – Telegraph

Taxpayers risk being lumbered with an £8bn railway pensions black hole after the Government stepped in to take control of the country’s trains in response to coronavirus. The Department for Transport announced emergency measures to tackle the crisis last week that effectively nationalised the network. – Telegraph

Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, came under fresh pressure last night to put a stop to £7.5 billion of dividends due to be paid out by British banks over the next few weeks. Agustín Carstens, head of the Bank for International Settlements — known as the central bank for central banks — called for a global freeze on dividends in the sector. On Friday the European Central Bank ordered eurozone lenders to cancel all dividends until at least October. – The Times