Official figures showed that the UK economy shrank more than first thought between January and March, contracting 2.2% in the joint largest fall since 1979.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revised down its previous estimate of a 2% contraction, with all the main economic sectors dropping.

The data comes as the prime minister is set for a major speech on the economy.

Deputy national statistician at the ONS, Jonathan Athow said a more detailed picture of the economy in the first quarter showed GDP shrank a little more than first estimated.

The first-quarter contraction is now the joint biggest drop since the July-to-September period in 1979.

The ONS said production output fell by a revised 1.5% in the three months, driven by declines in manufacturing as factories temporarily shut down, while there was a fall in construction output of 1.7%.

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The UK's financial watchdog has lifted restrictions on German payments company Wirecard, allowing it to resume payment activities.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) imposed restrictions on the company's UK arm after its collapse last week.

Thousands of people could not access their money or make payments through apps as a result.

The FCA said its primary objective all along has been to protect the interests and money of consumers.

Customers should now, or very shortly, be able to use their cards as usual.

the FCA's interim chief executive, Christopher Woolard told the BBC's that the FCA had imposed very strict conditions on Wirecard's UK subsidiary based in Newcastle, which had knock-on effects for about 70 payments firms.

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E-commerce giant, Amazon. Com on Monday said its Indian unit of has eliminated all single-use plastic in its packaging across fulfillment centers in the country, in line with its target to weed out the packaging material by June.

The company said in addition to replacing packaging materials such as bubble wraps and air pillows with paper cushions, it had also swapped out packaging tapes with other bio-degradable options.

Akhil Saxena, vice-president of customer fulfillment for the APAC, LATAM and Middle East and North Africa regions in an interview said they have successfully eliminated single-use plastic in all our fulfillment centers a 100%.

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Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts French President Emmanuel Macron for talks on Monday, just days before Germany takes on the rotating presidency of the European Union with an economy mired in the worst crisis since World War II.

Berlin’s chairing of the 27-member bloc will be its last with Merkel in charge, and could be the one that defines the legacy of the leader dubbed the “eternal chancellor”.

With the future of the bloc’s relationship with Britain still to be determined, a crucial shift to a lower carbon world in the balance and crises from Libya to Syria all jostling for attention, there is no shortage of burning issues to tackle.

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The EU and Britain launch an intense five weeks of negotiations on a deal to define their post-Brexit relations on Monday, with London keen to wrap things up quickly.

The new round of talks in Brussels will be the first to be held face-to-face since the coronavirus shutdown combined with the two sides’ entrenched positions to stall progress.

The meetings will alternate weekly between Brussels and London throughout July and at the end of August, as the teams learned on Sunday, the British negotiator David Frost will be promoted to become Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s national security adviser.

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Starbucks has announced it will suspend advertising on some social media platforms in response to hate speech.

The coffee giant joins global brands including Coca-Cola, Diageo and Unilever which have recently removed advertising from social platforms.

A Starbucks spokesperson told the BBC the social media "pause" would not include YouTube, owned by Google.

Starbucks in a statement said they believe in bringing communities together, both in person and online.

it said the brand said it would have discussions internally and with media partners and civil rights organizations to stop the spread of hate speech". it will however continue to post on social media without paid promotion.

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The South African rand was little changed early on Monday, despite health officials recording a steeper rise in coronavirus infections over the weekend.

Health experts say the local virus outbreak is yet to reach its peak, after authorities delayed a surge in infections by imposing a strict lockdown in late March.

At 0657 GMT, the rand traded at 17.24 versus the dollar, 0.1% stronger than its closing level on Friday.

The yield on the 2030 government bond was 1.5 basis points higher at 9.20%, reflecting slightly lower bond prices.

According to a central bank estimate, the coronavirus crisis is expected to take a heavy toll on Africa’s most industrialised economy, which was already in recession in the final quarter of 2019 and could contract by 7% in 2020.

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The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, has said reduced domestic interest rates will empower local banks to participate in the cocoa syndicated loan.

COCOBOD is seeking to raise 1.3 billion dollars to finance the 2020/2021 crop season.

Financial analysts have however maintained that the funds used in purchasing cocoa beans would have been retained in the country if more local banks participate in the process.

Dr. Addison stated that there is the need to work on interest rates to encourage local banks fund cocoa purchasing while appearing before Parliament’s Public Account Committee.

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The Chief Executive Officer of Ghana COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, says government has been able to erase the misconception that Ghanaian cocoa farmers exploit children on their farms.

A recent report funded by the US Department of Labour, claimed that Ghana and Ivory Coast were using more than 2 million children on cocoa farms. Even though Ghana has already petitioned the U.S Labour Department disputing the report

The CEO of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, says Ghanaian cocoa farmers have been educated on best practices to prevent the international community from boycotting Ghana’s cocoa.

Ghana’s cocoa industry is a major contributor to government revenue and GDP. It employs approximately 800,000 farm families spread over nearly half of the 16 regions of Ghana as the crop also generates about $2 billion in foreign exchange annually.

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The private sector Coalition against COVID-19 has raised about N29bn in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this during the commissioning of Lagos State Isolation Center at Yaba, on Sunday.

He commended the Nigerian private sector who have come together under the Coalition Against COVID-19 to support the government by providing donations which today stands at almost N29bn.

He said the donations are being used to build well equipped centers cross the 36 states of the federation.

He added that CACOVID has established 32 isolation centers across states in the country and by the end of july,39 isolation centers would have been established by CACOVID all over the country.

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