Boris Johnson has announced that all non-essential retailers will be able to reopen in England from 15 June as part of plans to further ease the lockdown.

The move is however contingent on progress in the fight against coronavirus and retailers will have to adhere to new guidelines to protect shoppers and workers, the PM added.

Outdoor markets and car showrooms will be able to reopen from 1 June.

Mr. Johnson said new guidance had been published for the retail sector detailing the measures they should take to meet the necessary social distancing and hygiene standards.

He said this will ensure there can be no doubt about what steps they should take.

Struggling luxury UK carmaker Aston Martin has announced that chief executive Andy Palmer has stepped down.

Tobias Moers is taking over from 1 August, with Keith Stanton filling the gap as interim chief operating officer.

Mr. Moers joins from Mercedes' high-performance subsidiary AMG, where he is currently chief executive.

Aston Martin was struggling before the coronavirus crisis hit sales and its share price is down 94% since the company's flotation in 2018.

Aston Martin in a statement said the board has determined that now is the time for new leadership to deliver our plans.

It caused loss before tax to soar to £118.9m, up from £17.3m the year before.

In January this year, Aston Martin announced plans to raise emergency funding worth £500m, with a consortium led by billionaire Lawrence Stroll putting in £182m.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is set to reopen its trading floor on Tuesday after a two-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic however the exchange is likely to look and feel very different as new rules come into effect.

The NYSE is one of the few bourses to still feature floor trade - most have shifted to fully-electronic trading.

Under the new measures only a quarter of the normal number of traders will be allowed to return to work.

Traders must also avoid public transport, wear masks and follow strict social distancing rules, with newly fitted transparent barriers to keep people apart.

They will also be screened and have their temperatures taken as they enter the building. Anyone who fails pass the check will be barred until they test negative for Covid-19 or self-quarantine in accordance with US government guidelines.

The Ghana Statistical Service in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, and the World Bank will conduct a Business Tracker Survey to track the impact of the novel Coronavirus pandemic on businesses in Ghana from today, 26th May to 20th June 2020,

The survey, which involves the use of telephone interviews for data collection will identify and measure the impact of the disease on small, medium and large-scale establishments operating in the country.

The impact of the pandemic is already hitting businesses and individuals hard across the world.

In a statement issued by the GSS, Government Statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim, said the survey will also assess measures put in place by businesses to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, as well as efforts made to build a better recovery for businesses.

South Africa’s rand raced to its highest in more than eight weeks against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, as optimism about a global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic boosted riskier assets, with investors looking past Sino-U.S. trade tensions.

At 0605 GMT, the rand traded at 17.4700 per dollar, 0.91% firmer than its previous close.

Executive director at Peregrine Treasury Solutions, Bianca Botes said the optimistic recovery narrative is holding within markets, keeping the dollar subdued and seeing the rand remain on a stable footing following last week’s rally.

The National Board for Small Scale Industries, NBSSI, says the application process for government’s GHS1 billion Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme, is absolutely free.

The clarity comes on the back of reports that some applicants are being charged between 200 and 250 cedis by some persons to access the loan package announced by government to mitigate the plight of businesses whose operations have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Executive Director of NBSSI, Kosi Antwiwaa Yankey-Ayeh, while speaking to Citi Business News, asked the public to be careful of fraudsters taking advantage of the scheme.

Madam Yankey further advised the public to disregard such persons who only seek to extort money from them.

Outgoing Managing Director of Tullow Ghana and Executive Vice President of Tullow Oil plc., Kweku Awotwi, says government would have to work really hard to make up for the revenue shortfalls created by fallen crude oil prices.

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has led to a limited demand for crude globally.

In Ghana, the situation has led to fuel price reductions, while government is losing revenue from its annual projections for oil revenue.

Government had projected to receive $1.567 billion from oil revenues, anchored on a price prediction of $62.61 per barrel.

However, the price on the international market, which was $66.25 per barrel at the start of the New Year, has fallen steeply to $26 per barrel as of March 21, 2020.

Mr. Kweku Awotwi while speaking to Citi Business News said although oil prices will eventually pick up, it is difficult to tell how soon that will happen

The Chief Executive Officer of the Private Enterprise Federation (PEF), Nana Osei-Bonsu, says the interventions introduced by government for small and medium scale businesses affected by COVID-19 will not be enough.

In a bid to cushion Ghana’s economy due to the impact of coronavirus, the government has among other things launched a GHs1 billion Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme.

Mr. Bonsu while speaking to Citi Business News, said a lot more ought to be done to guarantee the impact of these interventions such as a focus on the supply of energy.

He noted that to resurrect businesses there are challenges such as electricity, the absence of value addition and the value chain approach to business.

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product grew by 1.87 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2020.

The National Bureau of Statistics disclosed this in its ‘Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product’ report for the first quarter of 2020 on Monday.

In the second quarter of 2019, Nigeria’s real GDP at basic prices grew by 2.12 per cent on a year-on-year basis. Growth accelerated further in the third and fourth quarters by 2.28 per cent and 2.55 per cent respectively.

The steady increase in quarterly growth resulted in an annual growth rate of 2.27 per cent for 2019, compared to 1.91 per cent in 2018 on a year-on-year basis.

For the quarter-on-quarter assessment, real GDP growth was –14.27 per cent compared to 5.59 per cent recorded in the preceding quarter.

Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, has said China will work with other G20 members to implement the debt service suspension initiative to ease the debt burden of Nigeria and other African countries.

In a statement by China’s Consul General in Lagos, Chu Maoming, the minister said this while responding to a question asked by an African journalist at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual Chinese national legislative session on Sunday.

Yi, who is concurrently a state councillor of China’s cabinet, stated that China and Africa were good brothers.

He said China is also considering further bilateral support for African countries under the greatest strain to help African brothers and sisters through this difficult time.

He noted that over 50 African leaders had expressed solidarity and support in phone calls or public statements.