by Martin Armstrong
Armstrong Economics
ASIA:
India announced a nationwide lockdown starting at midnight to contain the novel coronavirus. The duration of the lockdown will be 21 days. India also announced 21.5 million USD of fund allocation to strengthen the health infrastructure in the country. The total cases of coronavirus have surpassed 500 in India.
India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), stepped in to calm markets once again by bringing forward its open market purchase of bonds worth up to USD 2.14 billion while also announcing a fresh round of fund infusion via variable rate repos on Monday. To infuse liquidity in the market to tide over any frictional liquidity requirements on account of dislocations due to COVID-19, the RBI said it would conduct 16-day variable rate repo auctions for 13.2 billion USD in two equal tranches on Monday and Tuesday.