Australia & Pacifics

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand will unleash billions of stimulus dollars at its annual budget this week to cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus pandemic, leaving it with ballooning debt and a dismal fiscal position that will take years to fix.

Spending on infrastructure, healthcare projects, state housing and more subsidies for low income workers and cash-strapped businesses are on the cards in the annual budget to be unveiled on Thursday.

SYDNEY, May 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australians who broke the law, to protest social distancing restrictions, received harsh rebuke from medical community representatives today, accused of jeopardising an early relaxing of restrictions.

Hundreds of demonstrators hit the streets in the state of Victoria on Sunday, calling for an end to the lock-down.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand businesses including malls, cinemas, cafes and gyms will be allowed to reopen from Thursday as tight restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus were further eased on Monday.

The Pacific nation was locked down for more than month under “level 4” restrictions that were eased by a notch late last month. It has continued to enforce strict social measures on many of its citizens and businesses, helping prevent widespread community spread of the virus.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia’s most populous states held back from relaxing coronavirus restrictions on Saturday although other states began allowing small gatherings and were preparing to open restaurants and shops.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison outlined a three-stage plan a day earlier to remove most curbs by July and get nearly 1 million people back to work, given that new confirmed coronavirus infections have fallen to less than 20 a day due to strict lockdowns.

SYDNEY, May 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Australia’s government on Friday unveiled a three-stage plan to get the economy back to a new “COVID-safe” normal by the end of July.

Federal authorities have left details of the plan’s implementation up to the country’s diverse states and territories, meaning coronavirus restrictions will remain in place for weeks or months longer in areas hardest hit by the disease.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand on Friday weighed in on the debate around whether Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Organisation (WHO) saying the country has a lot to offer given its success in limiting the spread of the coronavirus.

“Taiwan has something to offer at the WHO right at the moment,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said at a news conference when asked if New Zealand would support Taiwan’s inclusion in WHO as an observer.

Robertson was addressing a daily media briefing on the country’s fight against the coronavirus.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday, ending a multi-day streak of gains, as investors focused on oversupply risks after U.S. crude inventories rose more than expected amid a slump in demand caused by restrictions to halt the coronavirus spread.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell as much as 2.1% to $24.05 a barrel and were down 14 cents at $24.41 a barrel at 0201 GMT. WTI has snapped a five-day winning streak.

Brent crude LCOc1 futures were flat at $30.97 a barrel.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Shares struggled and the yen gained on Wednesday, with markets in China faltering on their return from a long holiday as investors fretted over Sino-U.S. tensions, while oil ended an extended winning streak on oversupply risks amid weak demand.

Wall Street futures turned negative after starting higher, with E-minis for the S&P500 ESc1 off 0.3%.

China, opening for the first time since Thursday, started on the backfoot with the blue-chip index.CSI300 down 0.6%. Australian shares skidded 0.8%.

SYDNEY/WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand said on Tuesday efforts to resume travel between the two countries would take some time, as they cautiously re-open their mostly shuttered economies after containing outbreaks of the novel coronavirus.

Australia and New Zealand have for more than a month closed their borders to all non-citizens and imposed mandatory quarantines on anyone returning home from overseas.

WELLINGTON, May 4 (Xinhua) -- New Zealander Wendell Cook began his work from home as usual on Monday in Wellington, a new normal for him since the country started the battle against the COVID-19 in late March.

The country moved from alert level 4 to 3 last Tuesday and will stay for at least two weeks at Level 3 before a further review and alert level decision on May 11.

For the first time in 49 days, New Zealand reported no new COVID-19 case over the past 24 hours on Monday, with the total number of infections staying at 1,487, and the death toll 20.