- ‘Coronavirus the biggest physical challenge to the economy since WWII’
- Economist calls for cash payment direct to citizens to stabilise economy
- $7780 paid weekly, enough to help pay for three months’ housing and food
- Hong Kong announced a one-off payment of HK$10,000: Australia to follow?
- Call comes as share prices fall after Dow’s worst plunge since the GFC
An economist has called for each Australian citizen to be given an emergency cash payment of $7,780 to limit the economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak.
Professor Steve Keen of the University College of London has called for a payment to go directly to each citizen in an extraordinary measure to prevent the coronavirus pandemic triggering a full-blown financial crisis.
‘This is the physical challenge to the economy which we haven’t had since World War II,’ he told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday.
‘We don’t want it to turn into a financial crisis as well when Australian households are more indebted than they’ve ever been.’
The professor’s calls come as Prime Minister Scott Morrison said coronavirus could be worse than the Global Financial Crisis of more than a decade ago, with Australia now even more reliant on China for exports.