A social distance sign is seen on the seafront at Brighton beach, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Britain. Reuters
A social distance sign is seen on the seafront at Brighton beach, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Britain. Reuters
A social distance sign is seen on the seafront at Brighton beach, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Britain. Reuters
A social distance sign is seen on the seafront at Brighton beach, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Britain. Reuters

New world order to prevail post-coronavirus, says Bank of America


Alkesh Sharma
  • English
  • Arabic

A “new world order” will emerge post the Covid-19 pandemic that will influence businesses and societies globally, according to Bank of America.

Covid-19's influence will extend “beyond the current lockdown peak”, said BofA, adding that unlike other crises, it will “leave the legacy of massive data and knowledge creation tools” in various sectors such as medicine, technology and social fields.

“We expect this pandemic to accelerate many macro trends that would have taken five or more years to play out before … we identify sub-segments across our big five themes that are well placed to benefit in the post Covid-19 world, with the total market capitalisation of $20 trillion (Dh73.4tn).”

The bank's five key trends are tech wars, geopolitics and globalisation, bigger governments, health and new consumers.

While global knowledge typically doubles every two to three years, BofA assumed that Covid-19 will be a “major data accelerator, speeding up thematic disruption from decades away to only years away for certain themes”.

The Charlotte-headquartered financial firm’s survey revealed that eight in ten respondents consider geopolitics as the key de-globalisation driver.

Whereas, over a third of the respondents expect diversification in supply chains and 50 per cent expect climate-friendly investments to increase post Covid-19.

The bank surveyed analysts from 3,000 companies spanning 25 sectors.

The virus outbreak, which has spread across the world in the past months, has accelerated structural shiſts in consumption, working and the use of technology, the lender said.

“The lasting legacy of this [Covid-19] will be a combination of new communication infrastructure, data generation, cloud computing power and bandwidth,” said the report.

This could pull forward commercialisation of moonshot technologies such as autonomous vehicles, quantum computing and vertical farming, as nations look to “get an edge in the race for tech supremacy and shiſting industrial and political priorities”.

Also, there will be a new social contract that will see bigger governments that will be more influential.

“Covid-19 has handed governments a new social mandate to protect their citizens … they will exert greater influence on businesses with shareholder supremacy potentially eroding in favour of stakeholders.”

A woman reads a poster displaying new hygiene and distancing rules on the beach in France. EPA
A woman reads a poster displaying new hygiene and distancing rules on the beach in France. EPA

Similar to funding post military-related and other crises, government spending on personal safety will remain elevated compared with pre-Covid levels for years to come.

Trends like work from home, e-commerce and stay-at-home activities (such as streaming and e-sports) could see increasing long-term adoption.

However, there are several short-term challenges.

Economic uncertainty may constrain overall demand and funding. Concerns over social distancing may negatively affect sharing economy platforms, BofA said. The lender expects the increased data tracking and personal monitoring will raise privacy and ethical concerns.

The report said that the Covid-19 experience will also amplify the importance of healthcare and accelerate other pressing global public health issues such as drug pricing, antibiotics resistance, future pandemics prevention and universal vaccines for all.

Globally, roughly 10 per cent of gross domestic product is spent on healthcare but 20 per cent to 40 per cent of this is wasted.

“A more efficient system that focuses on value-based outcomes, preventive care and greater use of technology such as big data, tele-health and wearables will be important in securing a healthier world population post-coronavirus,” BofA said.

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COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Cofe

Year started: 2018

Based: UAE

Employees: 80-100

Amount raised: $13m

Investors: KISP ventures, Cedar Mundi, Towell Holding International, Takamul Capital, Dividend Gate Capital, Nizar AlNusif Sons Holding, Arab Investment Company and Al Imtiaz Investment Group 

Results
  • Brock Lesnar retained the WWE Universal title against Roman Reigns
  • Braun Strowman and Nicolas won the Raw Tag Team titles against Sheamus and Cesaro
  • AJ Styles retained the WWE World Heavyweight title against Shinsuke Nakamura
  • Nia Jax won the Raw Women’s title against Alexa Bliss
  • Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon beat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
  • The Undertaker beat John Cena
  • The Bludgeon Brothers won the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos and New Day
  • Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle beat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon
  • Jinder Mahal won the United States title against Randy Orton, Rusev and Bobby Roode
  • Charlotte retained the SmackDown Women’s title against Asuka
  • Seth Rollins won the Intercontinental title against The Miz and Finn Balor
  • Naomi won the first WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal
  • Cedric Alexander won the vacant Cruiserweight title against Mustafa Ali
  • Matt Hardy won the Andre the Giant Battle Royal
The lowdown

Badla

Rating: 2.5/5

Produced by: Red Chillies, Azure Entertainment 

Director: Sujoy Ghosh

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Amrita Singh, Tony Luke

 

Company: Instabug

Founded: 2013

Based: Egypt, Cairo

Sector: IT

Employees: 100

Stage: Series A

Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors

How being social media savvy can improve your well being

Next time when procastinating online remember that you can save thousands on paying for a personal trainer and a gym membership simply by watching YouTube videos and keeping up with the latest health tips and trends.

As social media apps are becoming more and more consumed by health experts and nutritionists who are using it to awareness and encourage patients to engage in physical activity.

Elizabeth Watson, a personal trainer from Stay Fit gym in Abu Dhabi suggests that “individuals can use social media as a means of keeping fit, there are a lot of great exercises you can do and train from experts at home just by watching videos on YouTube”.

Norlyn Torrena, a clinical nutritionist from Burjeel Hospital advises her clients to be more technologically active “most of my clients are so engaged with their phones that I advise them to download applications that offer health related services”.

Torrena said that “most people believe that dieting and keeping fit is boring”.

However, by using social media apps keeping fit means that people are “modern and are kept up to date with the latest heath tips and trends”.

“It can be a guide to a healthy lifestyle and exercise if used in the correct way, so I really encourage my clients to download health applications” said Mrs Torrena.

People can also connect with each other and exchange “tips and notes, it’s extremely healthy and fun”.

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FIGHT%20CARD
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFeatherweight%204%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EYousuf%20Ali%20(2-0-0)%20(win-loss-draw)%20v%20Alex%20Semugenyi%20(0-1-0)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EWelterweight%206%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EBenyamin%20Moradzadeh%20(0-0-0)%20v%20Rohit%20Chaudhary%20(4-0-2)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EHeavyweight%204%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EYoussef%20Karrar%20(1-0-0)%20v%20Muhammad%20Muzeei%20(0-0-0)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EWelterweight%206%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMarwan%20Mohamad%20Madboly%20(2-0-0)%20v%20Sheldon%20Schultz%20(4-4-0)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESuper%20featherweight%208%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EBishara%20Sabbar%20(6-0-0)%20v%20Mohammed%20Azahar%20(8-5-1)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECruiseweight%208%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMohammed%20Bekdash%20(25-0-0)%20v%20Musa%20N%E2%80%99tege%20(8-4-0)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESuper%20flyweight%2010%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ESultan%20Al%20Nuaimi%20(9-0-0)%20v%20Jemsi%20Kibazange%20(18-6-2)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELightweight%2010%20rounds%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EBader%20Samreen%20(8-0-0)%20v%20Jose%20Paez%20Gonzales%20(16-2-2-)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs

Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo

Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed

Power: 271 and 409 horsepower

Torque: 385 and 650Nm

Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000