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Quest Means Business

The U.S. Economy Shed 700,000 Jobs; 3M Pushes Back On Trump, Says It Must Keep Exporting Masks; German Official Says Diversion Of Facemasks To U.S. "Piracy." Aired 3-4p ET

Aired April 03, 2020 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:00:15]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: Sixty minutes before the closing bell, the last hour of trade and the way things are looking at the moment, stocks

are due to end the week, lower, considerably when you think about it, we are off 1.6. Then it was a couple of percent the day before, a couple of

percent before. We are still holding 21,000 at the moment on the Dow.

But those are the markets and these are the economic and other reasons why. The U.S. economy shed 700,000 jobs. The jobless rate ticked up -- and this

is March -- you wait until April when things really get bad.

3M says Donald Trump's stance on facemasks could spark a humanitarian crisis.

And Berlin is furious after facemasks from Singapore -- from Asia, intended for Germany, diverted to the United States.

We are live in New York on Friday. It's the third of April. I'm Richard Quest. It's the end of a long week. We've got there. It's a Friday, and I

still mean business.

Good evening, to use the cricket term, rain stopped play. We couldn't be on the roof, so we're in the living room once again. I'm very delighted to

have you with us.

Our 113 months of job growth came to a shattering end, 700,000 jobs were wiped out in March, the worst number since 2009. You see it on the chart.

That was as the Great Recession got started and the belief is that this is only scratching the surface. This reading was taken three weeks ago before

the lockdowns really began.

Julia Chatterley is with me. Julia, we are running out of adjectives and superlatives to describe these numbers. But what is it that grabbed you

about them?

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: This is the biggest jump in unemployment since 1975, Richard, and to your exact point, this is not an

accurate reflection of where we are today. The claims numbers, the unemployment benefits numbers that we saw yesterday, they tell the story

here.

We think we've already got, if they translate to lost jobs, ultimately, a 10 percent unemployment level. We've had JPMorgan come out and say that

they expect the number that we got yesterday in a week's time to be seven million claims.

A further seven million people -- and of all the news today, Richard, the most devastating part is the delays to getting money out to people, the

rocky start for the lending program, 85 percent of the employment in the United States comes from small and medium-sized enterprises.

If they don't get that money sooner, they're not going to be rehiring people, and these claims numbers, these unemployment numbers are going to

continue to soar. That's the big risk here and the damage that's been done to individuals and their finances in the interim means a slower recovery

when we do eventually come out of this, so time is of the essence.

QUEST: Julia Chatterley. Julia, have a good weekend and we'll talk more about everything on Monday and hopefully -- I'll give you a bit of peace

and a bit of quiet, although, I suspect you'll be doing mostly reading and economic digest and the like so we're ready for next week.

Good to see you. Now, the unemployment rate -- it rose from 3.5 to 4.4 percent, again, expected, but dreadful, nonetheless. The Cleveland Fed is

warning 15 percent unemployment, the Dallas Fed President says that will drop to eight percent by the end of the year.

Now bear in mind that is still twice as much as it was when it started. Mary Daly of the San Francisco Fed tells CNN, numbers don't need to stay

big.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARY DALY, PRESIDENT, SAN FRANCISCO FEDERAL RESERVE BANK: The numbers are big, but the thing that's really important for the listeners to hear is

that those numbers don't stay big if we do these things well.

History tells us that if we fight a global pandemic with the social distancing actions we've taken, the sheltering in place, then those

economies that do that they get through this faster, which means whatever the number turns out to be on unemployment, it dissipates faster and that's

what we're really trying to accomplish.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:05:02]

QUEST: Raphael Bostic is with me. He is the President and Chief Executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. It is good to have you with us. The

numbers that we've seen on the economy, the GDP forecasts, private sector forecasts, the unemployment, the unemployment claims, we sort of know it's

going to be bad, but just how bad is becoming truly shocking?

RAPHAEL BOSTIC, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF ATLANTA: Well, you know, I don't know if it's truly shocking. I think the

context here is really important that we have a public health problem, we have a challenge, and the response to deal with that effectively means we

have to shut everything down for hopefully a short period of time.

And in that time, when things are shut down, we know it's going to be fairly painful for a lot of folks and that's why what I've been trying to

focus on and you heard this a little in what Mary said, the clip that you ran, is that we want to get through this as fast as possible so that the

disruption that happens is not a permanent one, but rather just a short term one.

And if we can do that, then these numbers, there is a hope that these numbers can turn around pretty quickly.

QUEST: Fed has done that. I was just looking -- the Fed has pretty much given support for money markets, is giving corporate debt relief, it's done

essential bank swaps and repo arrangements. There is -- one wonders under the rubric of whatever it takes, how much more heavy lifting the Fed is

likely to have to do. What do you think?

BOSTIC: Well, I think you said the key words which are whatever it takes, you know, what we did to start was we took all the toolkits, all the things

out of the toolkit that we did in the Great Recession, and we rolled them out immediately.

Now, one of the lessons we learned at that point was that go big, go after this aggressively to start and then step back and monitor to see what's

happening in the marketplace.

We're doing that right now, basically, which is trying to see, given all of stuff that we've done, where there is still supports that are needed, where

are we seeing stresses and challenges, and to the extent that we have tools that can address that, I think I'm prepared to support going and doing that

because ultimately, what we're trying to do is make sure that we create a bridge between the beginning of this crisis through to the end of the

crisis, so that whatever disruption happens, it's not fundamentally damaging to the economy in ways such that those fundamentals aren't there

when we get into recovery.

QUEST: Do you see at the moment that there is more that the Fed could or should be doing? Looking at other central banks who are doing similar to

yourselves in some shape or form, but now people are talking about doing the unconventional, on the unorthodox on things that were already

unconventional to begin with. QE seems rather conventional now.

BOSTIC: No, there's some irony to this that when we first did these sort of policies in 2007 and 2008 through 2012 even, they were viewed as really on

the outer bounds of what people had imagined and now they are just basic parts of our toolkit and I think that's a good evolution.

What I would say is right now, we've got staff throughout the Federal Reserve System that are in their offices and at home on conference calls

and alike working hard to figure out well, what are the other things we might be able to do? What sorts of creative things might there be?

We do have some constraints in terms of what the law allows us to do. But we continue to talk with the Treasury Secretary and their department. I

talked to legislators all the time trying to understand the things that they're worried about, and we're working hard to try to find solutions to

relieve the pain points wherever they happen to be.

QUEST: One final thought occurs to me and from your own vantage point and with the expertise that you have at the Atlanta Fed. I guess once the

economy starts opening again, as you said, at the beginning, it's been deliberately shut down. How much do you fear those small and medium sized

businesses will not have access, will not get the credit or the help that they need, that they go away or disappear, because that would be

devastating for the economy.

BOSTIC: So I agree with that. That's a major concern. Look, we know that small and medium sized businesses already operate with very thin margins.

They don't have the luxury of going to capital markets to build up buffers to weather these sorts of shocks.

So I'm hopeful that the fiscal stimulus that has been passed and I'm expecting they'll be more actually, we'll target them and get to them and

get to those businesses so that they are able to stay in business because in many communities that's the lifeblood. That's the stuff that makes

cities and towns work.

[15:10:10]

BOSTIC: And if they go away, the recovery is going to be a much rockier and much more difficult. So I'm hopeful that we can get stuff to them as

quickly as possible.

You know, we're doing a lot of engagement with banks right now, asking them to work with their small business customers to try to find ways to make the

burdens less on them, and I'm hopeful that that coupled with the fiscal benefits and the relief that's being offered can get them to the other

side.

QUEST: Mr. President Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. I wish you a good weekend to a busy one, I suspect, nonetheless, but thank you.

Now --

BOSTIC: Thank you.

QUEST: We've talked so much about the big picture, let's talk as we always do about the voices of the crisis, the businesses, big and small and those

that are really feeling the effects of change.

Pasta and olive oil -- now that is the business of the oil company, Colavita. Joining me now -- it gets most of its supplies from Italy --

insane growth in demand yet the food service side mostly shut down.

Giovanni Colavita is the Chief Executive of Colavita USA from Edison, New Jersey. Sir, you join me via Skype. Good to have you with us. First of all,

you're getting most -- your product, your oil comes from Italy. How are you managing to get it?

I think we're having trouble hearing you. Can you hear me sir? We'll take a short break. We'll take a short break because he wasn't hearing me and we

were hearing somebody else, which means we can come back out to the break and talk properly. Pasta, olive oil and the voice of the crisis in a

moment. It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS from my living room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: A very nasty spat between one of America's large companies, 3M and the White House over the making of masks and now 3M is fighting back saying

that it will make more masks for the United States, but it won't stop exports.

How did 3M get into this mess in the first place? Well, Donald Trump has just tweeted. "We hit 3M hard today after seeing what they were doing with

their masks. Will have a big price to pay."

3M is the world's largest maker of mask, particularly the N-95. The Defense Production Act, the DPA requires them to prioritize the United States. 3M

says, there are humanitarian implications for its exports.

Clare Sebastian is in New York, as I understand it, 3M's argument is, if we stop providing to other countries, they will stop providing things to us.

And that will have a bad effect on them because they won't get ours and it will have a bad effect on us.

[15:15:35]

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's pretty much it, Richard. They say there are potential humanitarian implications because

some of the countries they supply to don't have domestic producers, the likes of Canada and some countries in Latin America, and they say that this

would lead overall to retaliation, which in turn would reduce the number of masks available to the U.S. in total.

Now, they've got a point. This is something we've been seeing, Richard that countries around the world have been slapping export curbs on these medical

supplies and trade experts are extremely worried about what this will do. (Audio issues).

And I've talked about this and there's already a hint at today a potential retaliation, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has come out and

said this could hurt Americans as much as anyone else. He talked about things that Canada provides to the U.S. that they need, for example,

hundreds of nurses crossing the border from Windsor, Ontario, into Detroit every day to work in the U.S. healthcare system.

So an implicit threat from the Canadian Prime Minister already, Richard, even as the dust settles on this.

QUEST: All right, how did they get into this mess in the first place? I mean, 3M is doing its best to create or to manufacture as many masks as

they possibly can and we'll talk about what it is doing overseas in a second, but how did it get into a state where it's in basically, a stare

down with the Defense Production Act and the President of the United States?

SEBASTIAN: So I think, a couple of things, Richard. There were concerns about price gouging not necessarily by 3M, but by third parties of 3M's

products and 3M has said that it's cracking down on this. It's done several things like opening a hotline, like publishing the list prices for its

price.

But there's also a big concern in the administration about the supplies that 3M ships overseas and in fact, producers overseas, the numbers, 3M

says it's ramped up already this year. It's doubled its production since January.

It's now producing at an annual rate of 1.1 billion, 100 million a month. Only 35 million are produced in the U.S. So it already produces more

outside the U.S. than it produces inside the U.S.

Now it says that it is importing, this month 10 million last from China that its manufacturing in China has managed to secure clearance to do that,

but it's still -- demand is still very much outstripping supplies in the U.S. and I think that's the concern the administration has had.

QUEST: Clare, thank you. Clare is in New York. Now, Germany is calling the United States actions modern day piracy after German officials criticized

the U.S. It had a shipment of masks -- Chinese masks. It was being shipped from China to Germany to Berlin when it was diverted to the United States,

it was 200,000, then it got none.

The shipment was rerouted to America. Interior senators is calling it an act of modern day piracy. And President Trump, according to Berlin Mayor,

is being singled out.

Our senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen is in Berlin. Okay, I'm assuming there has to be some U.S. element here, a U.S. manufacturer or

whatever that would allow the U.S. the temerity to divert this shipment.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the information that we're getting as well, it is that there was a U.S.

manufacturer was in play, but that these masks were actually manufactured in China where then as you said, it was supposed to be shipped from China

to Germany, and were confiscated as the Germans put it in Bangkok and then instead rerouted to the United States.

Now, you've already talked about some of the fallout that was going on here in the City of Berlin. Of course, those masks extremely important for the

Berlin Police Force. We've been seeing it over the past couple of days, Richard here in the city, the Berlin Police Force trying to give its cops

more masks, of course, also, as if a cop gets off the street because he is exposed to or she is exposed to COVID-19, obviously, that's something that

hurts the Berlin Police Force a great deal, so it is very important.

And the Mayor of Berlin was calling this unacceptable and inhumane and calling on the German Federal government -- we have to keep in mind, Berlin

is actually a state. It has the rank of a state even though it's only a city, it was calling on the German government to do more to call out

President Trump and ensure as he said, even in times of Corona, that's the U.S. as they put it, plays by the rules and also allows other countries to

acquire these masks.

But it's a larger problem also, that's at play here as well. We've been hearing it actually throughout the day, from the German Health Minister,

Richard, where he was asked about this case in particular, and he said, look, I don't have any details on that case, he was clearly not trying to

make this into sort of some sort of transatlantic issue between these two nations.

[15:20:02]

PLEITGEN: But he said, look, there is a huge competition right now on the international market to get these masks. He said these things used to cost

a couple of cents each, and now the prices have gone way up. And the Germans are also having trouble in general acquiring these things.

In fact, the German Health Minister has said, over the past couple of weeks, he's been -- as he puts it -- the mask acquisition minister of the

Federal Republic of Germany, because it's such a hot commodity, right now and it's important commodity so very difficult to get -- Richard.

QUEST: Fred Pleitgen in Berlin. Fred, thank you very much. Now, the oil is rallying. It is rallying on the fact that there is a deal or likely to, and

there will be an OPEC meeting, an emergency meeting on Monday.

Brent is up 50 percent, $34.00 a barrel. Take a look at the price and you'll see. The meeting is being called by the Saudis. Remember the Saudis

have the G-20 at the moment after Donald Trump called for an end to the price war.

John Defterios is there. John, is the feeling now that the oil market is basically, at least the scene from the producers point of view, out of

danger?

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Out of danger, I would not say so, Richard. We've had a good 40 percent rally in two days of

trading, but we're half the level we were at the start of the year, which is around $70.00 a barrel.

This is not a comfortable price for any producer around the world, considering there are government budgets as well, for example, in Saudi

Arabia, but this is geopolitics of energy in full color, Richard. This is extraordinary.

Three or four days ago, when President Trump came up with this idea of cutting 10 million barrels a day, nobody thought it would get support. The

indications are this evening there is quite a bit of momentum.

You get momentum when you have a crisis at hand. Here we see demand dropping by at least 20 percent in the month of April. Vladimir Putin met

with his CEOs today in a virtual meeting and we're hearing that out of Moscow, they are willing to go the deeper cut.

Again, a surprise because on March 6th, in Vienna, they didn't even want to cut 1.5 million barrels a day. President Trump is meeting with CEOs at the

White House as we speak right now. So he's going to gauge the mood of demand going forward. What's the role of the U.S. producers?

Now, this is fascinating, Richard, because there's a divided camp. Some of the producers of the United States, the mid-size players want to perhaps

put a block on Saudi and Russian exports to the United States and the other OPEC producers.

The other camp says we should be part of the solution. If they are part of the solution and actually cut, Richard, there is a question of antitrust

law, of course, but it would be the first time in history, a real form of collaboration between us producers and OPEC in Vienna.

QUEST: John, give me your assessment, please, on -- I'll put it in crude terms, pardon the pun. Give me your assessment on who won in the battle

between Saudi and the U.S. -- sorry, Saudi and the Russians.

DEFTERIOS: Well, they're doing some finger pointing as we speak, Richard. So again, this is a little bit delicate. Donald Trump is trying to build a

bridge between the two of them and that's pretty difficult, because they had very strained relations in Vienna.

Russia says is now willing to go deeper. Saudi Arabia says it wants to do so. But we have to mind a different gap right now and that's the gap

between what Donald Trump is thinking in his mind and what he has articulated.

There's a perception he thinks that the OPEC Alliance will handle this on its own. Saudi, Russia and 20 odd producers within that group. Two senior

sources I've been speaking to say that is a non-starter. If you're asking us to cut 10 million barrels a day or more, we need a much broader

coalition that should include the U.S. and Canada and some of the other states that we talked about in the last 24 hours.

And you know what, Richard? At this stage of the game 11th Hour, the work over the weekend is enormous to close that gap, but after seeing a gain of

40 percent, if you don't have everybody on that conference call in alignment, this market will be very punishing by Monday evening.

QUEST: John, you'll be sad to watch it when it does happen or whatever does happen on Monday -- thank you -- after that meeting.

Now it's back to the pasta and olive oil and the CEO of Colavita. It's Giovanni Colavita who joins me from New Jersey. Good to have you, sir,

apologies for the slight mix up a little bit earlier.

Let's talk about -- how are you managing to get the oil, the pasta, the food goods from Italy, which is one of the worst affected countries at the

moment.

GIOVANNI COLAVITA, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF COLAVITA USA: Thank you very much and good evening. The supply chain is definitely challenging from Italy. But I

have to say that all of our Italian plants, the team in Italy have done a fantastic job in keeping the supply stable and actually increasing with the

demand that we've seen in the last few weeks, but the other task we are required to have and one we really care about is to keep our employees

safe, our team safe in Italy and here in the States.

[15:25:08]

COLAVITA: So we had to definitely reduce -- increase the shift by reducing the number of people working at same time, of course the office is working

from home but at the same time, even the plant is challenging so we need to make sure to guarantee the distance between the employees and the masks and

gloves and so on.

So, so far everything went well and again, they are doing -- they've done a fantastic job keeping the supply chain going. Even if there are some

commodities like pasta that have been -- the demand has been so big that it has been impossible to supply all of it.

QUEST: Right, let me come in here to ask you. So the two sides of your business, the sale and the retail side and the industry side. The industry

side obviously has gone away as shops and restaurants -- sorry -- restaurants are closed, but you're seeing sales go up considerably. And

you've been able to -- what? Have you been able to keep on most of your staff?

COLAVITA: Yes, we do 60 percent retail and 40 percent food service. The 40 percent of the food service side that just went dead last week. The

previous week was 50 percent, and now it is completely dead of course because of the restaurant shut down in the country.

For the retail part, the interesting part is, we have been investing in deals in e-commerce and in the new -- the different business like a meal

kit business. We have a strong partnership with HelloFresh, I'm sure you'll know them from the England market as well. It's a meal kit company.

And those kind of business, the e-commerce and the meal kit have been growing so much and you know, the demand from them is so big that it has

actually being covering the loss of sales from the foodservice side, but supplying them has been a challenge and we have been forced to freight some

of the products sometimes.

QUEST: Right.

COLAVITA: But again the main issue today is the pasta because with the other commodity, we were able to ramp up for this demand. At the beginning

of the crisis in Italy, we thought that it could be a potential shut down for our plant for safety, and so we decided to increase our inventory on

olive oil, on pasta and on other commodity, but the pasta demand is just too big.

QUEST: So do you expect that you'll be able to -- finally and briefly -- do you expect you'll be able to keep your employees on the payroll? Are you

looking at for example, the U.S. government's small business loan help? Are you going to need some assistance?

COLAVITA: Actually, we are lucky in this crazy situation. We are lucky because our business is not down. All our employees, even the one that are

not working that they are just home for safety, they are on our paycheck. There is nobody that is left without a salary, so there is no need for us

to -- for those support.

QUEST: Good to see you, sir. We'll check in. We'll get some of your pasta. We will enjoy some of your olive oil once the normal times come, we'll get

in into the studio, and we can have some pasta together. That's what it's all about meeting face-to-face again.

I appreciate your time, sir. Thank you.

COLAVITA: And please be safe.

QUEST: This is -- thank you and you of course. This is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. We will be back with more after the break.

[15:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There is more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment. (INAUDIBLE) a lot to come with you now on the top of the hour.

We'll speak to the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, funding medical supplies for the United States. Remember what Donald Trump said at his news

conference yesterday, Vladimir Putin offered him stuff and he said I saw it. Thank you.

And the U.N. says half of oil jobs in Africa could be lost because of the outbreak. Our correspondent will be live in South Africa in a moment.

Before all of that, this is CNN. And on this network, well, the facts always come first.

U.N. leaders say support is growing for a global ceasefire during the pandemic. The Secretary General Antonio Guterres says there should be only

one fight in our world today, says the idea endorsed by warring parties in Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.

Hong Kong's flagship airline Cathay Pacific announced deeper cuts to capacity. It flew fewer than 600 passengers, one day, this week. Normally,

it's about 100,000 passengers, a day, 96 percent of passenger flights capacity was reduced only two weeks ago.

BILL WITHERS, SINGER: Lean on me when you're not strong. And I'll be your friend. I'll help you carry on. For it won't be long until I'm going to

need somebody to lean on.

QUEST: Sad news. The musician Bill Withers has died at the age of 81. He wrote R&B classics like Lean on Me and Ain't No Sunshine, and Lovely Day.

The family say Withers died on Monday in Los Angeles from heart complications.

WITHERS: swallow your pride if I have --

QUEST: Well, you know how the cliche goes, desperate times require desperate measures. And there's certainly been seen a lot of activity. But

there's been even more hot air spoken by leaders around the world about what should and what they might do. So, tonight on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS,

we're going to look at what the promises are, and what the reality is. And then what really should be done. Let's start in the United States. The

examples are everywhere, where leaders need to do more.

In the United States, it might be August before the stimulus checks for workers actually reach their doorsteps. The G20 finance ministers who met

this week have so far agreed a roadmap towards the action plan that was proposed last week. And all the while, OPEC is preoccupied with a price

war, that's tanking oil prices. The IMF says the more the price drops, the bigger the hit for the oil-producing countries. In short, words are not

enough. The time to act is now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, IMF: This is no longer a regional issue. It is a global problem. Calling for a global response.

SETH PANYAKO, SECRETARY GENERAL, KENYA NATIONAL UNION OF NURSES: My clear message to the government, one, protect frontline healthcare workers. Give

them all the protective equipment they need.

ANDREW CUOMO, GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK: It is essential that the federal government works with this state and that this state works with the federal

government. We cannot do this on our own.

[15:35:08]

BILL GATES, CO-FOUNDER, MICROSOFT: Well, the responsibility to take care of the health of the public, that's a governmental responsibility.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: The enemy is a virus. And now we have to do our utmost to protect our people and to protect our

economies.

JUDY SHERIDAN-GONZALEZ, PRESIDENT, NEW YORK STATE NURSES ASSOCIATION: We are dying. We are getting sick. It doesn't matter how many ventilators we

get, if we are dead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: No worries, it's all being felt more perhaps because of the urgency and the lack of resources than in Africa, devastating consequences for the

continent. And they have not even begun to experience the full force or even the small force, the beginning of the virus. The IMF has nearly 20

African nations asking for help more expected. The U.N. fears almost half the jobs in Africa could be lost.

Eleni Giokos is our business correspondent. She is live for us tonight in Johannesburg. And Elena, before we get into sort of what needs to be done,

give me a view, an assessment of just where Africa is, in terms of the pandemic.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it's a really good question because right now, you've got the whole continent basically on

lockdown. And we are not very close to the numbers that you're seeing in Europe or in the U.S. In fact, African infection rates are not high, but

they are rising, Richard. And what's fascinating here is from Kenya to Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, Namibia, all countries have embarked on a

lockdown even though the numbers are not very high.

They had to take this action because it's a cautionary tale when you see what is happening in Europe and the U.S. And, of course, that comes with a

huge economic repercussion. It comes with huge economic consequences for the continent, but it has to be done because you either going to deal with

the steep curve, and inundating you're already very under resourced health sector with even more patience. So, those are the realities that African

nations are dealing with right now.

QUEST: So, that's the -- the lockdown is there and the hope is it will get ahead of the curve. But the reality is, if this takes off, God forbid, in

Africa, you've got a health network and provision of resources that in no shape, form or description in any country in Africa, could cope.

GIOKOS: Absolutely. I mean, let's take South Africa as an example. We have about 1,500 coronavirus cases at the moment. We only have around 5,000

ventilators countrywide. We already have a health system that's buckling under the pressure, barely able to cope with a current patient flow,

similar situation playing out in the rest of the continents. In fact, even worse in countries like Nigeria, as an example.

So, we don't have the same fiscal room to be able to stimulate our way out of this. We'll throw money at the problem to try and get more equipment. We

don't have the same monetary policy tools that we can, you know, bring to the fore to try and ease the pain in some way for the economy. And we

definitely do not have the right infrastructure. We don't have enough equipment.

We're hearing stories, of course, you were just talking about it earlier with what another correspondent, that countries are trying to get their

hands on more masks and protective gear. That is exactly what scenario is going to play out here. And yes, Richard, God forbid, it does play out as

seriously as we've seen in Europe and the U.S.

But that is the expectation that that is going to be a scenario that countries are going to have to deal with. And unfortunately, they don't

have the money to play with or don't have the resources. This is why 30 countries are going to be going and asking for help from the IMF, 20

already have another 10-9 in the pipeline.

African finance ministers, Richard, say that for the continent to really deal with this, they need $100 billion in emergency funding, now. They're

also talking about debt relief, because you've got to trump health over debt. And of course, that is going to be another big conversation that's

going to be had in the next few weeks. We're just a few weeks behind, Richard, they say, from what we're seeing with you on New York.

QUEST: Eleni, thank you. You will follow -- you'll be busy for us over the next few weeks as we follow that part of the story, getting testing,

getting medications into countries that are already closing their borders has proved extremely difficult in Africa.

The Ghana-based company mPharma helps consumers acquire medications at affordable prices. The CEO Gregory Rockson is the co-founder and chief

executive. He joins me now. The systems were creeping and creaking to start with. How are you managing to move medications and do so at an affordable

price in the quantities necessary?

[15:40:10]

GREGORY ROCKSON, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, MPHARMA (via Skype): Well, thanks for having me. It is very, very difficult. There's a scramble for medical

supplies all over the world. And it feels like an auction out there because whoever has the highest price, gets the resources. And unfortunately, most

countries, in Africa, most companies like myself, obviously can never offer the highest price.

A good example of this is the issue of testing. We talked about Africa having the lowest infection rate, but the really is they also have among

the lowest test rate. So, we have been working to try to boost the rate of testing by involving everybody (INAUDIBLE). We try to work on several

diagnostic companies. None of them will tell to us.

Fortunately, we found a company, Fancher, that has collaborated with us to provide piece of equipment and test kit to private labs that will be sent

to (INAUDIBLE) next few weeks. It's very, very difficult because we do not have the resources that countries like the U.S. and E.U., European Union do

have to outbid when it comes to buying these essential supplies.

QUEST: We heard from the governor of New York today, basically, it's an auction, even the U.S. states are bidding against each other and the

federal government to get things. And they have very deep pockets, almost unlimited for support Air Force. So, how are you managing to actually get

your hands firstly on things like testing kits, secondly, on PPE, and finally, on medications that are used to alleviate symptoms, like

Azithromycin?

ROCKSON: Yes. So, we managed another couple of wonderful facilities. And in January when we started seeing the challenges that most countries were

facing, we put together a six-month stockpile framework, where we set a buying enough inventory that could support our overclocking facilities

should then come to a standstill.

So, fortunately, we've been able to secure enough stock. What we do not know, if what the demand will be, right? So, we think we have six months.

Well, if we runover one (INAUDIBLE) then we may run out of our stockpile much faster, much easier now that if we run out of that stockpile, I doubt

we can restock at the same prices that we could, two months ago.

It is a very big concern for us. And I think that if a private company like myself, like mPharma, that's based in this, then government needs to be

building medicine stockpile immediately.

QUEST: Good to talk to you, sir. Thank you. We will be back to talk about, I promise you, how you're doing if, and God forbid, when the crisis does

reach the (INAUDIBLE) proportions.

After the break, Donald Trump is calling it a very nice gesture. He is referring to the Russian president offering medical and PPE supplies. We

will talk to a senior banker, a top Russian banker, after the break. It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS on a Friday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Donald Trump has defended the decision to accept some help for medical supplies from Russia, calling it a very nice gesture. Now, the

plane landed in New York this week, on board with ventilators and other equipment. The U.S. as it bought supplies below market value. Russia says

yours only paid for half. The rest was financed by the country's sovereign wealth fund.

The CEO of that fund joins me now. Kirill Dmetriev, who is a good friend of our program and been on many times. It's good to have you, Carl. First of

all, before we talk about Russia and gifts and things, hopefully you and your family are well, sir.

KIRILL DMITRIEV, CEO, RUSSIAN DIRECT INVESTMENT FUND (via Skype): Thank you so much, Richard. Thank you very much.

QUEST: Good. Now, the -- why is Russia sending these things to the United States, for which you're footing part of the bill, when Russia has its own

crisis still to be fully reckoned with?

DMITRIEV: Well, Richard, just as we were fighting together in second World War against the common enemy, we believed that virus is really a threat to

humanity. And we need to be fighting this together. And we need to put aside lots of political difficulties, put aside lots of misunderstandings,

and really be helpful to one another.

So, just as we are supporting this plane from Russia, we hope to see a plane from the U.S. come in at some point to Russia and maybe U.S.

businesses will support that. I think it's time to come together and really have Russia, U.S. work together to find the virus, to work on the vaccine,

to work on testing systems and really move together.

QUEST: And I'm interested that you basically funded half of this. What was your thinking behind that? After all, the U.S. government has some very

deep pockets as we've discovered.

DMITRIEV: Well, I think we just need to increase cooperation and we need to show goodwill. I think there was so much bad will between U.S. and Russia

in the past that really -- that as time came for good gestures. And I think it's a very important gesture. We have a major issue with coronavirus in

Russia. You know, it's a global problem. And we want to make sure that we are supportive of the U.S.

We also bring in our testing system, which we believe is one of the best testing system in the world, that's Russia and Japanese testing systems

that can, on a mobile unit, test 20 patients an hour, which is a highest throughput we have. So, we really believe in global response and that

countries need to work together on coronavirus. And we want to support that as a fund.

QUEST: Has the reality of the situation arrived in Russia? I mean, Russia closed its border with China just about the same time as the United States

state. But for me, it doesn't have to necessarily the same throughput as the other countries that say, Italy. But all that we're hearing is that the

high numbers, as testing increases will show that the Russians condition could get a great deal worse. Is that your understanding too?

DMITRIEV: Well, definitely, no country is immune from coronavirus. We were fortunate to understand this really in January, because we worked very

close with 18 top funds in different countries. And we start getting messages from China and other places that this is very, very serious. So,

we really focused on what can be done, we alerted government, we started to prepare medical supplies in Russia.

And definitely, we will have a peak coming, it will be significant. And it's a major challenge to the health system. You know, the virus doesn't

affect 80 percent of the people severely, but 20 percent can really overpower any healthcare system in the world. So, the measures that Russian

government is taking to keep people at home, are working to really reduce the peak, to reduce the workload of our health system.

[15:50:05]

QUEST: Kirill, I hope it works and we'll talk more again, as this continues.

As we come back, United Airlines is losing $100 million a day. The airline now is putting its resources and all the airlines around the world, bring

their resources to moving supplies, after the break to look at what's being done. It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS on a Friday (INAUDIBLE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Welcome back. United Airlines is losing $100 million a day. But it's still continuing to fly as part of the effort, moving supplies and offering

to move and healthcare -- flight healthcare workers to the crisis into the various cities that are affected. Cristina Alesci is with me to talk about

this and to put into perspective. A hundred million dollars a day, how long can they keep doing it? How deep are the pockets? And are they going to

accept help from the government?

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the main part of this story really is the fact that the airline is saying that

there's no cap on flights right now. And right now the program, as you mentioned, the United program that will allow first responders and

healthcare workers to be flown to New York City, which is a hotspot, as you know, Richard, for free on United, is going to be expanded to other

hotspots.

So, it seems like even though these airlines, to your point, are losing money right now because of the effective shutdown of air travel, and

they're going to be doing this for healthcare workers around the country and hotspots that need the help. You know, one of the things that I've

learned throughout this reporting, the coronavirus hotspot in New York, is that hospitals really do need other workers in them. And there's a shortage

of course, as we all know, of protective gear, but there's also a staffing shortage.

And I spoke to the CEO of one of the largest healthcare systems here in New York yesterday, and he was telling me the length that the hospital has to

go through to staff the hospital and make sure that the coronavirus patients are being cared for. You've got people who are not specialists in

Intensive Care now staffing these emergency rooms. So, getting qualified health care workers and first responders to these hospitals is really

critical. And that's what United is working on.

[15:55:08]

QUEST: Cristina Alesci, thank you with the update there on what's happening with the healthcare and the airlines. Thank you.

Now, tonight, a shortened and abbreviated profitable moment. Before we do that, a quick look at the markets, so you can see just how we are flying

and traveling at the moment. It's going be a down day on the Dow, the Dow Jones Industrials off 306. It's not at the lows of the day, but it's still

pretty grim. The way the market has gone, it will be down for the week overall. But it's -- since we started just an hour ago, it has actually

gained a little bit of traction.

A short and brief profitable moment and a profitable thought for you. There's just too many adjectives, too many superlatives, to even start to

comprehend what we are all going through. I don't know about you, but I can't get my head around it. I'll be honest, whether it's the markets or

the business or the people, or for medical condition. It's simply too much for me to take on board at any one moment.

And with that in mind, we've got a weekend ahead, and I urge you all to try and find some part of a little bit of peace. And that's QUEST MEANS

BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to this weekend, it's back, I hope it is profitable. I'll see you on Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Right now, there are more than a quarter of a million confirmed coronavirus cases, in

just the United States, with 6,921 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University, approaching 7,000 deaths, this time last week. There were

1,495. That's a stunning increase of death continue to double about every three days.

Globally, more than 58,000 individuals have died from coronavirus and the number of confirmed cases tops a million. Though many experts believe that

the true number is exponentially higher. Australia's Chief Medical Officer saying that there may actually be 5 to 10 million infected worldwide.

Here in the United States, the nation's most populated cities, New York and Los Angeles, have already had their mayors ask residents to start wearing

non-medical masks or face coverings to curb the spread of the disease.

END