US stimulus effect to be felt beyond its shores

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden signed into law the $1.9-trillion stimulus package that the US Congress passed the previous day to boost the economy.

Its effect will be felt far beyond the shores of the United States. The package takes pandemic-related spending in the US to over $6 trillion since the start of the crisis.

The latest package includes plans to send cheques for $1,400 to most Americans below certain levels of income. The idea is to encourage the recipients to spend the money and thereby boost demand for consumption goods. In turn, that could bring idle capacity into productive use,