(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Wednesday, Europe. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

• The U.K. economy suffered worse than any other major European nation during the coronavirus lockdowns, posting a 20.4% contraction in the second quarter that will raise more questions over the government’s handling of the pandemic
• Braced for a knockout blow from Covid-19’s effect on travel, the European Union’s nation most reliant on tourism may yet get a reprieve. Croatia, which recorded a 96% dive in foreign visitors in May from a year earlier, is set to reveal another similarly shocking number for June on Wednesday. But things have picked up since
• With debt surging and the coronavirus pandemic threatening the deepest economic contraction in almost 90 years, business leaders are warning that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government can no longer procrastinate
• Russian retailers are showing President Vladimir Putin that they don’t believe his plans for a middle-class revival can survive after this year’s slump in incomes
• First the pandemic and now floods are slashing the spending power of Chinese households this year, as stagnant incomes and rising costs undermine the strength of the domestic recovery
• The dollar’s weakness is giving central banks in Asia room to ease monetary policy further amid concerns that the region’s economic recovery is plateauing
• Young people are being hit especially hard by the coronavirus crisis as their jobs dry up and education is disrupted, according to the ILO
• Australia shows increasing signs of a three-speed labor market, with real-time data underscoring the importance of virus containment so firms can reopen with confidence and employees return to work
• New Zealand’s central bank expanded its quantitative easing program and said it’s open to cutting interest rates into negative territory as a new coronavirus outbreak threatens the economic recovery. The kiwi dollar fell

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