Governments and central banks need to step up efforts urgently to support their economies in the face of the coronavirus crisis, the head of the Bank for International Settlements said on Sunday. General Manager Agustín Carstens, who heads the BIS - an umbrella group for the world's central banks - wrote an opinion piece on Sunday saying "urgent" solutions beyond those used during the 2008 financial crisis were needed. "To give viable businesses a lifeline to tide them over the economic sudden stop wrought by Covid-19, a solution is needed to complete the last mile from potential lenders to those firms at the edge of the precipice," Carstens said.