Cash is crucial, Germany’s economy minister said on Wednesday, defending the role of notes and coins in a debate in Europe about the merits of limiting cash payments to counter terrorism.

The European Commission is weighing stricter rules on the use of cash to cut terrorists’ funding, and Germany’s finance ministry – led by conservative Wolfgang Schaeuble – has said Berlin could imagine talking about a ceiling of 5,000 euros ($5,331.50).

Such a prospect is unwelcome to many Germans, who are renowned for their love of cash. The Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, said they carry an average of 103 euros on their person.

“Cash must remain an important means of payment,” Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries, a Social Democrat, said in a statement.

“Even in the era of digitization, it is valid,” she added, echoing a similar message from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi at the launch of a new 50 euro note on Tuesday.

Draghi said three-quarters of euro zone payments are made in cash, and that it remains essential for the economy despite the rise of digital payments.

The Bundesbank has warned that an upper limit on cash payments could lead to a loss of faith in the euro as a currency.

The ECB’s decision last year to phase out the 500-euro banknote irked some at Germany’s central bank, who feared people’s freedom to store their savings in cash was being curtailed.

 
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Some big American coal companies have advised President Donald Trump’s administration to break his promise to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement — arguing that the accord could provide their best forum for protecting their global interests.

Remaining in the global deal to combat climate change will give U.S. negotiators a chance to advocate for coal in the future of the global energy mix, coal companies like Cloud Peak Energy and Peabody Energy told White House officials over the past few weeks, according to executives and a U.S. official familiar with the discussions.

“The future is foreign markets, so the last thing you want to do if you are a coal company is to give up a U.S. seat in the international climate discussions and let the Europeans control the agenda,” said the official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

“They can’t afford for the most powerful advocate for fossil fuels to be away from the table,” the official said.

Cloud Peak and Peabody officials confirmed the discussions.

‘Path forward’

In Cloud Peak’s view, staying in the agreement and trying to encourage “a more balanced, reasonable and appropriate path forward” on fossil fuel technologies among signatories to the accord seems like a reasonable stance, said Richard Reavey, Cloud Peak’s vice president of government affairs.

The coal industry was interested in ensuring that the Paris deal provides a role for low-emission coal-fired power plants and financial support for carbon capture and storage technology, the officials said. They also want the pact to protect multilateral funding for international coal projects through bodies like the World Bank.

The Paris accord, agreed by nearly 200 countries in 2015, would seek to limit global warming by slashing carbon dioxide and other emissions from burning fossil fuels. As part of the deal, the United States committed to reducing its emissions by between 26 percent and 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.

During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump vowed to pull the United States out of the pact, tapping into a well of concern among his fellow Republicans that the United States’ energy habits would be policed by the United Nations.

Seeking companies’ advice

But since being elected, he has been mostly quiet on the issue, and administration officials have recently been asking energy companies for advice.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said last week that the administration expected to make a decision on whether to remain a party to the deal by the time leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations meet in late May.

The prospect of the United States remaining in the Paris deal has irritated some smaller miners, including Murray Energy Corp, whose chief executive, Robert Murray helped fund Trump’s presidential bid.

Staying in the Paris accord could also face resistance from within Trump’s party. Republican Congressman Kevin Cramer of North Dakota has been circulating a letter among Republican lawmakers calling on the president to stay in the deal but has gathered only seven signatures so far.
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Michael Evangelista-Ysasaga wants to build a humane wall on the border between the U.S. and Mexico.

That is one reason the Mexican-American answered a call from U.S. Customs and Border Protection for proposals on sections of the wall to be built on the Southwestern border.

Evangelista-Ysasaga said his company, the Penna Group, has experience managing large projects for the government like runways and prisons.

He told VOA that his Texas company has worked for years in the difficult desert environment where mountains, sand, rivers, steep slopes and unusual rock formations complicate the job.  

Evangelista-Ysasaga said if his proposal is one of those accepted, the next step would be to build brief portions of the wall to demonstrate its quality and costs. He said winning a large part of this project could mean work for 150 people for several years.

The Penna Group chief said, however, the job is about more than money. He said he has been concerned about reports that rival companies are offering electric fences or razor wire that he calls “inhumane.”

Evangelista-Ysasaga also said he hoped the controversy over the wall eventually leads to a reformed immigration system that allows people to come to the U.S. who obey the law, pay taxes, and perhaps serve in the military to eventually earn the right to stay here.

High-security

Another company offering proposals is a small manufacturing firm near Boston that is partnering with companies that design and build projects, as well as other firms with experience managing major government contracts.

Riverdale Mills would supply a high-security fence product that CEO Jim Knott said is nearly impossible to climb or cut. He says it also allows border security officers to see through it, so they will not surprised by activity on the other side of the border.

Riverdale already protects nearly 50 kilometers of the border with this product.

It was developed with technology first used to make tough, inexpensive lobster traps, and refined over many years in projects around the world that protect airports, borders, utilities, embassies and industrial facilities.

In a VOA interview, Knott said if the proposal is accepted, its impact on his company will depend on the size of the order for fencing. His company has the capacity to make fencing now, but a really large order might prompt him to hire and train more people or even invest in additional equipment.

The unusual high-security fencing is built inside a factory the size of a small house on a complex manufacturing system that preforms hundreds of welds at a time.
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With legislation overhauling taxes and health care on an uncertain path, President Donald Trump returned to the familiar. Trump brought 52 business leaders from New York City to the White House Tuesday to talk about another favorite campaign issue — infrastructure and economic growth.

The U.S. economy has so far proven to be a point of pride for a presidency that has otherwise gotten off to a rocky start. Trump inherited a stable economy from former President Barack Obama, an economic recovery that’s heading toward its eighth year. But Trump believes he can do more for business.

Trump and several of his top aides emphasized plans to cut red tape and jumpstart infrastructure projects at Tuesday’s meeting, while also previewing for the CEOs other priorities that include shortening flight times for airplanes, increasing the power grid’s efficiency and targeting programs to improve job training.

At one point the president had an aide come on stage to hold up a long scroll of the government’s approval process for building a highway. The president then pledged to eliminate more than 90 percent of the regulations involved and “still have safety.” He provided no details.

The administration has committed to directing as much as $1 trillion for infrastructure over the next decade, although it has yet to release policy specifics. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao recently said she expects a plan will be unveiled later this year.

But getting a measure through Congress could be difficult given the Republican majority in both chambers and their desire to reduce tax rates as much as possible. An infrastructure plan that relies on direct funding could possibly raise the budget deficit more than one that uses tax credits.

Trump touted the plan he says is in the works, telling the room, “We’re talking about a very major infrastructure bill of a trillion dollars, perhaps even more.”

Administration officials stressed that it can take more than 8 years between funding and the start of project construction, a timeline White House officials say is too slow given the commitment of hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

Trump wanted the CEOs gathered at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building — many of them involved in real estate — to start building roadways, airports, railways, bridges and other infrastructure as quickly as possible.

“If you have a job that you can’t start within 90 days, we’re not going to give you money for it,” Trump said.

The president followed up his remarks at the town hall by giving an afternoon speech to the Building Trades Union, pledging to “rebuild our nation.”

At the CEO town hall, Gary Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council, noted that infrastructure upgrades could help growth.

A new air traffic control system that relied on GPS instead of radar would shorten flights and save on jet fuel, helping consumers, he said. Cohn also suggested updates to the power grid to avoid the loss of 20 percent of electricity in transmission. Trump’s daughter Ivanka spoke to the CEOs about the value of job training.

The sales pitch with its technocratic angle seemed perfectly targeted for the assembled business leaders.

“It’s terrific in terms of the stuff you’re trying to do to modernize the government, educate and so forth,” said Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of the Blackstone Group, an investment firm, and chairman of the president’s policy forum.

“The outside world doesn’t always get the message that that’s really what is going on,” he said.
…

Цього року на обслуговування державного боргу Україна витратить 111 мільярдів гривень. Про це в ефірі Радіо Свобода заявив народний депутат «Радикальної партії» Віктор Галасюк.

«В державному бюджеті на цей рік тільки видатки на обслуговування державного боргу, тобто це сплата відсотків, в тому числі МВФ, становить 111 мільярдів гривень на рік. Це більше, ніж на фінансування ЗСУ під час військової агресії проти нас найпотужнішої військової країни», – зазначив Галасюк. 

На обслуговування державного боргу у 2016 році Україна витратила майже 96 мільярдів гривень.

За даними Міністерстві фінансів, у лютому сума державного та гарантованого державою боргу становила 1,941 трильйонів гривень або 71,76 мільярдів доларів.
…

Міжнародний валютний фонд прогнозує, що економічне зростання економіки України збережеться цього року на рівні 2 відсотків через наслідки блокади на Донбасі і зросте до 3 відсотків уже у 2018-му.

На подальші роки в середньостроковій перспективі це зростання може становити близько 3,5–4 відсотків у разі значного прискорення критично важливих структурних реформ, мовиться в повідомленні МВФ про завершення так званих консультацій за статтею IV з Україною, в перебігу яких дається чергова оцінка економічного розвитку країни та  її економічної політики.

Як мовиться в повідомленні, у перебігу консультацій ішлося про те, що ці структурні реформи мають поліпшити ділову атмосферу й привабити інвестиції, збільшити продуктивність і розширити ринок праці.

У такому разі інфляція має через кілька років упасти до рівня у 5 відсотків, що є метою Національного банку України, а належні валютні резерви будуть забезпечені до кінця 2018 року, прогнозують в МВФ. Державний борг має впасти нижче від 70 відсотків від валового внутрішнього продукту до 2021 року в разі успішного завершення боргової операції, збереження досягненого рівня фіскальної консолідації і поступового економічного зростання.

У МВФ зазначили, що поступ у здійсненні структурних реформ був неоднозначний. В енергетичному й фінансовому секторах є значні досягнення, а в реформуванні й приватизації державних підприємств, земельній та пенсійній реформах і в ефективній боротьбі з корупцією поступ обмежений. Також залишаються великі економічні виклики – зокрема, зависокий державний борг, що цього року, за прогнозами, має зрости до 90 відсотків від ВВП, занизькі валютні резерви, глибока доларизація фінансової системи чи великий обсяг і неефективність державного сектору економіки.

При цьому Рада директорів МВФ високо оцінила рішучі політичні дії влади України за минулі два роки, що повернули економіку до зростання, різко скоротили інфляцію і збільшили валютні резерви.

Водночас у МВФ закликали владу України невідкладно ухвалити всеосяжну пенсійну реформу, що мала б підвищити пенсійний вік, подолати значний дефіцит пенсійного фонду й створити підґрунтя для зростання розміру пенсій. Крім того, Рада директорів МВФ наголосила на необхідності втримувати зростання зарплат на виправданому рівні, поліпшити збирання податків і роботу державної адміністрації і втілити реформи систем охорони здоров’я й освіти.

Раніше у вівторок свій прогноз щодо зростання економіки України оприлюднив Світовий банк, який зберіг помірний прогноз зростання валового внутрішнього продукту України у 2017 році в розмірі 2%.

«Економіка (України), нарешті, стабілізувалася й почала відновлюватися. Це відновлення стало можливим завдяки реформам. Однак прогноз залишається помірним… У разі прискорення реформ у наступні два роки зростання становитиме по 4%», – повідомила директор банку в Україні, Білорусі й Молдові Сату Кахконен.

Минулого місяця Національний банк України погіршив прогноз зростання валового внутрішнього продукту України в 2017 році з 2,8% до 1,9% у зв’язку з тимчасовим припиненням переміщення вантажів через лінію розмежування на Донбасі.
…

Національний банк України ухвалив рішення, яким пом’якшив обмеження із продажу іноземної валюти населенню з суми у 12 тисяч гривень на день до 150 тисяч на день.

«Національний банк продовжує суттєво пом’якшувати обмеження на продаж готівкової іноземної валюти населенню, яке стало вже менш дієвим заходом стабілізації ринку через його тривале застосування. Досі населення мало можливість купувати валюту на суму не більше ніж на 12 тисяч гривень в еквіваленті одній особі в день. Відтепер Національний банк підвищив цю максимальну суму до 150 тисяч гривень, тобто до суми, понад яку фінансові операції з готівкою підлягають обов’язковому фінансовому моніторингу. Такий крок допоможе збільшити глибину і ліквідність офіційного готівкового валютного ринку», – мовиться в повідомленні на сайті НБУ.

За повідомленням, ці зміни до постанови Нацбанку від 13 грудня 2016 року набудуть чинності 5 квітня.

Крім того, НБУ заявив, що пом’якшує вимогу до обов’язкового продажу надходжень в Україну в іноземній валюті. Відтепер юридичні особи повинні будуть продавати не 65%, а 50% своїх валютних надходжень.

«Реалізувати чергові кроки з лібералізації валютного регулювання дозволяє сприятлива кон’юнктура на зовнішніх ринках та рішення Міжнародного валютного фонду про погодження третього перегляду програми співпраці з Україною та виділення четвертого траншу фінансування», – додали в НБУ.

Від вересня 2014 року НБУ запровадив ліміт на продаж населенню валюти – на три тисячі гривень на день. У червні 2016 року це обмеження пом’якшили до 12 тисяч гривень.

3 квітня Рада директорів МВФ ухвалила позитивне рішення щодо надання Україні чергового траншу допомоги за програмою розширеного фінансування. Завершення третього перегляду програми фінансування дозволило Україні отримати четвертий транш допомоги обсягом близько 1 мільярда доларів.
…

Рада директорів Міжнародного валютного фонду планує розглянути виділення Україні наступного траншу за програмою розширеного фінансування 3 квітня. Про це повідомили в київському представництві фонду, інформують українські інформагенції.

«Розгляд радою виконавчих директорів МВФ третього перегляду програми України в рамках механізму розширеного фінансування – разом із результатами консультацій 2016 року зі статті IV угод МВФ – заплановано на 3 квітня 2017 року», – повідомив постійний представник МВФ в Україні Жером Ваше.

Завершення третього перегляду дозволить Україні отримати транш обсягом близько 1 мільярда доларів.

На офіційному сайті МВФ питання виділення Україні наступного траншу досі відсутнє в плані роботи Ради директорів, розписаному до 7 квітня.

У Міжнародному валютному фонді минулого тижня висловили сподівання, що нову дату засідання Ради директорів, що має розглянути надання Україні чергового траншу позики, оголосять найближчим часом.

Перед 20 березня з’ясувалося, що запланований на цей день розгляд питання про новий транш позики для України, що планувався в сумі 1 мільярда доларів, на засіданні Ради директорів МВФ зник із порядку денного.

У Міністерстві фінансів України пояснили перенесення розгляду питання щодо України потребою в уточненні розрахунків щодо економічних наслідків від заходів, застосованих Україною у відповідь на блокаду, та захоплення українських підприємств на непідконтрольних урядові територіях Донбасу, а також у зв’язку з визнанням російською стороною документів, виданих на цих територіях.

Президент України Петро Порошенко заявив, що Міжнародний валютний фонд відтермінував питання про черговий транш кредиту для України через «наслідки блокади» на Донбасі. Національний банк України оновив макроекономічні прогнози з урахуванням ефекту торговельної блокади ОРДЛО на позачерговому засіданні комітету НБУ з монетарної політики, щоб передати оновлені макропрогнози МВФ.
…

Workplaces have become less civil spaces than they once were. People don’t say please and thank you. Employees send e-mails and texts during meetings, ignoring the speaker and tuning out of the discussion. Others take too much credit for collaborative work. 

The nasty looks and belittling comments reached a point at law firm Bryan Cave, in Irvine, California, that the partners held a civility workshop.

Managing partner Stuart Price says working together toward a common goal set the right tone for the workshop, as the employees set up a code of civil behavior. The firm has the 10 points of the code displayed on a granite block in the lobby. 

“I think two items in the code really stand out for me,” Price said. “No. 3 is we treat each other equally and with respect, even if the conditions are very difficult. Then the last item in our code is we address incivility. If you don’t address incivility, then the plaque just becomes a piece of granite, but it doesn’t have life.”

He says they no longer let uncivil behavior slide. 

“The first step for us along the way is to address it with the person, privately, just talk about what happened,” he said. “If the pattern continues with that specific person, we will have further conversations and if it’s particularly problematic, we might terminate them.”

Creating a civil work environment has impacted the firm in many positive ways. 

“A year after we had this workshop, we won Best Place to Work in Orange County in the large company category,” Price said. “In terms of performance, it seems to me that when we’re most focused on how we treat each other, when were we’re most focused on civility, the financial performance is at its best.”

The High Cost of Incivility

A culture of civility helps employees feel safer, happier and better, said Georgetown University management professor Christine Porath. She incorporated results of her research and personal experiences in a new book, Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace.

She told VOA she witnessed the consequences of incivility years before she started studying it. 

“I thought I scored my dream job after my graduating from college,” she said. “I got to work at one of the largest sports marketing organization in the world. When I took the full-time job, I learned that it was a very toxic culture. The top leaders had a bad behavior, narcissism. And they had a tendency to belittle and demean people in front of others.”

Then it became clear to her the negative effect incivility had on people. 

“It was contagious, too,” she said. “It affected their performance and motivation and mood throughout the day, but they took that into their relationships with others; clients, customers and that kind of thing. And I just saw that it was hurting the organization. And it was also hurting employees, not only their work life, but they were taking it home with them.”

And, she discovered, incivility had a physical impact. 

“Then the second thing was my dad. (He) had had two toxic bosses. Even though he tried to protect me from learning about how bad that was, he ended up in the hospital with a heart attack scare,” she said.

More Rudeness

Porath notes that civility has been declining for years.

“When I started studying it in about 1998, it was less than 25 percent (people) were affected by this on a weekly basis, and those numbers most recently hovered over 50 percent — meaning more people are experiencing or witnessing disrespectful, rude behavior in the workplace these days.”

She conducted surveys, asking people “Why are you uncivil?”

“Over 60 percent of people say, ‘Because I’m overwhelmed or stressed.’ People are asked to do more with less resources. The other thing is technology. The fact that people communicate so often now with e-mails and other forms of technology, it makes being civil tougher in a sense that you don’t have the nonverbal (cues), you don’t have the tone of voice. So typically there are more misunderstandings with technological communication,” she said.

Let’s be e-Civil

To avoid those sorts of misunderstandings, Porath recommends that you do not send an email if you’re feeling very stressed, angry or can’t solve a disagreement. If you’re not sure how your humor, sarcasm or criticism will be received, reread, rethink and resist the temptation to hit Send. And if you are uncertain about your tone, save the message and review it later with a fresh perspective before sending it. If you have to get something off your chest, write your note now but maybe send it later using delayed delivery. Finally, she suggests trying to have a phone call, or Skype, or meet face to face under those circumstances.
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El Salvador’s Congress on Wednesday approved a law prohibiting all metal mining projects in a bid to protect the poor Central American country’s environment and natural resources.

The new law, which enjoyed cross-party support from 70 lawmakers, blocks all exploration, extraction and processing of metals, whether in open pits or underground.

The legislation prohibits the use of toxic chemicals like cyanide and mercury, and makes permanent an executive order passed by former President Antonio Saca in 2009 and renewed by subsequent administrations.

Several regions of the country have attracted interest from international gold and silver mining companies.

In October, El Salvador won an arbitration at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) against the Australian-Canadian miner OceanaGold Corp, which was seeking $250 million over the 2009 denial of an extraction permit.

In its decision, the ICSID ordered the company to pay El Salvador $8 million for legal costs.
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Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a prominent ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, came to New York this week to school investors on his state bank’s plans to sell new dollar bonds.

Instead, he was placed under arrest by U.S. authorities and accused of conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran by teaming with wealthy Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal transactions through U.S. banks to Iran’s government.

“United States sanctions are not mere requests or suggestions; they are the law,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said in a statement in New York, where Atilla was arraigned Tuesday.

He was arrested at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday.

Gold, currency allegedly sent to Iran

Atilla “protected and hid Zarrab’s ability to provide access to international financial networks,” U.S. authorities said in documents filed in the U.S. court. The documents allege that gold and currency were sent to Iran, while documents were forged to disguise the transactions as food shipments so as to comply with humanitarian exceptions to the sanctions law.

Atilla’s arrest and the case of Zarrab — arrested last year in Florida — drew a sharp rebuke from the Turkish government, which said it planned to raise the matter with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson when he visits Ankara this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Turkish media.

Relations between the U.S. and Turkey are frayed over the Syrian civil war and Turkish demands for the extradition of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the Turkish leadership blames for July’s failed coup in Turkey.

Diplomatic dispute?

In terms of the impact of the recent development on the U.S. Turkish relationship, some analysts suggest it could potentially be an issue as the two sides view the case through different lenses.

“For the U.S., it is a case of sanctions law violation,” said Ihan Tani, a journalist who follows U.S.-Turkish relations. “But some people close to the Turkish president seem to be involved with Reza Zarrab.”

Tani added that because of the involvement of close aides of the Turkish president, the issue could escalate into a diplomatic dispute.

But Tani said Atilla knew that U.S authorities viewed him as a potential suspect.

“He knew that he was part of the U.S. investigation here. So why did he come to this country? It is hard to understand. If he took a risk, now he is paying for it,” Tani said.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment on his motives to travel to the U.S.

Lender’s shares drop

The arrest could have major financial implications for Turkish state lender Halkbank. Bank shares posted their biggest one-day fall on Wednesday.

Halkbank, Turkey’s fifth-largest bank in terms of assets, vowed to investigate.

“Our bank and relevant state bodies are conducting the necessary work on the subject, and information will be shared with the public when it is obtained,” Halkbank said in a statement.
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Міжнародний валютний фонд упродовж поточного і наступного тижнів не планує розгляд питання про виділення Україні наступного траншу за програмою розширеного фінансування. Це випливає з оприлюдненого на сайті організації графіка роботи Ради директорів МВФ.

Згідно з інформацією, на 29 березня заплановані консультації з владою Нігерії та Нідерландів. На початок квітня – обговорення співпраці з представниками Сан-Марино та Беніну.

Водночас у повідомленні про графік міститься вказівка про можливі зміни в порядку денному. «Будь ласка, зверніть увагу, що календар може бути змінений, і що порядок денний кожного засідання, як правило, остаточно формується за день до зустрічі», – вказують в МВФ.

У Міжнародному валютному фонді минулого тижня висловили сподівання, що нову дату засідання Ради директорів, що має розглянути надання Україні чергового траншу позики, оголосять найближчим часом.

«Ми очікуємо оголосити нову дату засідання Ради директорів невдовзі. Тут немає нічого незвичайного – в тому, що ми відклали дату засідання», – сказав на прес-конференції у Вашингтоні 23 березня речник МВФ Джеррі Райс.

Перед 20 березня з’ясувалося, що запланований на цей день розгляд питання про новий транш позики для України, що планувався в сумі 1 мільярда доларів, на засіданні Ради директорів МВФ зник із порядку денного.

У Міністерстві фінансів України пояснили перенесення розгляду питання щодо України потребою в уточненні розрахунків щодо економічних наслідків від заходів, застосованих Україною у відповідь на блокаду, та захоплення українських підприємств на непідконтрольних урядові територіях Донбасу, а також у зв’язку з визнанням російською стороною документів, виданих на цих територіях.

Президент України Петро Порошенко заявив, що Міжнародний валютний фонд відтермінував питання про черговий транш кредиту для України через «наслідки блокади» на Донбасі. Національний банк України оновив макроекономічні прогнози з урахуванням ефекту торговельної блокади ОРДЛО на позачерговому засіданні комітету НБУ з монетарної політики, щоб передати оновлені макропрогнози МВФ.
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South Korean economic reforms, made in part to minimize the impact of a potential international financial crisis, make it a likely target for charges of unfair currency manipulation by the United States.

There is growing concern in South Korea and in other emerging markets that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump will use allegations of currency manipulation to force trade concessions as part of his economic agenda to give American manufactures a greater competitive advantage in international markets.

“So who is the most likely target of a manipulation charge? Obviously South Korea,” said economist Benn Steil with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

Why South Korea?

President Trump has indicated his intention to renegotiate what he considers unfair trade deals that put American industries at a global competitive disadvantage. After taking office in January he immediately pulled out of the multilateral Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement, and U.S. trade officials are looking for ways to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA.)

Trump has also been highly critical of the U.S., South Korea bilateral free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) as a “job killing deal” that “doubled our trade deficit with South Korea and destroyed nearly 100,000 American jobs.”

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) recently recommended reconsideration of the KORUS FTA due to the rising trade deficit between the South Korea and the U.S. The report noted that U.S. exports to South Korea in 2016 were down $1.2 billion from 2011, the year before the free trade agreement went into effect, while imports of South Korean goods increased by $13 billion.

Currency manipulation conditions

As for South Korean currency manipulation charges, the U.S. may have a legal case that it could use to pressure changes to the bilateral free trade agreement.

After the 1997 Asian financial crisis, South Korea implemented reforms endorsed by the International Monetary Fund to make the national economy less vulnerable to another sudden global economic downturn. The government in Seoul complied with the IMF recommendations to establish a large current account surplus (trade surplus,), large U.S. dollar foreign exchange reserves, and a low level of foreign ownership of domestic assets. These economic assets helped South Korea minimize the impact of the financial crisis of 2008.

However, these same conditions are the key criteria listed by the U.S. Congress for determining the existence of currency manipulation. Economists say it creates a fundamental contradiction in the dollar based international financial system to urge countries to protect themselves, then to accuse them of protectionism.

“If an emerging market does exactly what the IMF identifies as being the key steps they could take to prevent a financial crisis in their country, they will be the most likely to be targeted for currency manipulation charges by the U.S. Congress,” said Steil.

Bargaining chip

Advocates for South Korea argue that Seoul has intervened in international exchanges by buying or selling substantial sums of foreign currency, only to stabilize the value its Won, not to undervalue it. And despite the large trade deficit with the U.S., South Korean companies like Hyundai and Samsung are investing heavily in the U.S., more so than American companies are investing in South Korea.

Fair or not, South Korea’s current situation, with a bilateral trade deal that the Trump has labeled unfair and possibly meeting the legal definition of currency manipulation, leaves it politically and legally vulnerable. Such a complaint could be made to the World Trade Organization, but it is hard to prove and the resolution process would involve extensive negotiations.

James Nolt, an international political economy analyst with the World Policy Institute says the Trump administration would most likely use the threat of currency manipulation as leverage to force South Korea to reduce non-tariff related regulations that have reportedly been imposed to undermine the intent of the KORUS FTA and to open up new markets to American products.

“It will probably be in the context of a bilateral negotiation where he will use that as one of the bargaining chips,” said Nolt.

Why not China?

Trump had repeatedly attacked China as a currency manipulator, and even said on day one in his administration he would formally charge China as a currency manipulator. But he has not acted on that promise because Beijing has been intervening in currency exchanges to increase the value of its currency the Yuan to maintain investor confidence. And a stronger Chinese Yuan benefits American exporters by making their products somewhat cheaper.

Youmi Kim contributed to this report.
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Westinghouse Electric Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday, saying it needed to restructure because of “certain financial and construction challenges” from its nuclear power plant projects.

The company has struggled with cost overruns and delays with the plants.

Parent company Toshiba warned in February it would need to take a $6 billion write-down on its estimated value of Westinghouse.

Toshiba said in a statement about the bankruptcy filing that it and the Westinghouse unit are working with the owners of two nuclear power plant sites on arrangements to continue construction of those projects.

Westinghouse lists eight of its AP1000 plants under construction in the U.S. and China.  The company said Wednesday it has agreements with the owners at each site to continue working.

The bankruptcy filing does not affect Westinghouse’s operations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to a company statement.

During the restructuring period, Westinghouse will rely on $800 million in financing it has secured to operate power plants, manufacture nuclear fuel and components, and carry out decommissioning and decontamination efforts.

“We are focused on developing a plan of reorganization to emerge from Chapter 11 as a stronger company while continuing to be a global nuclear technology leader,” said Westinghouse Interim President and CEO Jose Emeterio Gutierrez.
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California and a dozen other states could be heading for a showdown with the federal government as the Trump administration reviews rules on fuel efficiency and vehicle emissions, rules President Donald Trump has said curtail growth in the auto industry.

California has a waiver under federal law to set its own standards, and other states have the option to follow them.

California has been a leader in promoting fuel-efficient cars and sport utility vehicles, and the state says it will keep its strict standards, despite a review of federal regulations ordered by Trump.

Separately, the president signed an executive order Tuesday to reduce the federal role in regulating carbon emissions in the energy industry to promote “energy independence,” although scientists view carbon emission from fossil fuels as a major cause of global warming.

Vehicle fuel standards were strengthened in the final days of the Obama presidency, as the administration hurriedly completed a review of fuel economy targets through 2025, imposing goals that bring a corresponding reduction in tail-pipe emissions.  

Fueled by 1973 oil embargo

Therese Langer of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy says Obama was continuing a process that started in California in the 1960s, then moved to the rest of the country with federal legislation.

After the Arab oil embargo of 1973, Congress set targets with the CAFE, or Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards.

Langer says the rules helped reduce dependence on foreign oil, but “the dominant effect of bringing down that pollution from tail pipes of cars through a combination of changes to the cars and changes to the fuel is a human health benefit. And it’s really hard to overstate how dramatic that has been over the years.”

CAFE fuel economy standards are locked in through 2021, but the Trump administration is reconsidering the rules for the following years through 2025.

Supporters say strict standards help to cut the greenhouse gases that are fueling global warming, save consumers money, and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

The president says he wants to cut government regulations.

Thomas Pyle of the industry-aligned American Energy Alliance says the president’s review will ask, “How [do] you balance the desire for fuel efficiency, for more fuel-efficient vehicles, with other things that are important when consumers go and purchase vehicles, such as size, safety, whether or not they need a truck for their job.”

Environmentalists push electric cars

Existing standards aim to improve fuel economy by promoting hybrid gasoline-electric and battery-powered electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles, or EVs, are just one percent of the market and pose a special challenge. Environmentalists say they have great promise, but need government incentives to spur development.

Laura Renger oversees air and climate issues for Southern California Edison, and she says the electric utility company is doing its part.

Renger drives an electric car to work and charges it outside the company office. She says EV drivers like her feel “range anxiety,” but the utility is installing 1,500 charging stations where people park their cars, “on campuses, work places, and shopping centers.”

Other companies are engaged in similar programs.

Renger says the market will expand as battery technology gets better and the charging infrastructure grows.

Critics say that government subsidies for electric vehicles are not needed, and Pyle, of the American Energy Alliance, says people who drive EVs can afford to do it without tax breaks.

Finding ‘the right balance’

Jessica Caldwell of the auto research site Edmunds.com disagrees, and she says online behavior shows that buyers are sensitive to price and are looking for incentives.

“People in real time are very deal oriented,” she said, “so my fear is if you take away the federal subsidy, this market is really going to collapse,” she said.

California says it has no intention of removing its subsidies.

Langer, of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, says current government fuel-and-emission standards help consumers.

“If you look at the whole time period for which the standards were adopted under the last administration, that’s model year 2012 through 2025,” she said, “the consumer savings from buying less gasoline exceed a trillion dollars.”

But critics like Pyle ask, “What is the right balance, and who makes those choices, the government, or consumers and the auto industry together?”

He applauds Trump’s goal of improving the productivity of the energy and auto industries.

Twelve other states and the U.S. capital now follow the California standards, and if federal rules are weakened, car makers confusingly could face two different sets of vehicle standards, one based on California’s rules and one on Washington’s.
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Online retailer Amazon has announced another move into a traditional brick and mortar business, drive-up grocery stores.

The company announced the AmazonFresh Pickup service Tuesday, according to CNBC. The service, which is currently only available to Amazon employees, would allow Amazon Prime members to order groceries online, choose a pick up time and pick them up at that store.

The service would allow customers to select fruits, vegetables, breads, dairy and meats among other items. Pick up times can be made as soon as within 15 minutes of placing an order.

Amazon also offers a grocery delivery service to certain parts of the United States.

AmazonFresh Pickup is the latest move for the company, which is also reportedly considering furniture and home appliance showrooms, according to the New York Times.

The company is also experimenting with convenience stores without cashiers.

 
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Indonesia has the world’s fourth-largest population at almost 260 million, but only 10 percent are registered as taxpayers and only about one million actually submit a tax return. That’s a major reason for the country’s huge and growing deficit, which has stalled the present administration’s ambitious infrastructure plans.

To jump-start the recovery of assets that wealthy Indonesians sequester abroad, the country launched a tax amnesty program in the summer of 2016. It was an experiment that drew criticism from the likes of OECD, the IMF, and domestic labor unions. Still, as it enters the final days of its nine months, the program has exceeded monetary expectations, netting about $330 billion of tax revenue.

The big question, once it wraps up on March 31, is what to do with that money. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani has created a task force to address the repatriated assets, but they can only really start their work after the final numbers are released. The government must also respond to criticism that the amnesty program lets off tax evaders too easily, to the detriment of the working class.

Closing the deficit

“The revenue from this will significantly contribute to reducing the national deficit,” said Asmiati Malik, an economics researcher at the University of Birmingham. “It could do so by as much as 70 percent: from $23 billion to $8.2 billion.”

In recent weeks, regional tax offices have put on daily public campaigns to encourage participation in the amnesty program. Hestu Yoga Saksama of the Taxation Directorate General told the Jakarta Post as many as 4,000 people signed up for it every day in March that as many as 4,000 people signed up for it every day in March, suggesting it arose from a general tendency to procrastinate on personal finances.

“In our culture, people tend to wait until the very last moment,” said Yoga.

Over three million Indonesians have become new tax payers in the last year, according to the Directorate General of Taxation. This includes high profile business people like those of the Indonesian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, a business lobby, who signed up en masse earlier this year.

Since the 1990s, when there were ethnic riots and political unrest before and after the fall of long-time dictator Suharto, rich Indonesians have relocated money to tax havens like Singapore, according to Bloomberg.

“Two huge benefits of the amnesty program for taxpayers now are the low interest rate and the abolition of tax debt,” said Yustinus Prastowo of the Center for Indonesia Taxation Analysis.

If they repatriate assets, individuals will be charged between two and ten percent interest, rather than typical corporate or personal income tax rates, which can reach 30 percent. And they must commit to keeping those assets within Indonesia for at least three years.

Expanding the tax base

Indonesia has already generated more revenue from its tax amnesty experiment than analogous efforts in countries like India and Germany, but according to some experts, there remains room for expansion.

“The major issue is that the number of taxpayers who joined the amnesty program is still low, proportionally,” said Malik. “There are roughly 700,000 people who joined the program out of a total 32 million taxpayers… which is only 2.2 percent of those eligible.”

Malik called for a more progressive tax policy to increase participation in both the amnesty program and taxation in general. “It should be more progressive regarding extensification [widening the tax base], and increase the incentive for tax compliance and avoidance,” she said. “These solutions hinge on using ‘one-gate identification’ that integrates a person’s bank account, national ID, and tax ID, so that no one can avoid declaring their assets.”

That being said, the first round of the amnesty program is well-timed; by September of this year, Indonesia will join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Automatic Exchange of Information initiative to share its tax figures internationally. That means it will be able to access the details of Indonesian citizens’ offshore assets in countries like Singapore and the Cayman Islands.

Rising inequality

The OECD, however, was an early critic of Indonesia’s project of tax amnesty. Programs like this are “unlikely to deliver benefits that exceed their true costs, but carry a risk of leading to an erosion of the gross revenue collected and may negatively affect overall tax compliance,” Philip Kerfs, of OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, told Bloomberg in August 2016.

Opponents of the program argue that tax evaders are essentially rewarded for flouting the law.

Last fall, there were large worker protests in Jakarta against tax amnesty, and most of the country’s labor unions have vocally opposed the policy.

The International Monetary Fund also expressed doubts about the program. “We were a little skeptical with the implementation of tax amnesty anywhere, but we hope we are wrong in Indonesia,” said IMF’s Luis Bereu.

On Monday, the Directorate General of Taxation announced it was devoting “special attention” to pursuing several members of a Forbes list of the richest Indonesians who have not yet registered for tax amnesty.

Prastowo suggested another reason why the funds may eventually fall short of their potential — the hardline rallies that gripped Jakarta last November and December, against the city’s Chinese Christian governor. The political disturbance, he said, may have deterred investors from bringing their money back home. It’s a remarkable parallel to the unrest that sent many wealthy Indonesians packing in the first place.
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Twitter Inc, trying to boost its sagging advertising revenue, will allow brands to buy commercials on its video streams for Periscope, signaling a major push to make money off the live-streaming platform, the company announced on Tuesday morning.

With sponsors growing more wary of exactly what kind of online videos their ads are being placed against, Twitter is allowing a select group of advertisers to purchase pre-roll videos, meaning those that run prior to the publishers’ content, on Periscope streams.

Twitter acquired Periscope in 2015.

Google’s YouTube, long the dominant force for online video ad dollars, has seen an exodus from brands upset to find their ads running alongside anti-Semitic and other videos that shocked customers. Companies that left included Verizon Communications Inc, AT&T Inc and Johnson & Johnson.

YouTube’s selling process automatically places ads next to videos that meet the criteria for the audience advertisers want to reach, but the Alphabet unit has had difficulty policing the vast array of videos that are uploaded.

Twitter is only offering up a select group of publishers for brands to buy ads against, which will let advertisers know exactly where their ads are showing up. “This is the solution to that problem,” Matthew Derella, Twitter’s vice president of global revenue and operations, told Reuters. “We believe the advertiser should have control.”

The video ads will only be seen when viewed within Twitter’s platform. Twitter allowed for Periscope streams to be integrated within Twitter last year. The advertisers will be able to purchase ads on Periscope videos through Twitter’s Amplify program.

Until now, Twitter has monetized Periscope by relying on brands to purchase Promoted Tweets, which are placed in user feeds, even for those who do not follow the company on Twitter. The goal is to draw more attention whenever the company is live-streaming something on Periscope.

Twitter is looking to turn around its sagging fortunes. Its stock has slumped 8 percent so far this year as investors have worried about slowed user and advertising revenue growth, along with mounting competition from Facebook Inc’s Instagram, and Snap Inc’s Snapchat.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, Twitter posted the slowest revenue growth since it went public four years earlier, and revenue from advertising fell from a year earlier. The company warned that advertising revenue growth would continue to lag user growth during 2017. The company is also considering a paid subscription offering.

 
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Turkish and Gulf airlines are touting free WiFi and better in-flight connectivity for smartphones as they scramble to mitigate the impact of a ban on laptops in plane cabins bound for the United States.

The restrictions could deal a blow to fast-growing Gulf airlines, which depend on business-class flyers stopping over in Dubai or Doha for far-flung destinations, and to Turkish Airlines with its high volume of transit passengers.

A Turkish Airlines official said it was working on rolling out a system to allow passengers to use 3G data roaming on mobile phones to connect to the internet in-flight, and planned to make WiFi freely available on some aircraft from next month.

“We’ve sped up infrastructure work after the latest developments. … If the work is complete, we’re planning on switching to free WiFi services in our Boeing 777 and Airbus 330 aircraft in April,” the official told Reuters.

Emirates said Thursday it was introducing a “laptop and tablet handling service” for U.S.-bound flights which would allow passengers to use their devices until just before they board. The devices would be “carefully packed into boxes” and returned on arrival in the United States, it said.

Emirates passengers can access limited free WiFi or pay $1 for 500 MB.

Fellow Gulf carrier Etihad encouraged passengers to pack their electronics in check-in luggage but said it would also allow devices to be handed over at boarding, a spokesman said. Turkish said it had introduced a similar measure.

Qatar Airways did not respond to questions on how it planned to mitigate the impact of the new security measures, but in a Facebook posting this week it said its in-flight entertainment was “the only entertainment you’ll need on board.”

Royal Jordanian also took a tongue-in-cheek approach, listing on Twitter “12 things to do on a 12-hour flight with no laptop or tablet,” including reading, meditating, saying hello to your neighbor, or “reclaiming territory on your armrest.”
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In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for the eight consecutive day on Monday.  Investors may have been discouraged by the failure of U.S. President Donald Trump to pass big changes to the health care insurance system that he promised during the campaign.

U.S. stock indexes were down sharply in morning trading, but by Monday’s close, the S&P 500 was off just one-tenth of a percent, with the Dow down two-tenths.  The NASDAQ posted a slight gain.

U.S. and other stocks had been mostly rising since the November election on business hopes that promised cuts in taxes and regulation and a boost in spending on public works would stimulate the economy and boost profits.

Now investors are worried that the inability of the Republican president to get support from his Republican-controlled Congress means he will struggle to deliver promised changes on other complex and controversial efforts.

Later this week, government officials will report new data on growth of the U.S. economy and the health of the job market.
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Transnational crime, or crimes committed across international borders, is growing at a faster pace than many realize, partly because the international community is not paying a lot of attention to it. That’s the conclusion from Global Financial Integrity or GFI, a non-profit Washington think tank that tracks illicit financial flows across borders.

The group’s latest findings estimate that transnational crime is worth between $1.6 to $2.2 trillion per year. GFI says the lion’s share of illicitly generated funds around the globe comes from counterfeiting, worth between $923 billion to $1.13 trillion per year, followed by drug trafficking which generates between $426 to $652 billion in illegal funds annually.

“Transnational crime is a business, and business is very good,” said Channing May, author of GFI’s “Transnational Crime and the Developing World.”  Less understood, said May, are the lasting and negative consequences for governments and the economies of developing countries.  

“Very rarely do the revenues from transnational crime have any long-term benefit to citizens, communities or economies of developing countries. Instead, the crimes undermine local and national economies, destroy the environment and jeopardize the health and well-being of the public,” said May.

Rounding out the top 10

Of the top 10 illegal revenue generators around the globe, human trafficking is ranked in fourth place, generating roughly $150 billion per year, followed by illegal mining, worth upwards of $48 billion. In eighth place, crude oil theft is valued between $5 to $12 billion, and in 10th place, the trafficking of human organs may be worth as much as $1.7 billion per year.

The report says shutting down the global shadow financial system that facilitates the movement and transfer of illicitly generated funds is technically not a difficult undertaking, but rather a matter of political will.

Complete report due March 29

GFI program manager Christine Clough said recommendations include greater financial transparency and regulations requiring all corporations to declare the nature and the ultimate beneficiaries of doing business within countries.

“Networks involved in these illicit markets are akin to major global corporations: they need access to finance and banking to be profitable to continue operating,” said Clough.

The complete GFI report will be released March 29 in Washington and is based on a compilation of statistics from various government and non-governmental bodies and law enforcement sources.
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Just months ahead of local elections, the Cambodian government has ordered the microfinance industry to cap the interest rate on new loans at 18 percent a year. While borrowers will applaud that at least in the short term the decision has rocked the industry, which fears some firms will go bankrupt. The end result could be fewer small loans for villagers, who will be driven into the hands of predatory lenders. For VOA, Robert Carmichael has the story from Phnom Penh.
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