Кабінет міністрів України наполягає на зниженні облікової ставки Національним банком, повідомив прем’єр-міністр Володимир Гройсман у Верховній Раді.

«Щодо кредитної політики позиція уряду така – ми вважаємо, що Національний банк України повинен робити більше серйозні й істотніші кроки з здешевлення кредитів в економіку нашої країни… Уже відбувається зниження облікової ставки, але не так суттєво, як нам би хотілося. Наполягатимемо на тому, щоб цю роботу було прискорено», – заявив прем’єр на годині запитань до уряду у Верховній Раді 17 березня.

На початку березня Національний банк України вирішив залишити облікову ставку на рівні 14%.

У лютому 2017 року, як зазначають у Нацбанку, інфляція у річному вимірі продовжила очікувано прискорюватися.

У березні 2015 року НБУ облікова ставка була на рівні 30%, згодом Нацбанк почав поступово знижувати облікову ставку, зокрема, у жовтні минулого року – до 14 %.

Облікова ставка є одним із інструментів, за допомогою якого Нацбанк встановлює для комерційних банків орієнтир щодо вартості залучених і розміщених коштів. Фактично вона визначає ціну грошей.
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Foreign tourism to the United States, which supports millions of American jobs, is slowing, possibly because President Donald Trump sought controversial travel restrictions on some Muslim-majority nations. Online searches for flights to the United States are down in most major nations, not just those hit by restrictions. Jim Randle reports some travel experts say the push to restrict immigration is making some foreign tourists and students wary of visiting.
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Carmakers and suppliers gave widely differing timelines Thursday for the introduction of self-driving vehicles, showing the uncertainties surrounding the technology as well as a split between cautious established players and bullish new entrants.

Chipmaker Nvidia, facing direct competition with the world’s top chipmaker after Intel’s $15 billion deal to buy Mobileye, an autonomous driving technology firm, this week, gave the most optimistic predictions.

Chief Executive Jens-Hsun Huang said carmakers may speed up their plans in the light of technological advances and that fully self-driving cars could be on the road by 2025.

“Because of deep learning, because of AI [artificial intelligence] computing, we’ve really supercharged our roadmap to autonomous vehicles,” he said in a keynote speech to the Bosch Connected World conference in Berlin.

Germany’s Bosch, however, the world’s biggest automotive supplier, gave a timetable as much as six years longer to get to the final stage before fully autonomous vehicles, and declined even to forecast when a totally self-driving car might take to the streets.

Technology, liability among hurdles

Progress is fraught by issues including who is liable when a self-driving car has an accident, bringing down the costs of sensor technology and guarding against hacking.

“Of course, we still have to prove that an autonomous car does better in driving and has less accidents than a human being,” Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner told a news conference.

Nvidia has applied its market-leading expertise in high-end computer graphics to the intense visualization and simulation needs of autonomous cars, and has been working on artificial intelligence — teaching computers to learn to write their own software code — for a decade.

“No human could write enough code to capture the vast diversity and complexity that we do so easily, called driving,” Huang said.

Together with Bosch executives, Huang presented a prototype AI on-board computer that is expected to go into production by the beginning of the next decade. The computer will use Nvidia’s processing power to interpret data gathered by Bosch sensors.

Degrees of autonomy

On the way to fully self-driving cars, levels of autonomy have been defined, with most cars on the road today at level two, and Tesla ready to switch from level four to five — full autonomy — as soon as it is permitted.

Level three means drivers can turn away in well-understood environments, such as highway driving, but must be ready to take back control, while level four means the automated system can control the vehicle in most environments.

Independent technology analyst Richard Windsor wrote this week that he doubted automakers would have autonomous vehicles leaving factories by a typical self-imposed deadline of 2020, mainly because the liability issue was unresolved.

“This is good news for the automotive industry, which is notoriously slow to adapt to and implement new technology as it will have more time to defend its position against the new entrants,” he wrote.

But Nvidia’s Huang said he expected to have chips available for level three automated driving by the end of this year and in customers’ cars on the road by the end of 2018, with level four chips following the same pattern a year later.

That is at least a year ahead of the plans of most carmakers that have an autonomous-driving strategy.

BMW says market will decide

The head of autonomous driving at BMW told the conference the luxury carmaker was on its way to deliver a level three autonomous car in 2021, but could produce level four or five autonomous cars in the same year.

“We believe we have the chance to make level three, level four and level five doable,” he said. He told Reuters the decision on which levels to release would depend in part on the market, and that cars with more autonomy might first be produced in small batches for single fleets.

Bosch said it saw level three vehicles being released with its on-board computer at the end of the decade, and level four driving not before 2025.

Uber, Baidu and Google spin-off Waymo are testing self-driving taxis, while carmakers including Volvo, Audi and Ford expect to have level four cars on the road by 2020 or 2021.

Nvidia’s Huang predicted those plans would speed up: “In the near future, you’re going to see these schedules pull in.”
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Latin American countries are becoming more reliant on costly fuel imports amid floundering efforts to bolster domestic oil output and expand refinery capacity.

Incomplete reform projects and budget cuts that have stalled investments are aggravating the situation for many Latin American countries. For refiners in the United States, it is a bonus: They have in their own backyard a ready market for rising fuel exports.

Overall, the 30 nations in the region bought 2.32 million barrels per day (bpd) of diesel, gasoline and other fuels last year from the United States, up 67 percent from 2011, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Demands for U.S. imports are rising in the region’s biggest economies, up 199,000 bpd or 29 percent last year in Mexico and 75,000 bpd or 94 percent in Brazil, contributing to the gains.

“We need to build joint ventures to find the capital the refineries require,” said the head of Mexico’s oil regulator, Juan Carlos Zepeda, referring to his own country. “And we need to produce more gas,” he added in comments earlier this month.

But getting there will take time, and in Mexico, energy reform is likely to lead to more imports as the retail market is liberalized, before upstream reforms can boost domestic production.

Cheaper fuel prices have made it easier for these countries to buy in recent years. Latin America’s bill for fuel imports from the United States fell to about $47 billion last year from $51 billion in 2015.

Needs seen growing

But if last year’s imports were measured at 2012’s peak prices, the fuel tab would have been twice as large. Any spike in oil prices would hit countries hard, given the increased volumes they need.

“With demand increasing and a stable refining capacity, the region’s import needs will continue to grow,” said Jake Fuller, a senior analyst at consultants IHS Markit.

American refiners along the Gulf Coast are well-placed to continue supplying the region. In contrast, Latin America’s state-controlled refinery firms have little capital or outside investment interest in expansions or overhauls, Fuller said.

As fuel imports rise, crude shipments from the region’s energy producers are falling. Latin America exported 5.2 million bpd in 2016, according to Reuters Trade Flows figures. The United States buys just under half of the region’s crude exports.

Reforms that encourage producers to bring capital to oilfields are under way in Mexico and Argentina. “We are in the right path,” said Miguel Gutierrez, president of Argentina’s state-run YPF SA, when asked about political change in his country earlier this month.

Refineries wanted

Analysts offer a simple fix for Latin America’s dependence on fuel imports: Build more refineries and halt the subsidies that push up demand. Political realities often collide with such remedies, however.

In Ecuador, Venezuela and some Caribbean nations, heavy consumer subsidies have stymied efforts to attract outside investment.

Mexico this year raised prices on gasoline by up to 20 percent in a move that caused public protests.

“We made this very unpopular move to increase prices. Mexico was along with Ecuador and Venezuela in the group of Latin American countries with the cheapest gasoline in the world,” said Pemex director Jose Antonio Gonzalez Anaya.

Alternative fuels

Brazil is tackling its needs using third-generation fuels from sugar cane and power generated from biomass waste.

“Brazil is in a good position to lead the regional change,” Decio Oddone, director of Brazil’s oil regulator ANP, told Reuters. “Diversity has been key to address the consumption growth.”

Brazil, the world’s second-largest producer of ethanol after the United States, is able to offer gasoline blended with more than 25 percent biofuel thanks to its huge production volumes.

Hydroelectric also provides two-thirds of its power generation.

But for now, Brazil stands out in a region where recent economic struggles have curtailed most investments in such alternative energy sources.
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is headed Friday to his first G-20 meeting of the world’s top financial leaders in Germany with a message that the new administration of President Donald Trump won’t tolerate any countries that try to devalue their currencies to gain an unfair trade advantage.

The U.S. ran a trade deficit of $502 billion last year, the difference between the value of U.S. exports compared to the bigger worth of products it imports. Even as Trump has vowed to end multi-national trade deals, it is a figure that could grow with the strong U.S. dollar, boosting U.S. manufacturing costs and making it more difficult to sell U.S. products overseas.

Trump has complained during his long run to the White House that China’s yuan currency and the eurozone’s euro currency are too weak, giving Beijing and the 19-nation euro currency bloc an unfair trade balance with the U.S. The new president has been particularly vocal in his attacks on China’s currency valuation, even as he is planning a two-day summit next month at his Florida retreat along the Atlantic Ocean with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Mnuchin, aides said this week, plans to “push hard” at the two-day meeting in the German spa resort of Baden-Baden with his finance chief counterparts to reaffirm previous G-20 commitments to avoid competitive currency devaluations.

But European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said last week that it is the U.S. dollar that is overvalued, rather than that the euro is undervalued. China’s premier Li Keqiang, representing the world’s second biggest economy after the U.S., said this week that Beijing does not want a trade war and would not devalue its currency.

Mnuchin could face tough questions from his counterparts about Trump’s withdrawal from the proposed 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership that was championed by former U.S. president Barack Obama and his announced intention to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada. The new president says he favors one-to-one trade deals between the U.S. and other individual countries.

Trump also has said he wants to impose stiff tariffs — perhaps 35 percent — on products manufactured by American businesses at overseas locations that the companies then bring back to sell in the United States. Congress would have to approve such a tariff, which almost certainly would boost the cost of foreign-made goods for American consumers and could ignite a tit-for-tat tariff war with other countries importing U.S. goods.
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The Kenya Association of Manufacturers says the government’s directive to ban plastic bags beginning in September will hurt more than 170 companies and put at least 60,000 people out of work.

The problem is not plastic bags, but consumer behavior, says Phyllis Wakiaga, the association’s chief.

“Issue of waste management is an issue we must admit as a country because all of us are responsible for it,” Wakiaga said. “How we manage our waste at the individual level, at a household level, at the business level, is a concern that all of us. As Kenyans, we should be part of the solution in charting the way forward.”

Many countries in the world, including Kenya, have faced challenges in disposing of the used bags. Many are thrown in the garbage and water streams, though the waste does not break down.

Geoffrey Wahungu, the National Environment Management Authority director general, says the best way to deal with the plastic bags issue is to ban them.

“It takes a generation to change consumer behavior,” Wahungu said. “We do not have that time since there are alternatives, and we do not have to deal with this problem all over until it gets out of hand. We think we need to ban plastic and explore alternatives.”

According to the United Nations environment agency, Kenyan supermarkets use 100 million plastic bags every year. The agency has welcomed the government ban.

The ministry of environment said it had banned the manufacture, use and importation of plastic bags used for commercial and household packaging.

The government tried to ban plastics bags 10 years ago, but the ban failed to be implemented after resistance from the public and manufacturers.

Wahungu says the ban will work because the population is better informed and more supportive.

“In the previous times, Kenyans had not seen the … pollution effect of plastic,” Wahungu said. “Right now, plastic has encroached into the lives of Kenyans. The pollution from plastic and even economic losses from clogging of drainage, flooding, killing livestock; Kenyans are tired of plastics.”

Tanzania and Rwanda have banned plastic bags and called for the total prohibition of them in East Africa.
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Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe says foreign companies that comply with his indigenization law are guaranteed security. His comment is a deviation from his earlier promise that he would revise the policy, which analysts repeatedly have said scares away investors.

At the official launch Thursday of an $82-million cement manufacturing plant by a South African company, PPC Zimbabwe, a frail looking 93-year-old Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said he was happy the company had not resisted the indigenization law, as other foreign companies have done.

“By so doing, PPC Zimbabwe has demonstrated what so many companies are struggling to put in place,” said Mugabe. ” And it has demonstrated also that the indigenization policy and philosophy is no hindrance to foreign investment. But instead the policy guarantees security of such investment.”

The southern African nation passed the controversial indigenization law in 2008, which forces foreign companies to cede 51 percent of their stake to black Zimbabweans. Mugabe argues that indigenization policy is meant to correct colonial imbalances that marginalized blacks in Zimbabwe.

On Thursday, PPC Zimbabwe managing director Kelibone Masiyane did not want to be drawn into the politics of the controversial law while speaking to reporters after Mugabe’s speech.

“I always say the cement business is a 30-year business,” said Masiyane . “So whatever we might be encountering at the moment is only short-term. We are looking into the future, so we are here in Zimbabwe for the long run.”

Last year, indigenization minister Patrick Zhuwawo gave a 90-day ultimatum to foreign companies that had not submitted plans for how they would comply with the indigenization law. He did not implement his threat of revoking their licenses when the deadline passed, which made investors jittery.

Before that, Zimbabwe had nationalized all diamond mining, but some took the matter to court and the cases are still pending.
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Міністр фінансів Олександр Данилюк сподівається, що Україна отримає черговий транш від Міжнародного валютного фонду наступного тижня.

«Наступного понеділка відбудеться зустріч директорів МВФ. Я думаю, наступного тижня ми вже отримаємо транш МВФ», – сказав він.

«Отримання цього траншу буде рекордом для України, оскільки раніше наша країна ніколи не доходила так далеко в програмі співпраці з МВФ», – додав міністр.

На початку березня Міжнародний валютний фонд повідомив, що досяг домовленості з урядом України, що відкриває шлях до надання пізніше цього місяця нового траншу позики, сума якого складе 1 мільярд доларів. Надання цього траншу залежало від ухвалення в Україні підтриманого МВФ бюджету на 2017 рік і реформ у банківській сфері.

Загальна сума нинішньої позики Україні від МВФ має скласти 17,5 мільярдів доларів, але чергові її транші вже не раз затримувалися через недостатній поступ Києва з реформами.
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Блокада переміщення вантажів через лінію розмежування в зоні проведення АТО загрожує економічному зростанню України, уряд шукає шляхи стабілізації ситуації. Про це прем’єр-міністр Володимир Гройсман заявив 16 березня на бізнес-форумі в Києві.

«Сьогодні виникли загрози стримування економічного зростання у зв’язку з блокадою, яка сталася на сході країни. Я вже говорив, і зараз скажу – ця блокада відбувається виключно в інтересах Російської Федерації. Ті, хто розуміють економічні процеси, також розуміють, що це так і є. Зараз ми дивимося на те, що потрібно зробити, щоб утримати ситуацію і забезпечити відповідне зростання», – відзначив голова уряду.

Раніше 16 березня президент України Петро Порошенко вказав, що підприємства з окупованих районів Донбасу, які були зареєстровані на вільній частині України, могли стати «базовими плацдармами при поверненні України на Донбас і поверненні Донбасу в Україну». «Політикани ж своїми безвідповідальними діями знищили «острівки України» на окупованому Донбасі», – вважає Петро Порошенко.

Рада національної безпеки й оборони України 15 березня ухвалила рішення тимчасово припинити переміщення вантажів через лінію розмежування в зоні збройного конфлікту на сході України.

Від січня активісти, серед яких депутати Верховної Ради та люди, що називають себе ветеранами АТО, блокують деякі ділянки залізниці з вимогою припинити, за їхніми словами, торгівлю з окупованими районами Донбасу. Після критики щодо вибірковості такого блокування вони стали розширювати свою акцію, зокрема, й на інші залізничні ділянки та автошляхи, і також блокувати торгівлю з Росією.
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The remaining members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are seeking a way forward on the trade pact, they said on Wednesday, as some emphasized the need for deals to address concerns about workers’ rights and other issues.

The TPP, which originally covered some 40 percent of global gross domestic product, was effectively torpedoed in its current form when President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement in January.

The 12 members kicked off a two-day meeting on Tuesday, assembled by Chile alongside China, South Korea, and Colombia, to try to thrash out a way forward on Asia-Pacific trade.

With the retreat of the United States, China appears to be the natural successor to lead those discussions, but an emphasis on getting a progressive deal that wins buy-in from skeptical citizens could see nations in the Americas forging a different path.

“We are talking about free trade of a very high quality, with protection for investors, the environment, and labor rights,” Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray told reporters after the meeting. “That is the primary criteria with which any negotiation that takes place will comply.”

Scope must expand

Consensus was growing that trade deals need to consider issues like the environment and labor rights, Canada’s trade minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said on the sidelines.

“Around the table, the word ‘progressive’ appears more and more… it is becoming part of what people would consider as a base in order to progress,” he said.

Critics of the TPP have said it does not do enough to protect jobs, and U.S. presidential candidates across the political spectrum promised to scrap it if elected.

But the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), promoted by China, contains far less than the TPP in terms of provisions for protecting workers and the environment.

China reiterated its wish to promote regional economic integration, but did not comment on the differences between the pacts.

Another way forward may be via Latin America’s Pacific Alliance trade bloc. Its four nations said on Tuesday they would seek to expand by allowing associate membership as a precursor to trade talks.

New Zealand said in a statement on Wednesday that it expected to be one of the first to begin negotiations.

Trade officials from ex-TPP countries are now set to come up with a menu of options for ministers before they meet in May at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering in Vietnam.

Ministers wanted to continue with the “substance of the accord,” Chile’s foreign minister Heraldo Munoz said.
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President Donald Trump plans to re-examine federal fuel economy requirements for new cars and trucks.

The requirements were a centerpiece of president Barack Obama’s strategy to combat global warming. But Trump appears to be making good on a pledge to car company CEOs to reduce “unnecessary regulations.”

Here’s what’s happening:

What are CAFE and GHG standards?

CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards are mile-per-gallon targets for cars and trucks set by the U.S. government. The standards are based on size and are weighted by sales. Each manufacturer has a different requirement based on the models it sells.

Congress required the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop CAFE standards in 1975 after gasoline shortages during the Arab oil embargo. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began regulating greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles in 2007. The agencies work together to produce CAFE standards.

The standard for passenger cars stayed at 27.5 mpg from 1990 until 2007. In 2009, the government set a fuel economy standard of 34.1 mpg for cars and light trucks by 2016. In 2012, it set a new target of 54.5 mpg by 2025. The number can change depending on the mix of vehicles customers buy. Right now, it stands at 51.4 mpg because people are buying more SUVs and trucks.

Under the current standard, would my car get 54.5 mpg in 2025?

No. Manufacturers can apply credits for various fuel-saving technologies to arrive at that figure. Real-world mileage would be closer to 36 mpg.

What’s happening now?

In the last days of the Obama administration, the EPA completed a review of the standards for model years 2022-2025 and left them unchanged, saying the car companies have many affordable options to help them comply. The industry protested, saying the review was too hasty and didn’t consider the fact that gas prices have fallen and few consumers want the smallest, most fuel-efficient vehicles.

Trump is reopening the evaluation process, which could lead to weaker standards.

Why would the government consider changing the standards?

Trump wants automakers to expand production in the U.S. and hire more workers. In exchange, he has promised to cut regulations and taxes. Gasoline is more than $1 per gallon cheaper than it was in 2012, when the standards were issued. The low prices hurt demand for more fuel-efficient cars. If those cars don’t sell, their high mileage can’t be counted toward an automaker’s corporate average fuel economy.

But environmental groups say weakening the standards would increase pollution and require consumers to spend more on gas.

How are automakers improving their fuel economy?

Manufacturers have introduced all-electric cars like the Chevrolet Bolt and increased the use of lightweight materials like aluminum. Engine technologies, such as direct fuel injection, and more efficient transmissions are also contributing. The standards give manufacturers extra credit for new technologies, such as hybrid engines for pickup trucks and stop-start systems, which automatically shut off the engine when the vehicle stops in traffic.

Do those added technologies make my vehicle more expensive?

Yes. In its final ruling in January, the EPA estimated the fuel economy standards will cost $875 per vehicle. A study commissioned by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers estimates the cost of compliance at $1,249 per vehicle. However, the EPA says the standards would save consumers up to $1,620 in gas over the life of their vehicle.

If the standards are weakened, will that affect what kinds of cars are available?

Maybe. Automakers might choose to offer fewer electric or hybrid cars in the U.S., since those are less profitable than trucks and SUVs. They also could scrap subcompact cars, which are unpopular with U.S. consumers but help meet fuel economy targets.

There are caveats. Automakers will still have to meet rising fuel economy standards in China and Europe, so they won’t stop making efficient vehicles. If gas prices rise, U.S. consumers might demand more fuel-efficient cars. Finally, California and other blue states have a history of passing stricter standards than the rest of the country. If that continues, automakers would have to keep their most fuel-efficient models in U.S. showrooms, since California is the biggest market in the U.S.
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The United States has the world’s largest stock of robots, and the number is growing fast.

A report published Wednesday by Redwood Software and the Center for Economics and Business Research said investment surged to $86 billion in 2015 as more, better and cheaper robots were deployed.

The authors, whose firms are based in the Netherlands and Britain, said robotics plays an outsized role in boosting worker productivity and economic growth worldwide.

The surge in robot workers in the U.S. follows the loss of millions of American manufacturing jobs, which many experts blame on the rising tide of automation in factories. Discontent over these lost jobs helped upend U.S. politics last year and raised concerns that job losses to robots would spread from manufacturing to the far larger services sector of the U.S. economy.

In a VOA interview, Redwood Software’s Neil Kinson said such fears were misplaced.  He noted that Germany’s economy is highly automated but nevertheless has a shortage of human workers.  

Redwood, which is based in the Netherlands but also operates in other European countries and in the United States, specializes in crafting automation to handle business processes, particularly those that are repetitive, rule-bound and tedious.  

Kinson said that leaves the more complex, rewarding and interesting work for people. He said the jobs least likely to be automated were those that require dealing with people.
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Заступник голови Національного банку України Катерина Рожкова заявляє, що українська «дочка» «Сбербанку Росія» працює у звичайному режимі і по підтримку до НБУ не зверталася. 

«Сбербанк» на сьогодні до нас не звертався по підтримку. Банк працює у звичайному режимі, у них є можливість використовувати такі інструменти, як своп, здійснювати операції репо», –сказала вона.

Національний банк пропонує запровадити санкції до дочірніх компаній російських державних банків у формі заборони виведення капіталу з України. У НБУ запропонували застосувати такі санкції до банків, які працюють в Україні з російським капіталом: «Сбербанк», «Промінвестбанк», ВТБ, VSбанк, БМ Банк.

Сьогодні Рада національної безпеки й оборони України доручила Нацбанку і Службі безпеки визначитися щодо можливого запровадження санкцій проти банків із російським капіталом.

7 березня «Сбербанк Росії» повідомив, що «готовий до обслуговування осіб, які звернулися з «паспортами» «ДНР» і «ЛНР», у всіх філіях банку». У відповідь міністр внутрішніх справ України Арсен Аваков закликав Нацбанк застосувати санкції до цієї фінансової установи. Згодом дочірній банк «Сбербанку Росії» в Україні – ПАТ «Сбербанк» – не обслуговує фізичних і юридичних осіб на підставі документів, виданих на непідконтрольних українській владі територіях.

Деякі активісти в Україні вимагали заборони діяльності російських банків, зокрема і «Сбербанку».
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У Національному банку заявляють, що санкції, які ініціюють проти деяких банків із російським капіталом, не вплинуть на клієнтів.

«Запропоновані санкції не вплинуть на клієнтів – юридичних, фізичних осіб» , – сказала заступник голови НБУ Катерина Рожкова 

Вона уточнила, що запропоновані санкції не зупинять розрахунки між контрагентами, банки будуть продовжувати працювати в законодавчому полі України.

Рожкова висловила сподівання, що потенційний вихід цих банків з ринку буде здійснено законним шляхом типу продажу або повного розрахунку за зобов’язаннями.

Національний банк пропонує запровадити санкції до дочірніх компаній російських державних банків у формі заборони виведення капіталу з України. У НБУ запропонували застосувати такі санкції до банків, які працюють в Україні з російським капіталом: «Сбербанк», «Промінвестбанк», ВТБ, VSбанк, БМ Банк. 

Сьогодні Рада національної безпеки й оборони України доручила Нацбанку і Службі безпеки визначитися щодо можливого запровадження санкцій проти банків із російським капіталом.

7 березня «Сбербанк Росії» повідомив, що «готовий до обслуговування осіб, які звернулися з «паспортами» «ДНР» і «ЛНР», у всіх філіях банку». У відповідь міністр внутрішніх справ України Арсен Аваков закликав Нацбанк застосувати санкції до цієї фінансової установи. Згодом дочірній банк «Сбербанку Росії» в Україні – ПАТ «Сбербанк» – не обслуговує фізичних і юридичних осіб на підставі документів, виданих на непідконтрольних українській владі територіях.

Деякі активісти в Україні вимагали заборони діяльності російських банків, зокрема і «Сбербанку». 
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Національний банк пропонує запровадити санкції до дочірніх компаній російських державних банків у формі заборони виведення капіталу з України. Про це заявив перший заступник голови Нацбанку Яків Смолій.

«З метою збереження фінансової стабільності в країні, виконання українськими банками з державним російським капіталом зобов’язань перед клієнтами, пропонує застосувати санкції у вигляді попередження виведення капіталу за межі України. Ми пропонуємо застосувати такі санкції до банків, які працюють в Україні з російським капіталом. Це «Сбербанк», «Промінвестбанк», ВТБ, VSбанк, БМ Банк», – сказав він.

Сьогодні Рада національної безпеки й оборони України доручила Нацбанку і Службі безпеки визначитися щодо можливого запровадження санкцій проти банків із російським капіталом.

7 березня «Сбербанк Росії» повідомив, що «готовий до обслуговування осіб, які звернулися з «паспортами» «ДНР» і «ЛНР», у всіх філіях банку». У відповідь міністр внутрішніх справ України Арсен Аваков закликав Нацбанк застосувати санкції до цієї фінансової установи. Згодом дочірній банк «Сбербанку Росії» в Україні – ПАТ «Сбербанк» – не обслуговує фізичних і юридичних осіб на підставі документів, виданих на непідконтрольних українській владі територіях.

Деякі активісти в Україні вимагали заборони діяльності російських банків, зокрема і «Сбербанку».
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Asia needs to make extra efforts to defeat hunger after progress has slowed in the last five years, including promoting so-called “smart crops” as an alternative to rice, the head of the U.N. food agency in the region said.

Kundhavi Kadiresan, representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Asia, said the region needs to focus on reaching the most marginalized people, such as the very poor or those living in mountainous areas.

The Asia-Pacific region halved the number of hungry people from 1990 to 2015 but the rate of progress slowed in many countries – such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India and Cambodia – in the last five years, according to a December FAO report.

“The last mile is always difficult.. so extra efforts, extra resources and more targeted interventions are needed,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on the sidelines of a business forum on food security in Jakarta on Tuesday.

She said government and businesses needed to develop policies to help make food more affordable, while changing Asians’ diets that rely heavily on rice.

“We have focused so much on rice that we haven’t really looked at some of those crops like millets, sorghum and beans,” she said.

A campaign is underway to promote these alternatives as “smart crops” to make them more attractive, Kadiresan said.

“We are calling them smart crops to get people not to think about them as poor people’s food but smart people’s food,” she said, adding that they are not only nutritious but also more adaptable to climate change.

Soaring rice prices, slowing economic expansion and poorer growth in agricultural productivity have been blamed for the slowdown in efforts to tackle hunger.

More than 60 percent of the world’s hungry are in Asia-Pacific, while nearly one out of three children in the region suffers from stunting, according to the FAO.

Achieving zero hunger by 2030 is one of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals adopted by member states in 2015.
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Niagara Falls, whose most famous thrill-seekers have gone over the brink in barrels, wants to be the place the rest of us go for outdoor adventure, too.

A new marketing effort launched Tuesday rebrands the American shore of the falls as a natural playground to be explored on foot, bike, boat or helicopter.

U.S. tourism officials, ever in competition with their counterparts on the heavily developed Canadian side of the binational attraction, say their new focus embraces the American side’s less commercial feel in a way they hope will attract more visitors for longer stays.

“What people are wanting to have on a getaway or a vacation is a time of experience and not just to come and witness or see and hear, but actually experience and touch and feel and do,” said John Percy, president and chief executive of Niagara Tourism & Convention Corp., which has been renamed Destination Niagara USA.

“Niagara Falls is the embodiment of America’s adventurous spirit,” he said.

The refocusing, coming just in time for the busy season, followed interviews, focus groups and visitor surveys that found that those who visit and live in the region most value its scenic, historical and natural attributes and are drawn to outdoor adventure, officials said.

The findings align with support in recent years for the ongoing removal of a highway that was built along the Niagara River, which will increase access to the water’s edge, as well as strong opposition to a proposal to build a lodge on rustic Goat Island inside Niagara Falls State Park. Opponents of the lodge cite renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted’s declaration more than 100 years ago that the area should be off-limits to developers.

It’s a marked contrast to Niagara Falls, Ontario, where neon-lit museums, rides and restaurants offer a carnival-like atmosphere at the water’s edge.

Niagara Falls State Park sees about 8 million visitors every year from all over the world, a number that has been steadily rising, Percy said, along with hotel visits and dollars spent.
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Brazil’s top public prosecutor asked the Supreme Court to open 83 new investigations into senior politicians on Tuesday, reportedly including five ministers and leading lawmakers, in a dramatic escalation of a graft probe threatening the government.

Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot also requested that the Court send 211 other requests to lower courts based on much-anticipated testimony by dozens of executives of engineering group Odebrecht SA in Brazil’s biggest-ever corruption scandal.

Brazilian newspapers reported that Janot called for an investigation of five members of President Michel Temer’s cabinet, along with his most senior allies in Congress, raising concerns about the stability of his administration and the fate of fiscal reforms cheered by investors.

Temer said last month that he would suspend any cabinet member who is placed under investigation and would dismiss them only if they are indicted for corruption.

Under Brazilian law, cabinet ministers, federal senators and lower house lawmakers can be tried only in the Supreme Court, where cases often take years to come to trial.

Janot could not disclose the names of the politicians and others covered by his request as the Odebrecht testimony and related investigations are still under seal. He asked Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin to lift the judicial secrecy on the case for the sake of transparency and the public interest.

In a letter to explain the operation, Janot said his actions on Tuesday will remind Brazilians “of the sad reality of a democracy under attack by the corruption and the abuse of political and economical powers.”

President Temer himself has not been directly implicated in illicit party funding and has denied any wrongdoing in the sprawling three-year corruption scandal centered on overpriced contacts at state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA.

Dozens of politicians reportedly named for taking kickbacks in the testimony by Odebrecht executives included senators in Temer’s Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PDMB) and the allied Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), which led the impeachment of leftist Dilma Rousseff last year.

Janot called for lower courts to investigate Rousseff and her predecessor and political mentor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, according to newspapers O Globo, O Estado de S.Paulo and Folha de S.Paulo. Both former presidents have repeatedly denied any involvement or knowledge of alleged corruption.

Test for Temer

The new investigations will be a test for Temer as he strives to pull Latin America’s largest nation out of its worst recession in more than a century.

Temer succeeded Rousseff in May, vowing to eliminate corruption and restore fiscal discipline, but he has already lost several ministers to bribery allegations.

His chief of staff, Eliseu Padilha, a key organizer of political support in Congress for a crucial reform of Brazil’s costly pension system, is on thin ice after an Odebrecht executive was reported to have said he asked for a cash donation for Temer’s 2014 campaign.

Newspapers Globo, Folha and Estado reported that Padilha and four other members of Temer’s cabinet were on Janot’s list: Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes, Science Minister Gilberto Kassab, Cities Minister Bruno Araújo and Wellington Moreira Franco, the head of Temer’s high-profile infrastructure privatization program.

Janot also called for the investigation of key Temer allies in Congress, according to the newspapers, including lower House Speaker Rodrigo Maia and the three most senior PMDB senators: Senate President Eunicio Oliveira and senators Romero Juca and Renan Calheiros.

Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes said he required access to Janot’s accusations and will only comment when he is aware of the content. Cities Minister Araújo said he has asked for campaign donations from Odebrecht in the past, but did so in accordance with the law.

Senator Romero Jucá said he is available to collaborate with investigations and believes facts will be clarified.

Reuters was not able to confirm the media reports. The other politicians cited were not immediately available for comment, but they all have consistently denied wrongdoings.

The PMDB released a statement on Tuesday expressing support for the investigations and calling for “the clarification of the facts of the matter.”

PSDB said it has always defended the Car Wash investigation, believing that it is the only way to separate guilty from innocent.

Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said news of the investigation should not hurt progress on the government’s pension reform.

Janot first opened investigations of seated politicians implicated in the kickback scandal in March 2015, but only five have been indicted and none convicted.

The new round of investigations fueled by the Odebrecht testimony follows 10 months of negotiations with the family-owned firm, Latin America’s largest engineering group.

In December, Odebrecht signed a leniency accord with prosecutors, agreeing to pay 6.7 billion reais ($1.9 billion), admit guilt and offer details of bribes it paid.

Seventy-seven of its executives, including family patriarch and Chairman Emilio Odebrecht and his jailed son and former Chief Executive Marcelo Odebrecht, made some 950 statements to a team of 116 prosecutors across the country, Janot’s office said.
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Activity in China’s real economy has improved with the business environment much better than at the same time last year, the statistics bureau says.

“Based on key indicators from January and February this year, we feel that the vitality of the real economy has been boosted, [and] its results have improved. With a further push of supply-side structural reform, there has been tangible change in the market environment and the supply-demand relationship has improved,” said National Statistics Bureau spokesperson Sheng Laiyun at a news conference in Beijing.

Data released by the statistics bureau earlier on Tuesday showed that China’s factory output rose 6.3 percent in January-February from the same period a year earlier, while fixed-asset investment grew 8.9 percent, both beating expectations, though retail sales growth eased.

Sales grew 9.5 percent in the first two months of the year, the slowest pace in nearly two years and cooling from 10.9 percent in December.

Sheng said consumption stayed flat in China, stressing the decline in growth is mainly due to a slowdown in auto sales after the government rolled back tax breaks on small cars.

The raft of upbeat data on Tuesday showing the economy got off to a strong start in 2017, supported by strong bank lending, a government infrastructure spree and a much-needed resurgence in private investment.

Solid growth is welcome news for China’s policymakers as they turn their focus to containing risks from a sharp build-up in debt ahead of a major leadership reshuffle later this year.

But economists are not sure how long the pace can be sustained as the central bank takes a tighter stance on credit and exporters brace for a surge in U.S. protectionism.

 
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The Congressional Budget Office is a scorekeeper suddenly in the spotlight.

Monday’s estimate of the House GOP’s health care measure gave ammunition to Democratic critics of the law, predicting that 14 million people would lose insurance next year. Republicans had been bracing for the report, with some of them attacking CBO as being inaccurate in past assessments.

The obscure but respected agency, established under the 1974 budget act, provides cost estimates of legislation, baseline projections of the federal budget and its components, and independent economic and deficit statistics for lawmakers.

It’s counterweight to the Office of Management and Budget, which is part of a Democratic or Republican White House.

Trump administration officials and some congressional Republicans preemptively criticized CBO ahead of its assessment of the cost and coverage in the Republican replacement to the Affordable Care Act.

What you need to know about the CBO:

Respected, not infallible 

CBO is respected for the nonpartisan rigor its 200-plus employees put into the 600 or so official cost estimates it performs each year — and the thousands of informal estimates it provides as committees draft legislation. But it’s hardly infallible, especially when considering large, complex and far-ranging legislation like the Affordable Care Act.

The agency’s estimates, for instance, significantly overstated the number of people who would buy insurance on state and federal exchanges under the law, in part because it thought the individual mandate and accompanying tax penalties would be more effective in forcing people to buy insurance.

“Predicting the effects of large policy changes is always difficult, but CBO’s predictions for the [Affordable Care Act] in 2010 were much more accurate than the predictions of many Republican opponents of the law,” said former agency chief Doug Elmendorf, who was appointed by Democrats.

The agency was also way off in the early 2000s when it predicted large long-term budget surpluses that eased the way for large tax cuts in the George W. Bush era.

A new sheriff in town

Even as Republicans attack the referee, it should be remembered that they hired the referee. CBO Director Keith Hall, a conservative economist, was selected two years ago by Republican Tom Price, then the chairman of the House Budget Committee and now the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Hall had been a critic of the Affordable Care Act and increasing the minimum wage. He has overseen an increase, long-sought by Republicans, in the use of “dynamic scoring” — in which the economic effects of tax changes and other policies are incorporated into CBO’s analysis. CBO, for instance, has said Obama’s health law has had a dampening effect on labor force participation and would slightly reduce growth.

But CBO also disagrees with those who characterize “Obamacare” as in a “death spiral” and predicts that this year’s big jumps in insurance premiums — averaging 21 percent nationwide — are actually likely to stabilize going forward with increases of 5 to 6 percent. That’s because companies have been getting better information about the demographic traits of their customers.

In Monday’s report, CBO said the insurance market “would probably be stable in most areas under either current law or the legislation.”

Where you sit determines where you stand

Criticism of the CBO is hardly new, but it is unusual to be coming from top officials like White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, who said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that “estimating the impact of a bill of this size probably isn’t the best use of [the CBO’s] time.” That remark sparked criticism from agency defenders on social media sites, where Peter Orszag, a former director of both the CBO and the Office of Management and Budget under President Barack Obama, wrote, “The former OMB and CBO director in me is speechless.”

But complaining about bad scores is nothing new. Democrats complained when drafting Obamacare; Republicans are carping now.

“For more than 40 years, we’ve produced independent analysis of budgetary and economic issues,” Hall said at a news conference in January. “The feedback I’ve always gotten is that we in general have a very strong reputation for our work. We try very, very hard to be independent and nonpartisan.”

 
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Russian lender Sberbank said Monday it was deeply concerned by protests against its Ukrainian subsidiary, which included a nationalist group walling up the entrance to one of its branches in Kyiv with masonry and cement.

Periodic protests have been held against Kremlin-owned banks operating in Ukraine since bilateral ties broke down in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea and gave its support to the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Sberbank’s announcement last Tuesday that it would heed a call from President Vladimir Putin to recognize passports issued by separatists in eastern Ukraine has fueled greater discontent.

On Monday, a few dozen members of a new activist group called National Corp blocked off the entrance to Sberbank’s main branch in central Kyiv. The branch temporarily suspended operations and appealed to the police.

“Sberbank is highly concerned about the situation in Ukraine linked to the actions of representatives of nationalist groups,” the bank said in a statement. “Our subsidiary has already appealed to law enforcement bodies and we hope that all necessary steps will be swiftly taken to ensure the safety of our workers and clients and protect property.”

It said over the past week it had recorded over 26 acts of vandalism against Sberbank Ukraine’s branches and bank machines.

Last week, the central bank said it could recommend the introduction of sanctions on Sberbank’s subsidiary for its recognition of separatists’ identity documents.

Five Russian state-owned banks are present in Ukraine, including three in the top 20, and they hold a combined market share of 8.6 percent.

The central bank has been seeking to cut that following the souring of relations between the one-time allies.

It is not yet clear how the other Kremlin-owned banks operating in Ukraine are handling Putin’s order to recognize separatist documents.
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U.S. President Donald Trump this week will unveil a budget expected to massively increase military spending while slashing other federal programs.

The proposal, set to be released Thursday, will offer the most detailed look yet at how Trump intends to move ahead with his so-called “America First” policy.

The budget will likely face significant opposition in Congress, where lawmakers are already bickering over a plan to overhaul the nation’s health care program.

Many of Trump’s fellow Republicans support his plan for a larger military; but, unlike Trump, some want to pay for it by cutting Social Security and Medicare – the two largest federal programs.

Democrats are alarmed about the entire proposal, particularly his plan to cut domestic government programs aimed at protecting the environment and helping the poor.

State Dept., foreign aid cuts

Lawmakers in both parties have also expressed concerns about Trump’s steep proposed cuts to the State Department and foreign aid budgets – a move they say will reduce U.S. influence abroad.

White House officials point out the president’s proposals are only a blueprint and that ultimately Congress must agree on a final budget, but they insist difficult decisions must be made.

“Unfortunately, we have no alternative but to reinvest in our military and make ourselves a military power once again,” White House National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn told Fox News Sunday.

“It’s no different than every other family in America that has to make the tough decisions when they need to spend money somewhere, they have to cut it from somewhere else,” Cohn said.

Defense spending

In a blueprint released last month, White House officials said Trump intends to boost the military budget by $54 billion – one of the largest ever increases in national defense spending. This week’s proposal will outline how the president intends to pay for it.

According to budget documents leaked to the media, Trump will offset the military costs with far-reaching reductions in discretionary spending — the part of the budget that pays for various federal government agencies.

Trump is reportedly considering slashing up to 25 percent of the Environmental Protection Agency budget, 30 percent of the Energy Department budget, and 37 percent of the State Department and foreign aid budget.

Reduction in federal workforce

If passed, those cuts would result in a massive reduction of the federal government workforce, which Trump and his fellow Republicans have long said is bloated and inefficient. It is not clear, however, whether Trump’s plans would actually fulfill his campaign promise to reduce the national debt.

That won’t be clear until May, when the White House releases its plans to reform the tax code and its proposals for mandatory spending, which covers existing programs like Medicare and Social Security.

Trump has said it is not politically possible to reduce spending on Medicare and Social Security – which together account for nearly 40 percent of the federal budget. He is also considering a $1 trillion infrastructure plan to upgrade the country’s roads, airports and rail lines.

According to most analysts, that means Trump will likely continue to run a budget deficit.

The federal debt is expected to grow by nearly $10 trillion over the next decade, according to a recent projection by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

 
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