У Національному банку України наголошують, що найближчий час буде вирішальним для ухвалення рішень, важливих для продовження співпраці з Міжнародним валютним фондом. «Ці реформи ( у рамках програми розширеного фінансування МВФ) критичні як для збереження макрофінансової стабільності, так і для забезпечення довгострокового економічного зростання в Україні. Найближчий час буде вирішальним для ухвалення рішень, важливих для продовження співпраці з офіційними кредиторами України», – йдеться у повідомленні НБУ. У Нацбанку зауважують, що необхідність співпраці останнім часом лише посилилася з огляду на ускладнення доступу країн, що розвиваються, до глобального ринку капіталу. Крім того, у НБУ зауважують, що інфляція в Україні продовжуватиме знижуватися у разі поступу в здійсненні структурних реформ, зокрема в рамках програми розширеного фінансування Міжнародного валютного фонду. За даними регулятора, у квітні-травні інфляція, як і прогнозувалося, продовжувала знижуватися. Читайте також: МВФ наголошує на важливості схвалення законопроекту про антикорупційний суд У березні 2015 року між МВФ і Україною була затверджена чотирирічна програма розширеного фінансування на суму близько 17,5 мільярда доларів США. Наразі МВФ надав Україні за цією програмою близько 8 мільярдів 380 мільйонів доларів. Міністерство фінансів України очікувало на надходження нового траншу кредиту МВФ на початку 2018 року. У квітні в НБУ заявили, що очікують траншу від Міжнародного валютного фонду в третьому кварталі. …
«АрселорМіттал Кривий Ріг» обіцяє підвищити зарплати працівникам після страйку
Найбільший металургійний комбінат в Україні ПАТ «АрселорМіттал Кривий Ріг» підвищить зарплати працівникам після страйку, офіційно підтвердили на підприємстві. За офіційною заявою гендиректора підприємства Парамжит Калона, після кількаденних переговорів із профспілками знайдене «рішення, яке є виграшним для обох сторін». За його словами, мова йде про збільшення фонду оплати праці працівників з 1 травня на 1,1 мільярда гривень. Водночас він закликав працівників думати не лише про підвищення зарплат, а й про інвестиції у виробництво, від яких залежить майбутнє підприємства. «Я вважаю, що ми будемо одним з найкращих роботодавців в Україні щодо зарплати», – сказав він. Топ-менеджер пообіцяв, що – за умови відновлення роботи всіх доменних печей і виробництва – до питання підвищення зарплат повернуться вже в жовтні. У профспілках підприємства також підтвердили, що власник погодився збільшити фонд оплати праці, визначений на рік в обсязі 3 мільярди гривень, з 1 травня – на 1,1 мільярда гривень. Перегляд зарплати здійснять з акцентом на ключові для підприємства професії, кажуть у профспілках. Як поінформували Радіо Свобода 24 травня на підприємстві, наразі цех залізничного транспорту, де був страйк, працює стабільно, комбінат поступово відновлює увесь виробничий ланцюжок, але про повне відновлення роботи підприємства наразі не можна говорити. У понеділок «АрселорМіттал Кривий Ріг» повідомив про закінчення чотириденного страйку залізничників, який призвів до фактичної зупинки підприємства, однак тоді офіційно не підтверджували інформацію профспілок про підвищення зарплат після страйку. 16 травня на ПАТ «АрселорМіттал Кривий Ріг» робітники залізничного цеху відмовилися працювати на несправній техніці. Через страйк була зупинена робота двох залізничних цехів, але це фактично паралізувало роботу всього підприємства, де транспортний …
Buffalo: City With a Magnificent Past Fallen on Hard Times
Even though the United States is one of the richest and most technologically advanced countries in the world, about 45 million Americans live below the poverty line. In Buffalo, New York, a once-prosperous city that has fallen on hard-times, one-third of its residents live in poverty. As Olga Loginova reports, the city offers an example of what happens when a once-powerful industrial sector declines and well-paying jobs become scarce. …
Київрада: місто не братиме на себе борги «Київенерго»
Міська рада столиці наполягає, щоб два питання – постачання газу для Києва та вирішення проблеми заборгованості «Київенерго» вирішувалися окремо, йдеться у заяві на сайті відомства. Як повідомляється, таке рішення підтримали 94 депутати. «НАК «Нафтогаз України» фактично шантажуючи місто і погрожуючи зривом опалювального сезону, змушує нас прийняти на себе борги «Київенерго». Це для міста є неприйнятним. Борги «Київенерго» ніколи не стануть боргами киян. Ми готові до переговорів, ми готові допомагати «Нафтогазу» знайти спільну мову з «Київенерго». Але робити борги, накопичені приватною компанією за 17 років, боргами киян ми не будемо», – наголосив секретар Київради Володимир Прокопів. Тим часом, як раніше повідомлила прес-служба «Нафтогазу», компанія готова укласти договір про постачання газу з «Київтеплоенерго» одразу після вирішення питання правонаступництва за борговими зобов’язаннями шляхом укладання договорів переводу боргу між «Київтеплоенерго», «Київенерго» і «Нафтогазом». Зокрема, це стосується розрахунків держави по пільгах і субсидіях за вже поставлений газ та компенсації різниці в тарифах. За даними КМДА, розмір боргів становить 5 мільярдів гривень. «Київтеплоенерго» перебирає на себе функції із теплозабезпечення Києва після припинення угоди з «Київенерго». У 2017 році КМДА не продовжила договір з «Київенерго» і розпочала процес передачі майна від приватної компанії до комунального підприємства «Київтеплоенерго». Підприємство перебирає на себе функції із теплозабезпечення Києва після припинення угоди з «Київенерго», компанією мільярдера Ріната Ахметова. …
Deutsche Bank to Slash Thousands of Jobs to Control Costs
Germany’s struggling Deutsche Bank is slashing thousands of jobs as it reshapes its stocks trading operation and refocuses its global investment banking business on its European base. The bank said Thursday it would cut its workforce from 97,000 to “well below” 90,000 and that the reductions were underway. It said headcount in the stocks trading business, mostly based in New York and London, would be reduced by about 25 percent. Those cuts will cost the bank about 800 million euros ($935 million) this year. Deutsche Bank has struggled with high costs and troubles with regulators. The bank replaced its CEO in April after three years of annual losses and lagging progress in streamlining its operations. New CEO Christian Sewing has said the bank would refocus on its European and German customer base and cut back on costlier and riskier operations where it doesn’t hold a leading position. Sewing said the bank was committed to its international investment banking operations but must “concentrate on what we truly do well.” The new strategy means stepping back from several decades of global expansion in which the bank sought to compete with Wall Street rivals such as Goldman Sachs or JPMorgan Chase. Sewing replaced John Cryan in April with a mandate to accelerate the bank’s wrenching restructuring. It has suffered billions in losses from fines and penalties related to past misconduct. But progress in cutting costs has remained elusive. Sewing on Thursday affirmed the bank’s goal to hold costs to 23 billion euros this …
«Укрзалізниця» планує повідомляти пасажирам онлайн, чи є у вагоні кондиціонер
Пасажири матимуть можливість з’ясувати, чи є у вагоні потяга кондиціонер, ще на етапі купівлі квитка, інформує «Укрзалізниця» на своєму сайті. «Тепер у системі онлайн-продажу квитків над зображенням місць з’явилася спеціальна позначка, яка інформує, чи є саме в цьому вагоні кондиціонер. Якщо вона відсутня, значить кондиціонер у цьому вагоні є. Ця інформація буде вказана і в придбаному квитку. Нова опція актуальна для регіональних поїздів і поїздів далекого сполучення», – йдеться у повідомленні. Як зазначає «Укрзалізниця», у 2018 році Укрзалізниця планує придбати 54 нові пасажирські вагони та провести капітально-відновлювальний ремонт 150 вагонів. Усі вагони будуть обладнані системами кондиціонування повітря, обіцяють на підприємстві. «Укрзалізниця» є національним перевізником вантажів та пасажирів. Метою діяльності компанії, як мовиться на її сайті, «є задоволення потреб у безпечних та якісних залізничних перевезеннях, забезпечення ефективного функціонування й розвитку залізничного транспорту, створення умов для підвищення конкурентоспроможності галузі тощо». …
Mapping the Oceans’ Floors by 2030
Oceanographers often say we know much more about the surface of the Moon and Mars than we do about nearly 70 percent of our own planet. That is because most of the Earth is covered in water, most of it deeper than 200 meters. There are several initiatives to map the oceans’ floors and the latest comes from Japan. VOA’s George Putic reports. …
Happy Snails Produce More Slime for Thai Farmers
In Thailand, the Giant African Snail, once condemned as a slimy pest that ruins crops, is now being bred for the same reason some people found them so unappealing in the first place — their slime. Experts say the slime produced by these giant snails is full of collagen and other ingredients that can regenerate skin cells for use in the cosmetics industry. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo reports. …
Foraging: The Ultimate Field-to-Table Experience
A new study by Johns Hopkins University says urban foraging, the act of finding naturally growing, edible food in urban settings in the U.S. is on the rise. But before setting out with basket and blade, experts recommend would-be foragers to take classes to determine what’s edible and what might make you sick. Fortunately, foraging classes are cropping up across the country. Faith Lapidus reports on one of them. …
Amazon, Starbucks Pledge Money to Repeal Seattle Head Tax
Amazon, Starbucks, Vulcan and other companies have pledged a total of more than $350,000 toward an effort to repeal Seattle’s newly passed tax on large employers intended to combat homelessness. Just days after the Seattle City Council approved the levy, the No Tax On Jobs campaign, a coalition of businesses, announced it would gather signatures to put a referendum on the November ballot to repeal it. Amazon, Starbucks, Vulcan, Kroger and Albertsons each promised $25,000 to the effort last week, according to a report filed by the campaign. The Washington Food Industry Association pledged $30,000. Referendum backers will have to gather 17,632 signatures of registered Seattle voters by June 14 to get the measure on the ballot. The so-called head tax will charge businesses making at least $20 million in gross revenues about $275 per full-time worker each year. The tax would begin in 2019 and raise about $48 million a year to build affordable housing and provide emergency homeless services. Opponents say the Seattle measure is a tax on jobs and questioned whether city officials are spending current resources effectively. Worker and church groups and others praised the tax as a step toward building badly needed affordable housing in an affluent city where the income gap continues to widen and lower-income workers are being priced out. The clash over who should pay to solve the city housing crisis that’s exacerbated by Seattle’s rapid economic growth featured weeks of tense exchanges, raucous meetings and a threat by Amazon, the city’s …
Starbucks Calls Anti-Bias Training Part of ‘Long-Term Journey’
Starbucks Corp. on Wednesday revealed details of the employee anti-bias training program that will take place behind closed doors at 8,000 U.S. company-owned cafes on the afternoon of May 29. Starbucks announced plans to shutter stores and corporate offices to train 175,000 employees after the controversial April 12 arrests of two black men, who were detained for hours after the manager of a Philadelphia Starbucks called police because they had not made purchases and refused to leave. The arrests of Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson, who were waiting to meet a friend, sparked protests and calls for a boycott of the coffee chain known for its diverse workforce and liberal stances on issues such as gay marriage. Starbucks said the first training on May 29 “will serve as a step in a long-term journey to make Starbucks even more welcoming and safe for all.” It will include videos featuring Starbucks executives such as Chief Executive Kevin Johnson, Executive Chairman and co-founder Howard Schultz, board member Mellody Hobson, hip hop artist Common, store managers and experts from the Perception Institute. Employees also will view a film called “You’re Welcome” by Stanley Nelson and participate in discussion and problem-solving sessions on identifying and avoiding bias in every day situations. Starbucks said the long-term program is being designed and developed with input from researchers, social scientists, employees and other advisers. Those partners include consultancy SY Partners — which worked with Starbucks to reinvent itself after a business crisis spawned by the “Great Recession”; …
Trump Says New ‘Structure’ Needed in China Trade Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday “a different structure” is needed in trade negotiations with China, but he did not provide further details on the kind of change he seeks. “Our trade deal with China is moving along nicely,” Trump said in his Twitter post Wednesday morning, “but in the end we will probably have to use a different structure in that this will be too hard to get done and to verify results after completion.” The stock market reacted negatively after Trump cast doubt on trade negotiations with China but ultimately trimmed its losses, ending the day in the positive territory and gained 52.40 points, or 0.21 percent. Trump said on Tuesday he was neither pleased nor satisfied with how the recent trade talks with China went, but added, “They’re a start.” After two days of trade talks between the two countries in Washington last week, China agreed to “substantially reduce” the $375 billion annual trade surplus it has over the U.S. by buying more American goods, but there was no mention of any specific import and export targets in the statement agreed to by the two countries. On Capitol Hill, concerns appear to be mounting on Trump’s approach to trade talks with China. Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas cautioned Wednesday that the United States needs to remain “steely-eyed” and make sure “China isn’t playing us for fools.” Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan warned, “It’s important we not only talk tough about China, but actually be …
US Health Chief Pledges More Action If Ebola Spreads
President Donald Trump’s top health official said Wednesday that the U.S. and global partners will “take the steps necessary” to try to contain a new Ebola outbreak, asserting that the fight against infectious diseases is one of the administration’s top priorities for the World Health Organization, the U.N. agency taking the lead. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar stopped short of predicting whether the outbreak in Congo that’s believed to have killed at least 27 people will be contained, but he praised WHO’s early response and vowed: “If it spreads, we will take further actions.” Azar’s comments on Ebola came in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, which also touched on universal health care, U.S. prescription-drug prices, and the recent revelations of a $1.2 million payout by Swiss drugs giant Novartis last year to Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Novartis, one of the world’s largest pharma companies, said Cohen was hired to advise on how the Trump administration might approach health care policy. Experts have pointed out that Novartis needs FDA approval for the sale of its drugs and that company officials have spoken approvingly of rolling back the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, a Trump campaign promise largely unfulfilled. “I don’t and won’t comment on the particulars of any individual situation,” said Azar, a former executive with drugmaker Eli Lilly. “The president has talked about how extensively ‘pharma’ generally spends money on lobbying. And we have said: You really don’t need to spend that money on lobbying …
Lessons From Last Ebola Outbreak Guide Approach in DRC
When Ebola broke out in West Africa in late 2013, no one was prepared. A potential vaccine had been in limbo since a previous outbreak a decade earlier. Governments dragged their feet while failing to recognize the risks the outbreak carried. Local health workers were quickly overwhelmed. And aid agencies were scrambling to catch up. By the time the epidemic was brought under control in 2016, more than 11,300 people had died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and the costs had risen to $4.3 billion. Flash forward to May 8, when word emerged about a possible Ebola outbreak in a remote village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Within two days, the DRC had dispatched experts to the scene. International agencies shipped in personnel, mobile medical labs and a batch of vaccine that had been tested during the West African outbreak. Painful lessons from the last Ebola outbreak are being applied in the current one, in hopes of limiting its scope. ‘Quick and robust response’ “The coordinated action is essential,” said Tarik Jasarevic, spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO), which so far is reporting 27 deaths among 51 cases of hemorrhagic fever. “We know how damaging Ebola can be in the communities,” Jasarevic told VOA in a phone interview from Geneva. “And we have to mount a quick and robust response not to get to the point where a transmission chain would get out of control.” But concerns remain that the virus could elude containment efforts. The aid …
Post-Mugabe, Zimbabweans Still Waiting for Economic Uptick
This week marks six months since Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa took office, after Robert Mugabe gave in to military pressure and resigned. During the weekend, the 75-year-old Mnangagwa told supporters that since he took over, a lot had improved. He says Zimbabwe’s annual foreign direct investment had been around $400 or 500 million, but for the past five months it has gone to more than $15 billion committed to investment in the country, with international companies and countries such as Canada, South Africa, China, Britain and the United States coming to invest in power generation and water. Last Tuesday, the British gave $100 million to aid toward trying to eliminate Zimbabwe’s cash crisis, Mnangagwa said. The country’s methane gas reserves have improved as well, he added. “After about three and half years, we should be able to produce eight million liters of fuel per day,” Mnangagwa said. “The country only consumes five million [liters] per day — three million surplus per day. Zimbabwe will prosper, it is going to develop. Zimbabwe will shine not only in SADC [Southern African Development Community], but also in Africa because Zimbabwe is in good hands. Our political party ZANU-PF is a revolutionary party, it caters for the interests of the people.” Chido Masasai, an unemployed former media student, says Zimbabwe’s people have yet to see the money the president is talking about. She says there is still a shortage of cash, and the black market continues to operate. What she does see is a …
Coming Weeks Crucial in Containing Ebola Spread in DRC
Health Experts at the World Health Assembly in Geneva agree the next few weeks will be crucial in determining whether the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo can be contained and prevented from spreading to highly-populated urban areas. Two weeks have elapsed since the first laboratory-confirmed case of Ebola was discovered in the remote, rural town of Bikoro in DR Congo’s northwestern Equateur Province. Soon after the Ebola outbreak was declared May 8, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and several associates went to the region to assess the situation. Tedros said he was pleased by the government’s quick response. “The government had already triggered the community committees so that communities can take the ownership and contribute, and they are going house to house to identify cases and to identify contacts.Starting from the Government leadership, everything is triggered,” he said. “We are watching it around the clock, 24/7, and we hope it will have a better outcome.” This rapid response to the current emergency is a sea change from the way the WHO and other agencies reacted to the West African Ebola epidemic.More than 11,000 people were killed before it was brought under control in 2016. This is the 9th Ebola outbreak in DRC since the disease was simultaneously discovered in DRC and South Sudan in 1976. In the eight previous outbreaks, Ebola occurred in either isolated rural areas or in small towns where the disease remained largely confined. Peter Salama, WHO Deputy Director-General, Emergency Preparedness and …
Ethiopia Opens Telecoms Sector to Limited Competition
Ethiopia’s state-run telecoms monopoly has agreed to allow some local firms to provide internet services through its infrastructure, a move seen as spurring competition and expanding the data market, officials said. Ethio Telecom has more than 16 million subscribers of internet services in the country of over 100 million people. It generated over 27.7 billion birr ($1 billion) in revenues in the first nine months of 2017/18, 70 percent of which was earned from mobile services and 18 percent from internet. “Our objective of signing VISP [virtual internet service provider] agreements is to increase subscriptions,” said Abdurahim Ahmed, the company’s head of communications. “There may be price reductions. There will be competition among themselves — that is the core idea,” he told Reuters. Abdurahim said eight firms have signed up to provide the services, which include different internet packages. Foreign companies were not allowed to provide services, he said. Ethiopia is one of few African countries to still have a state monopoly in telecoms. The companies that signed agreements with Ethio Telecom have either just been established to sign up for this new business or they were previously doing other business. Addis Ababa has ruled out liberalizing the telecoms sector, saying the revenue it generates was being spent on infrastructure projects such as railways. Abdurahim said the decision to allow private companies to sell services was not a precursor to fully liberalizing the sector. “This has nothing to do with that. They will be providing downstream services,” he said, referring …
Two Patients Dead After Fleeing Ebola Ward in Congo
Two infected patients who fled from an Ebola treatment center in a Congo city of 1.2 million people later died, an aid group said Wednesday while asserting that “forced hospitalization is not the solution to this epidemic.” As the number of suspected Ebola cases continued to rise, experts emphasized that more community engagement is needed to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. Three patients left of their own accord from the isolation zone of the Wangata hospital in Mbandaka city between Sunday and Tuesday, said Henry Gray, emergency coordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres. One patient had been about to be discharged, he said. “The two others were helped to leave the hospital by their families in the middle of the night on Monday. One of the men died at home and his body was brought back to the hospital for safe burial with the help of the MSF teams; the other was brought back to the hospital yesterday morning and he died during the night,” Gray said in a statement. Hospital staff made every effort to convince the patients and their families not to leave and to continue treatment, Gray said. Three Ebola deaths have been confirmed since Congo’s health ministry announced the current outbreak of the often lethal hemorrhagic fever on May 8. It was not immediately clear if the two deaths reported by MSF were confirmed Ebola ones. Congo’s health ministry on Wednesday announced six new suspected cases in the rural Iboko health zone in the country’s …
Hit by Wild Weather, Kenya’s Herders Fire Up a Hot New Crop: Chili Peppers
In this arid stretch of Kajiado County, where worsening heat and drought have been tough on livestock farmers, Arnold Ole Kapurua is experimenting with a hot new crop: chilis. Ole Kapurua, 29, a farmer and agronomist, now grows two acres of the fiery pods — and is training other farmers to do the same — as a way to protect their incomes in the face of harsher weather linked to climate change. “With time we realized that we weren’t making good money as our livestock income stagnated,” he said. “During drought we lost our herds to hunger and diseases while during the rainy season we lost some to floods making us live on a lean budget.” But after a bit of research, “I realized that chilis had climate friendly features,” he said. While some farmers still rely entirely on livestock in the region, a growing number are now concentrating their energy on farming chili, which can be grown with limited amounts of water, said Samuel Ole Kangangi, another new chili farmer. Over the last five years, more than 100 farmers in the region have begun growing chili, most after trying other crops, including maize and beans, that didn’t cope as well with drought and brought in little money, the farmers said. Well-managed chili farms can produce an ongoing harvest over six months, with an acre of land producing up to two tons of peppers a week, Ole Kapurua said. That level of harvest can bring as much as 80,000 Kenyan …
Turkish Currency Hits Record Low Amid Erdogan Concerns
Turkey’s currency has fallen to a record low against the dollar amid concerns about an outflow of investor capital and the country’s ability to manage the situation. The lira weakened to over 4.80 per dollar on Wednesday, down some 5 percent since the previous day. The drop puts pressure on the Turkish Central Bank to sharply increase rates before a scheduled monetary policy meeting on June 7. But it is seen to be reluctant as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants rates low. Higher rates can support a currency and ease inflation, but also hinder economic growth by making borrowing more expensive. The lira has lost more than 20 percent of its value against the dollar since the start of the year. The risk is that will increase the price of imports, making Turkish people effectively poorer. It could also encourage more investors to pull their money out if they expect that the value of their investments to drop as the currency declines. Turkey’s market jitters in part reflect a global trend in which the currencies of emerging economies have come under pressure. Economists say that is partly because the U.S. Federal Reserve is raising interest rates, encouraging investors to place their money in the U.S. instead of other economies. Because Turkey is particularly dependent on foreign capital, its markets are one of those to have suffered most. Other countries that have seen sharp drops in their currencies include Brazil and Argentina. But Turkey’s currency …
In the Addiction Battle, Is Forced Rehab the Solution?
The last thing Lizabeth Loud, a month from giving birth, wanted was to be forced into treatment for her heroin and prescription painkiller addiction. But her mother saw no other choice, and sought a judge’s order to have her committed against her will. Three years later, Loud said her month in state prison, where Massachusetts sent civilly committed women until recent reforms, was the wake-up call she needed. “I was really miserable when I was there,” the 32-year-old Boston-area resident said. “That was one bottom I wasn’t willing to revisit again.” An Associated Press check of data in some key states has found that the use of involuntary commitment for drug addiction is rising. And in many places, lawmakers are trying to create or strengthen laws allowing authorities to force people into treatment. But critics, including many doctors, law enforcement officials and civil rights advocates, caution that success stories like Loud’s are an exception. Research suggests involuntary commitment largely doesn’t work and could raise the danger of overdose for those who relapse after treatment. And expanding civil commitment laws, critics argue, could also violate due process rights, overwhelm emergency rooms and confine people in prison-like environments, where treatment sometimes amounts to little more than forced detox without medications to help mitigate withdrawal symptoms. At least 35 states currently have provisions that allow families or medical professionals to petition a judge, who can then order an individual into treatment if they deem the person a threat to themselves or others. But …
Deadly Cholera Outbreak in Northwest Nigeria
Health officials in Nigeria say 12 people have died from cholera in recent days. More than 100 people have been sickened in the outbreak located in the Mubi district in the northeastern state of Adamawa. Cholera is a bacterial disease spread by contaminated food or drinking water. It causes severe diarrhea and subsequent dehydration, and can kill within hours if not treated. …
У першому кварталі до бюджету повернули понад тисячу доларів, вкрадених корупціонерами – #Точно
Протягом першого кварталу 2018 року до бюджетного цільового фонду для забезпечення оборони і безпеки держави надійшли 28 228 гривень (трохи більше за тисячу доларів), конфіскованих за корупційні правопорушення за рішенням суду. Така інформація міститься в звіті казначейства про виконання держбюджету, передає #Точно, проект Радіо Свобода. Відповідно до закону про державний бюджет, загалом до кінця року уряд розраховує повернути 4,7 мільярда гривень, конфіскованих судами у корупціонерів. У 2017 році бюджетний план було перевиконано: планували повернути 22,5 мільярди гривень, а реально повернули 29,6 мільярда гривень. За 2016 рік до бюджету із запланованих 7,7 мільярда гривень надійшло 164,9 тисячі гривень. У 2015 році із запланованих півтора мільярда вкрадених активів повернули 100,1 тисячі гривень. У квітні 2017 року генеральний прокурор Юрій Луценко заявив, що суд у Краматорську на Донеччині схвалив рішення про конфіскацію 1,5 мільярда доларів колишнього президента України Віктора Януковича і його оточення. Пізніше на докори експертів про сумнівність рішення Краматорського суду, і що гроші доведеться повернути, Луценко заявив, що «у злочинців не вийде повернути гроші». …
Federal Reserve: US Households, Businesses See Good Times Ahead
Households are feeling more stable, small businesses are making money and many expect to expand and hire in the coming year, signs of continued optimism in two key parts of the economy, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday in a pair of annual surveys. Among more than 8,000 small businesses and more than 12,000 households covered in separate surveys late last year by the Fed and its 12 regional banks, the message was similar: economic conditions have been getting better and the expectation is for the good times to continue. “We see a decided uptick” in the economic and credit conditions faced by small businesses, said one Fed official involved in the small business survey. “We are seeing improved business confidence and improved business performance,” with profitability and access to finance increasing in 2017, more than 70 percent of firms expecting revenue growth next year, and 48 percent expecting to add employees. Among households, 74 percent of U.S. adults said they were financially comfortable or at least okay in 2017, four percentage points higher than in 2016 and 10 percentage points higher than the first survey year of 2013. Improvement was strongest in lower income households. The percentage of households that reported they were struggling financially fell to 7 percent from 9 percent last year. The results from the surveys show that improvements in household and business conditions that took root under President Obama continued through the first year of the Trump administration. Both findings are potentially significant for the economy’s …