NewzIntel.com

Category: Economics

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Fannie Mae Reports Net Income of $4.0 Billion for Third Quarter 2024

    Source: Fannie Mae

    WASHINGTON, DC – Fannie Mae (FNMA/OTCQB) today reported its third quarter 2024 financial results and filed its Third Quarter 2024 Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing provides condensed consolidated financial statements for the quarter ended September 30, 2024. The following documents are now available on Fannie Mae’s website at www.fanniemae.com.

    Fannie Mae has scheduled a conference call to discuss the company’s results today at 8:00 a.m., ET. Participants may join the conference call in listen-only mode via the webcast link below.

    Listen-only webcast:
    https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1691512&tp_key=ce5c202816
    Click on the link above to attend the presentation from your laptop, tablet, or mobile device. Audio will stream through your selected device. If you have difficulty accessing the webcast, please click the “Listen by Phone” button on the webcast player and dial the number provided.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: New Lufthansa Allegris First Class takes off on November 9

    Source: Lufthansa Group

    The time has come: in a few days, Lufthansa Allegris First Class, the flagship of the new cabin on long-haul routes, will take off on a scheduled flight for the first time. The first destinations will be Bangalore on November 9 and Mumbai (both in India) a little later, on November 15, which will then be served alternately with the new First Class. Two individual suites and the globally unique Suite Plus in the A350-900 will then take off on a scheduled flight for the first time. After a technical introduction phase, Lufthansa will initially present the new, innovative product to its most loyal guests by invitation. As soon as more aircraft with the new First Class are part of the fleet, targeted upgrades by passengers and later targeted bookings will be possible step by step.

    The furnishings in the First Class Suite set new standards: guests can heat or cool their almost one-meter-wide seats in the suite according to their personal needs. The separate suites with ceiling-high walls and lockable door, large table and wide seat, a huge screen and wireless over-ear headphones, set new standards in comfort and individuality in the highest class. A personal wardrobe in the suite provides ample storage space so that travelers can change comfortably and have all their personal items to hand. Individual lamps allow travelers to create their very own feel-good atmosphere. The Suite Plus also combines maximum comfort for individual guests with the unique option of traveling together with a travel partner in a suite.

     

    Lufthansa receives APEX Innovation Award for research into VR headsets in in-flight entertainment

    Lufthansa has received the award for the world’s best in-flight entertainment innovation 2024 from the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX). In collaboration with Meta and MSM.Digital, the airline has launched a ground-breaking in-flight entertainment initiative and is currently testing mixed reality technologies for guests. On all flights equipped with Allegris, guests in the Business Class Suite now have the opportunity to use the headsets and give feedback on what they particularly enjoyed. With the latest generation of state-of-the-art VR headsets, Lufthansa is the only airline in the world to exclusively offer content such as captivating cinema-style movies, engaging VR 360-degree travel podcasts, interactive games and soothing relaxation exercises. 

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Azure at GitHub Universe: New tools to help simplify AI app development

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: Azure at GitHub Universe: New tools to help simplify AI app development

    With seamless integration among VS Code, GitHub, and Azure, we provide an AI-powered, end-to-end development platform to transform your apps with AI.

    AI has reset our expectations of what technology can achieve. From transforming how we explore the cosmos to enabling doctors to provide personalized care and making business functions operate more intelligently, it all comes down to you—the developer—to turn this potential into reality. As developers, you’re experiencing a dramatic shift in what you build and how you build it. And the tools you use should seamlessly fit into your workflow, solve real problems quickly, and keep you in the flow of development.

    As a company of developers who builds for other developers, we’re excited to be part of this change and many of us will be at GitHub Universe to share our experience and learn from others about how AI is reshaping how we work. We’re not coming empty handed. I’m excited to announce new capabilities and tools that further integrate Microsoft Azure AI services directly in your favorite dev tools.

    With seamless integration among Visual Studio (VS) Code, GitHub, and Azure, we provide an AI-powered, end-to-end development platform building on strong community support to help you transform your apps with AI. Read on for the details and be sure to catch up on all the GitHub news this week.

    Now in preview: GitHub Copilot for Azure, your personal expert

    By integrating with tools you already use, like GitHub and Visual Studio Code, GitHub Copilot for Azure builds upon the Copilot Chat capabilities in VS Code to help you manage resources and deploy applications. Using “@ azure,” you can get personalized guidance to learn about services and tools without leaving your code. This can accelerate and streamline development by provisioning and deploying Azure resources through Azure Developer CLI (azd) templates. GitHub Copilot for Azure also helps you diagnose issues and answer questions about resources and costs, freeing your time to focus on whatever you prefer while GitHub Copilot for Azure takes care of the rest. Get started today.

    Deploy in as little as five minutes with AI App Templates

    AI App Templates accelerate your development by helping you get started faster and simplifying evaluation and the path to production. You can use AI App Templates directly in your preferred development environment such as GitHub Codespaces, VS Code, and Visual Studio. You can even get recommendations for specific templates right from GitHub Copilot for Azure based on your AI use case or scenario. Most importantly, the templates provide flexibility and choice, offering a variety of models, frameworks, programming languages, and solutions from popular AI toolchain vendors such as Arize, LangChain, LlamaIndex, and Pinecone. You can deploy full apps at once or start with app components, provisioning resources across Azure and partner services. The templates also include recommendations for added security, like using Managed Identity and keyless authentication flows. Get started.

    Customize and scale your AI apps

    To empower you to quickly discover, learn, and experiment with a range of the latest, most advanced AI models, GitHub announced today that GitHub Models is now in preview, bringing you Azure AI’s leading model selection direct to GitHub. Building on that theme, the Azure AI model inference API now enables you to explore and access Azure AI models directly through GitHub Marketplace. Compare model performance, experiment, and mix-and-match a variety of models, including advanced proprietary and open models that support a broad range of tasks, for free (usage limits apply).

    Once you’ve selected your model and are ready to customize and deploy, you can seamlessly setup and login to your Azure account to scale from free token usage to paid endpoints with enterprise-level security and monitoring in production. Learn more.

    Simplify Java Runtime updates with GitHub Copilot upgrade assistant for Java

    Keeping your Java apps up to date can be a time-consuming task. GitHub Copilot upgrade assistant for Java offers an approach using AI to simplify this process and allowing you to upgrade your Java applications with minimal manual effort. Integrated into popular tools like Visual Studio Code, the GitHub Copilot upgrade assistant for Java generates an upgrade plan and guides you through a step-by-step process to transition from an older Java runtime to a newer version with optional dependencies and frameworks such as Spring Boot and JUnit. During the upgrade, the assistant automatically fixes issues through a dynamic build or fix loop and uses a human-in-the-loop approach for you to address other errors and make fixes if necessary. It ensures transparency by providing access to logs, code changes, outputs, and details at every step, giving you full control while benefiting from enhanced AI automation throughout the process. Once the upgrade is complete, you can easily review the detailed summary, and inspect all code modifications, making the entire upgrade process smooth and efficient, allowing you to focus on innovation instead of manual maintenance.

    Scale AI applications with Azure AI evaluation and online A/B experimentation using CI/CD workflows 

    Given trade-offs between business impact, risk and cost, you need to be able to continuously evaluate your AI applications and run A/B experiments at scale. We are significantly simplifying this process with GitHub Actions that can be integrated seamlessly into existing CI/CD workflows in GitHub. In your CI workflows, you will be able to run automated evaluation after changes are committed leveraging the Azure AI Evaluation SDK to compute metrics such as coherence and fluency. Following successful deployment, A/B experiments are automatically created and analyzed using out of the box AI model metrics and custom metrics as part of CD workflows. Along the way you can also engage with a GitHub Copilot for Azure plugin that assists with experimentation, creates metrics, powers decisions and more. Stay tuned for more details at Microsoft Ignite and sign up for our private preview to learn more! 

    We trust our business with Azure, you can trust it with yours 

    As you explore new AI capabilities for your organization, the platform you choose matters. Today, 95% of Fortune 500 companies trust their operations on Azure. Our business, including Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Bing, Copilots, etc., also runs on Azure. The same tools and services we use to build and run Microsoft are available for you. Our integration with GitHub and Visual Studio Code simplifies building with AI on Azure. And with more than 60 data center regions globally and a dedicated security team, Azure offers a reliable and secure foundation for your AI projects. All great reasons to build your next AI app with GitHub and Azure. 

    Innovate with Azure AI

    And, if you’re at GitHub Universe this week, stop by and say hello to the Azure team.

    About Jessica

    Jessica leads data, AI, and digital application product marketing at Microsoft. Find Jessica’s blog posts here and be sure to follow Jessica on LinkedIn. 

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Publication of financial reports: Federal Office of Justice imposes disciplinary fine on TTL Beteiligungs- und Grundbesitz-AG

    Source: Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – In English

    The disciplinary fine order related to a breach of section 325 of the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch – HGB). TTL Beteiligungs- und Grundbesitz-AG failed to submit its accounting documents for the financial year 2023 for the purpose of disclosure to the operator of the German Federal Gazette (Bundesanzeiger) in electronic form within the prescribed period. The legal basis for the sanction is section 335 of the HGB.

    The company did not lodge an appeal against the Federal Office of Justice’s decision to impose a disciplinary fine.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Identity theft: BaFin warns consumers against offers on website friheden.de

    Source: Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – In English

    The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority BaFin warns consumers against offers on website friheden.de. According to information available to BaFin, financial and investment services are being provided on this website without the required authorisation. According to the current state of knowledge, the services are not actually offered by Friheden Invest Holding ApS. It is suspected that this is a case of identity theft by unknown perpetrators.

    Anyone conducting banking business or providing financial or investment services in Germany may do so only with authorisation from BaFin. However, some companies offer these services without the required authorisation. Information on whether companies have been authorised by BaFin can be found in BaFin’s database of companies.

    Theinformation provided by BaFin is based on section 37 (4) of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz – KWG).

    Please be aware:

    BaFin, the German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt – BKA) and the German state criminal police offices (Landeskriminalämter) recommend that consumers seeking to invest money online should exercise the utmost caution and do the necessary research beforehand in order to identify fraud attempts at an early stage.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Fiscal Affairs Department’s 60th Anniversary Conference: “60 Years of FAD: The Fiscal Affair Continues”

    Source: International Monetary Fund

    The Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) of the IMF will celebrate 60 years since it was formed in 1964 with a one-day conference, “60 Years of FAD: The Fiscal Affair Continues,“ on November 4, 2024, in Washington D.C., USA.

    Even as prospects for a global soft landing have improved, fiscal policy continues to struggle with legacies of high debt and deficits, while facing new challenges. Risks to public finances are acute, reflecting the pressures of aging societies, industrial policies, geopolitical tensions, the needs of a greener and more equitable society and now, the threat to labor from AI technologies. Lower medium-term growth prospects have worsened debt dynamics and compounded the risks to fiscal sustainability. Fiscal policy challenges are especially acute in low-income countries, where financing is scarce and limits the ability of governments to support economic and human development.

    In this context, the conference will bring together fiscal policy experts, senior policy makers, and former and current IMF staff. They will look back at the contributions of FAD to the global fiscal policy discourse and its service to the membership. They will discuss the likely evolution of sovereign debt market and the role that public policy can play in making AI beneficial for workers and growth. And they will look ahead to the challenges that will emerge for fiscal policy in the future, and the choices fiscal policymakers will face, especially in low-income and fragile countries. The conference will also be an occasion to celebrate the evolution and impact of FAD’s capacity development (CD) from serving a small section of the membership to covering nearly every corner of the world.

    Agenda

    8:30 A.M. Coffee and refreshments
    9:00 A.M. Opening remarks. Gita Gopinath, First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, introduced by Vítor Gaspar, Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF.
    9:15 – 10:30 A.M. Sovereign Debt
     Moderator: Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, Director, Strategy, Policy and Review Department, IMF
    Panelists:

    S. Ali Abbas  (Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF)

    S. Ali Abbas is a deputy director in the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department where he supervises the sovereign debt and governance workstreams, and oversees the department’s review of Fund programs in emerging and developing economies, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. He was previously IMF mission chief for the United Kingdom and Jordan, and deputy chief of the Debt Policy Division in the IMF’s Strategy Policy and Review Department. He has been closely involved in several complex Fund programs, and has led reforms to the IMF’s exceptional access lending and debt sustainability frameworks. In 2019, he co-edited Sovereign Debt: A Guide for Economists and Practitioners (OUP), with Alex Pienkowski and Kenneth Rogoff, adding to his earlier published work on post-GFC fiscal policy, the euro area sovereign debt crisis, international tax competition, state contingent debt instruments, fiscal policy and the current account, and government securities markets. Ali is a Rhodes scholar from Pakistan and holds a doctorate in economics from Oxford. He also served as an Overseas Development Institute fellow to the Tanzanian Treasury during 2000–02.

    Carlo Cottarelli (Former Director Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF)

    Carlo Cottarelli, a citizen of Italy, after receiving degrees in economics from the University of Siena and the London School of Economics, worked at the Bank of Italy, ENI and the IMF. He was FAD Director in 2008-13, Commissioner for Public Spending in Italy in 2013-14, IMF Executive Director in 2014-17. He taught at Bocconi University and he is currently Director of the Observatory on the Italian Public Accounts of the Catholic University of Milan, where he also teaches a course of Fiscal Macroeconomics In 2021 he was awarded the honor of First Class Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

    Christoph Trebesch (Professor, Kiel University)

    Christoph Trebesch is a professor at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and the University of Kiel. His research focuses on international finance and macroeconomics as well as political economy and geopolitics. His research has been published in leading economic journals such as the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Political Economy, and is regularly cited in international media, including the New York Times, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He directs the CEPR Policy Network on “International Lending and Sovereign Debt” and co-directs the CEPR Network on “Geoeconomics”, for which he organizes an annual high-level conference on geopolitics and economics. He is also the creator of the widely referenced “Ukraine Support Tracker” on military and financial aid flows to Ukraine. In 2023, he was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant, one of the most prestigious research recognitions in Europe.
    10:30 – 11:00 AM The Surge in FAD’s Capacity Development Delivery (A/V) Moderators:

    Katherine Baer (Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF)

    Katherine Baer is a Deputy Director in the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD). She oversees FAD’s work in the areas of taxation and public financial management, supervises Capacity Development (CD) delivery in all fiscal areas to countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Centra Asia, oversees FAD’s strategy to strengthen fiscal policies and institutions in the Fragile and Conflict-Affected States, and manages the department’s work on fiscal issues from a gender perspective. Her career at the IMF has focused on strengthening fiscal policies and institutions in member countries across all regions and income levels, and in countries experiencing economic crises. She has been an economist in the U.S. Treasury and an assistant commissioner in the Mexican Tax Administration. She also worked at the World Bank on public finance reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean at the height of the region’s debt crisis in the 1980s. Ms. Baer has many publications relating to public finance and holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University.

    Juan Toro (Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF)

    Juan Toro is Deputy Director of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD), in charge of: managing FAD budget, relationship with development partners, overseeing governance and operations of FAD’s capacity development (CD), coordinating FAD’s CD to Europe, and coordinating FAD TA on sustainable development goals. He previously was Assistant Director in charge of the IMF’s revenue administration CD to Europe, Asia, Middle East, and Central Asia.

    He has led and participated in IMF TA missions in taxation in more than 40 countries and has authored and contributed to several analytical papers in taxation. Before joining the IMF in 2007, he was the Commissioner of the Chilean Tax Administration (Servicio de Impuestos Internos, SII) from 2002 to 2006.
    11.00 – 11:30 A.M. Coffee break
    11:30 A.M. – 12:45 P.M. FAD in the Global Discourse
    Moderator: Ruud De Mooij , Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF
    Panelists:

    Zainab Ahmed (Alternate Executive Director, World Bank)

    Alternate Executive Director from Nigeria from July 2023 to October 2024. A Nigerian national representing – Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa (EDS25). Prior to joining the WBG, Ms. Ahmed has served a:- Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning (2018- 2023); Minister of State, Ministry of Budget and National Planning (2015 – 2018); Chair of the board of Trustees of the African Union Peace Fund (2019 – 2023). Member of the International Board, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) (2016 – 2019); Executive Secretary and National Coordinator, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) (2010 – 2015); and Managing Director, Kaduna Investment Company Ltd (2009 – 2010).

    Abdulelah Alrasheedy (Deputy Minister of Macro-Fiscal Policies, Ministry of Finance, Saudi Arabia)

    Dr. Abdulelah AlRasheedy is the Deputy Minister for Macro-Fiscal Policies at Ministry of Finance (MOF). Before being named Deputy Minister in March 2024, Dr. AlRasheedy was Assistant Deputy Minister for Macroeconomic Policies Analysis and Acting as General Supervisor of Policy and Consultation Assistant Deputyship.
    Prior to joining Ministry of Finance, Dr. Abdulelah spent 12 years with Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) most recently as Manager of Economic Modeling Division and was SAMA Representative at The International Financial Architecture Working Group.
    Dr. Abdulelah earned a Ph.D.  in economics and statistics from University of Missouri, where he was a Research Scholar at the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity.
    In addition to being a Deputy Minister, he is a board member of King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy. Also a Ministry of Finance Representative for Financial Sustainability Board. 

    Adam Posen (President, Peterson Institute of International Economics)
    Mark Sobel (U.S. Chairman, OMFIF)

    Mark Sobel is currently US Chair at OMFIF.  He served  nearly four decades at the US Treasury, including as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International and Monetary Affairs from 2000-2015, a position in which he led the Department’s work in preparing G7 and G20 Finance Minister and Central Bank Governor meetings, formulating US positions in the IMF, and coordinating the work of Treasury and regulatory agencies in the Financial Stability Board.  He was also chief US financial negotiator in the G20 from 2008-2015, including for the 2009 London Economic Summit.  From 2015 through early 2018, he was US representative at the IMF. 
    12:45 – 1:00 P.M. FAD Montage (A/V)
    A look back at FAD through the decades.
    1:00 – 2:15 P.M. Lunch (by invitation)
    2:15 – 3:30 P.M. Public Policy for AI
    Moderator: Era Dabla-Norris, Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF
    Panelists:

    Simon Johnson (Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management & 2024  Nobel Prize Winner in Economics )

    Simon Johnson is the Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he is head of the Global Economics and Management group. At MIT, he is also co-director of the Shaping the Future of Work Initiative and a Research Affiliate at Blueprint Labs. In 2007-08, Johnson was chief economist and director of the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund. He currently co-chairs the CFA Institute Systemic Risk Council with Erkki Liikanen. In February 2021, Johnson joined the board of directors of Fannie Mae, where he is vice chair of the audit committee and a member of the risk and capital committee. Johnson’s most recent book, with Daron Acemoglu, Power and Progress: Our 1000-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, explores the history and economics of major technological transformations up to and including the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence.
    2024 Nobel prize laureate in economic sciences “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity”

    Branko Milanovic (Professor, City University of New York)

    Research professor at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and senior scholar at The Stone Center on Socio-economic Inequality; Visiting Professor at the Institute for International Inequalities at LSE; was lead economist in World Bank Research Department for almost 20 years and senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. Milanovic’s main area of work is income inequality, in individual countries and globally, as well as historically among pre-industrial societies. His most recent books are Global inequality: a new approach for the age of globalization which deals with economic and political issues of globalization, and Capitalism, Alone that contrasts inequality and class formation in societies of liberal and political capitalism. In October 2023, he published Visions of Inequality that looks at how income distribution was studied by the most famous economists over the past 200 years. Milanovic was awarded (jointly with Mariana Mazzucato) the 2018 Leontieff Prize.

    Christine Qiang (Global Director, Digital Transformation Global Department, World Bank)
    3.30 – 4:00 P.M. Coffee break
    4:00 – 5:15 P.M. The Future of Fiscal Policy
    Moderator: Vítor Gaspar Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF
    Panelists:

    Jason Furman (Professor, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University)

    Jason Furman is the Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy jointly at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and the Department of Economics at Harvard University. Furman engages in public policy through research, writing and teaching in a wide range of areas including U.S. and international macroeconomics, fiscal policy, labor markets and competition policy. Previously Furman served eight years as a top economic adviser to President Obama, including serving as the 28th Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from August 2013 to January 2017, acting as both President Obama’s chief economist and a member of the cabinet. In addition to articles in scholarly journals and periodicals, Furman is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and Project Syndicate and the editor of two books on economic policy. Furman holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

    Ilan Goldfajn (President, Inter-American Development Bank)

    He was elected president of the IDB in November 2022, after serving as director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund. Previously, he was governor of the Banco Central do Brasil (2016-2019), where he led several modernization reforms, including promoting financial inclusion through Brazil’s fast digital payment system. He has also held several academic positions and high-ranking roles in Brazil’s financial sector.  In 2017, he was elected Central Banker of the Year by The Banker magazine.  Mr. Goldfajn holds a doctorate in economics from MIT, and master’s degree in economics from the Pontificia Universidade and has taught economics at universities in Brazil and the U.S. He is fluent in four languages.

    Mick Keen (Professor, Tokyo University)

    Michael Keen was formerly Deputy Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department at the International Monetary Fund. He is now Ushioda Fellow at the University of Tokyo. Michael was President of the International Institute of Public Finance from 2003 to 2006, awarded the CESifo Musgrave Prize in 2010, and in 2018 received from the National Tax Association of the United States its most prestigious award, the Daniel M. Holland Medal for distinguished lifetime contributions to the study and practice of public finance. His most recent book, Rebellion, Rascals and Revenues (with Joel Slemrod), aims to use history and humor to convey basic tax principles to a wider audience.
    5:15 P.M. Closing remarks
    Vítor Gaspar (Director, Fiscal Affairs Department )
    6:00 P.M. Adjourn

    Conference Organizing Committee: Katherine Baer (Deputy Director, FAD), Mitali Das (Advisor, FAD), and Andrew Okello (Deputy Division Chief, FAD).

    Conference Coordinators: Agnese de Leo (Administrative Coordinator), Harsha Padaruth (Administrative Coordinator), Luciana Marcelino (Administrative Coordinator) Martha Gaytan Frettlohr (Administrative Coordinator), Sahara De la Torre (Administrative Coordinator), and Sheetal Prasad (Senior Administrative Coordinator) – all FAD.

    The conference (which is in-person only) is open to all Fund employees and invited external guests (registration is required of external guests who will all receive a link to the registration form). Please note that the deadline for registration for this conference is October 25th, 2024. Registered external guests will be required to present photo identification on entering the IMF at 1900 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C. For questions regarding the conference, please email FAD_60th_anniversary@imf.org

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Participants in the Netherlands Trainee Programme make study visit to The Hague

    Source: WTO

    Headline: Participants in the Netherlands Trainee Programme make study visit to The Hague

    The participants were accompanied on the study trip by Willie Chatsika, Head of the English-speaking Africa Regional Desk in the WTO’s Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation (ITTC).
    The NTP is a joint initiative of the WTO and the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands aimed at improving participants’ capacity through “learning by doing”. Officials taking part in this year’s edition are from Africa, Asia and the Pacific region.
    The study trip was coordinated by the Clingendael Institute, an independent academic and research institute engaged by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands under the framework of the NTP. The main objectives of the study trip were to enhance the participants’ trade policy-making skills, enable them to gain insight into how the needs of different national stakeholders are translated into trade policy, and to learn more about the nexus between international trade and development.
    During the study trip, participants were given first-hand exposure to the formulation of trade policy during various presentations by officials from the International Trade Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Clingendael Institute also organized sessions on negotiations and presentation skills, considered critical for trade negotiators.
    The study trip also included visits to selected institutions in The Hague which have an input in trade policy formulation. These were the Social and Economic Council (SER), the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW) and the Horti Centre which brings together multiple enterprises in the horticultural sector to form a collective bargaining position for their products. A guided tour of the Port of Rotterdam, a major gateway for international trade, was another aspect of the study visit.  
    The group also had a visit to the Peace Palace, which houses the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). The PCA provided a detailed presentation of its structure and functions and allowed the group to access the chamber of the ICJ.
    The NTP is a ten-month internship programme funded by the Government of the Netherlands and undertaken in the WTO Secretariat, with the aim of assisting in the economic and social development of least developed countries (LDCs), other low-income countries and comparable small and vulnerable economies in areas related to trade policy, with a particular focus on Africa.
    The 2024 NTP cohort comprises 14 government officials, whose diversity reflects the different targets of the programme — a focus on LDCs and Africa, geographical diversity and gender balance. Eight of the participants are from Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia, Tunisia and Uganda), five are from Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Myanmar and Pakistan) and one from the Pacific (Solomon Islands). Eight of the NTPs are from LDCs, and six out of the 14 are women.
    The NTP was launched in 2005 and has been regularly renewed. The current phase was launched in 2023 and will continue until 2028.

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  • MIL-OSI Economics: Verizon and Wounded Warrior Project® partner to support at least 1,000 veterans with upskilling

    Source: Verizon

    Headline: Verizon and Wounded Warrior Project® partner to support at least 1,000 veterans with upskilling

    • Verizon and Wounded Warrior Project® are partnering to support at least 1,000 veterans with upskilling between Veterans Day 2024 and Veterans Day 2025.
    • The partnership leverages Verizon’s free Skill Forward program, a university backed, self-paced education opportunity available for any US resident over 17.
    • Verizon is committed to providing exclusive offers to active military, veterans and their families. Customers can take advantage of Mobile deals, discounts and savings with myPlan starting at just $25/month with 4 lines on Welcome Unlimited, plus 12% off all mobile perks. Customers can also save on Fios Home Internet starting at just $45/month, which can be bundled with the Mobile + Home Discount to unlock even more savings.
    • Beginning November 1st, active military, veterans and their families will automatically receive Set Up and Go – a white glove service that provides customers a personalized phone setup experience, on Verizon.

    BASKING RIDGE, NJ – Verizon and Wounded Warrior Project® are partnering to support at least 1,000 veterans with upskilling between this year’s Veterans Day and next year’s Veterans Day. The partnership leverages Verizon’s free Skill Forward program.

    Participants in Verizon Skill Forward can access more than 250 free, credentialed courses through edX from four-year universities and distinguished institutions. Spanning over 80 unique professional certificate programs, users can pursue skills in high growth job fields like AI, business, coding, communication, finance, IT and more. The platform also provides access to tips, industry-specific events, workshops and a job board to support users’ professional development and career transition.

    “We are proud and honored to be partnering with Wounded Warrior Project® to help veterans achieve their career dreams. With their resilience and adaptability, veterans are an asset to any organization. Verizon Skill Forward provides veterans – and any US resident 17 years and older – a pathway to in-demand, tech-forward careers, thanks to free, university-credentialed courses,” said Donna Epps, Verizon’s Chief Responsible Business Officer.

    “We’re grateful to Verizon for supporting wounded warriors as they build their careers and futures after service,” said Brea Kratzert Todd, WWP vice president of business development. “Verizon’s ongoing commitment to our mission helps us keep our promise to always be there for those who served.”

    According to a study from Call of Duty Endowment and ZipRecruiter, 33 percent of veterans are underemployed, despite having foundational skills and potential to thrive in a number of industries. The Verizon Skill Forward program is designed to pave a path to new career opportunities with free, university courses from edX.

    Discounts & Savings For Those Who Serve

    Verizon is committed to providing exclusive offers to active military, veterans and their families. Customers can take advantage of Mobile deals, discounts and savings with myPlan starting at just $25/month with 4 lines on Welcome Unlimited1.

    Customers can also save on Fios Home Internet starting at just $45/month, which can be bundled with the Mobile + Home Discount to unlock even more savings.2

    To check your eligibility and learn more about Verizon’s military and veteran community offers, visit

    1 Plus taxes & fees. Auto Pay and paper-free billing req’d. For personal lines only.

    Military discount: For eligible military; approved verification documents read. $10/mo account discount applied to single line; $25/mo account discount applied to 2-3 lines; $20/mo account discount applied to 4+ lines.

    Unlimited 5G / 4G LTE: For Unlimited Welcome plan, in times of congestion, your data may be temporarily slower than other traffic. After exceeding 30 GB/mo (for Unlimited Plus plan) or 60 GB/mo (for Unlimited Ultimate plan) of 5G Ultra Wideband, 5G, or 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot data, Mobile Hotspot speeds reduced to up to 3 Mbps when on 5G Ultra Wideband and 600 Kbps when on 5G / 4G LTE for the rest of month. Mobile Hotspot not included on Unlimited Welcome plan. Domestic data roaming at 2G speeds. 5G Ultra Wideband access included with Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Ultimate plans. 5G access requires a 5G capable device.

    2 Auto Pay: $10/mo savings available when you sign up for Auto Pay and paper-free billing.

    Mobile + Home Discount: Enrollment req’d. For existing postpaid mobile customers with a Verizon mobile plan (excludes prepaid, business and data-only plans) who then add and maintain a Fios Home Internet plan.

    Fios 1 Gig and Fios 2 Gig: $25/mo Mobile + Home Discount savings available.

    Fios 300 Mbps and 500 Mbps: $15/mo Mobile + Home Discount savings available. General: $99 setup and other terms may apply. Subject to credit approval.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: WTO members review safeguard actions during latest committee meeting

    Source: WTO

    Headline: WTO members review safeguard actions during latest committee meeting

    Japan and Australia took the floor to stress that safeguards are emergency measures, and members taking safeguard actions must ensure that they comply with the relevant rules.
    Review of legislative notifications
    The legislative notifications from Cabo Verde and the Solomon Islands were tabled at the meeting. Both members notified that they did not currently have regulations or administrative procedures relating to safeguard measures. The Committee also continued the review of legislative notifications from Liberia and from Ghana.
    Specific notifications of safeguard actions
    Notifications of various safeguard actions from the following members were reviewed by the Committee: the European Union (1 investigation); Ghana (1 investigation); India (1 investigation); Indonesia (8 investigations); Madagascar (3 investigations); the Philippines (1 investigation); South Africa (1 investigation); Türkiye (4 investigations); Ukraine (1 investigation), the United Kingdom (1 investigation); and the United States (2 investigations).
    Six members took the floor in respect to the European Union’s update of the status of its safeguard measure on certain steel products. One member referred to its proposal to suspend substantially equivalent concessions against European Union imports in reaction to the European Union’s measure.
    Five members took the floor to comment on the latest status of the United Kingdom’s safeguard measure on certain steel products, with several members recalling that the UK applies this measure having “transitioned” it from the EU following its departure from the European Union.
    Japan expressed concerns about two specific safeguards: Viet Nam’s safeguard measure on “certain semi-finished and finished products of alloy and non-alloy steel” and Indonesia’s safeguard measure on “articles of apparel and clothing accessories”.
    Indonesia’s request regarding Türkiye’s proposed suspension of concessions against its exports
    On 11 July 2024, Indonesia submitted, pursuant to Article 13.1 (e) of the Safeguards Agreement, a request in relation to Türkiye’s proposal to suspend substantially equivalent concessions or other obligations against imports from Indonesia. Türkiye had proposed the suspension of concessions in response to Indonesia’s safeguard measure on carpets and other textile floor coverings.
    Article 13.1 (e) of the Safeguards Agreement stipulates, as one of the functions of the Committee, to “review … whether proposals to suspend concessions or other obligations are ‘substantially equivalent’, and report as appropriate to the Council for Trade in Goods”. The Chair explained how he intends to move forward on this matter. Several members took the floor to describe their views, including with respect to the relevant period to use for the purpose of determining the value of the substantially equivalent concessions.
    Discussion Group regarding safeguard proceedings
    A member, on behalf of 13 other members, explained that a meeting of an informal discussion group regarding safeguard proceedings would take place after the Committee meeting. While it was not part of the Committee meeting, the discussion was open to all members. The idea behind this discussion group was to provide a broader perspective than in formal Committee meetings where members review particular notifications, and to focus more on each other’s experiences and to learn from each other.
    Creation of online portal for submission of safeguard notifications
    Under “Other Business”, the Chair provided an update regarding the creation by the WTO Secretariat of an online portal for the submission of safeguard notifications. The Chair reported that a prototype was now ready for delegations to test.
    Next meeting
    The next meeting of the Committee on Safeguards is scheduled for the week of 28 April 2025.
    Background
    Under the WTO rules, a member may apply measures to imports of a product temporarily (take “safeguard” actions) through higher tariffs or other measures if it determines through an investigation that increased imports of a product are causing or threatening to cause serious injury to its domestic industry. Unlike anti-dumping duties, safeguard measures cover imports from all sources, although imports from developing country members with a small share of imports are exempted through special and differential treatment provisions.
    More background on safeguards is available here.

    Share

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Microsoft Cloud strength drives first quarter results

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: Microsoft Cloud strength drives first quarter results

    Microsoft Cloud Strength Drives First Quarter Results

    REDMOND, Wash. — October 30, 2024 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the following results for the quarter ended September 30, 2024, as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year:

    ·        Revenue was $65.6 billion and increased 16%

    ·        Operating income was $30.6 billion and increased 14%

    ·        Net income was $24.7 billion and increased 11% (up 10% in constant currency)

    ·        Diluted earnings per share was $3.30 and increased 10%

    “AI-driven transformation is changing work, work artifacts, and workflow across every role, function, and business process,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft. “We are expanding our opportunity and winning new customers as we help them apply our AI platforms and tools to drive new growth and operating leverage.”

    “Strong execution by our sales teams and partners delivered a solid start to our fiscal year with Microsoft Cloud revenue of $38.9 billion, up 22% year-over-year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.

    Business Highlights

    Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $28.3 billion and increased 12% (up 13% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

    ·        Microsoft 365 Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 13% (up 14% in constant currency) driven by Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud revenue growth of 15% (up 16% in constant currency)

    ·        Microsoft 365 Consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 5% (up 6% in constant currency) driven by Microsoft 365 Consumer cloud revenue growth of 6% (up 7% in constant currency)

    ·        LinkedIn revenue increased 10% (up 9% in constant currency)

    ·        Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 14% driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 18% (up 19% in constant currency)

    Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $24.1 billion and increased 20% (up 21% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

    ·        Server products and cloud services revenue increased 23% driven by Azure and other cloud services revenue growth of 33% (up 34% in constant currency)

    Revenue in More Personal Computing was $13.2 billion and increased 17%, with the following business highlights:

    ·        Windows OEM and Devices revenue increased 2%

    ·        Xbox content and services revenue increased 61% driven by 53 points of net impact from the Activision acquisition

    ·        Search and news advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs increased 18% (up 19% in constant currency)

    Microsoft returned $9.0 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025.

    Business Outlook

    Microsoft will provide forward-looking guidance in connection with this quarterly earnings announcement on its earnings conference call and webcast.

    Quarterly Highlights, Product Releases, and Enhancements 

    Every quarter Microsoft delivers hundreds of products, either as new releases, services, or enhancements to current products and services. These releases are a result of significant research and development investments, made over multiple years, designed to help customers be more productive and secure and to deliver differentiated value across the cloud and the edge.

    Here are the major product releases and other highlights for the quarter, organized by product categories, to help illustrate how we are accelerating innovation across our businesses while expanding our market opportunities.

    Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)

    To learn more about Microsoft’s corporate governance and our environmental and social practices, please visit our investor relations Board and ESG website and reporting at Microsoft.com/transparency. 

    Webcast Details

    Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer, Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Alice Jolla, chief accounting officer, Keith Dolliver, corporate secretary and deputy general counsel, and Brett Iversen, vice president of investor relations, will host a conference call and webcast at 2:30 p.m. Pacific time (5:30 p.m. Eastern time) today to discuss details of the company’s performance for the quarter and certain forward-looking information. The session may be accessed at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor. The webcast will be available for replay through the close of business on October 30, 2025.

    Constant Currency

    Microsoft presents constant currency information to provide a framework for assessing how our underlying businesses performed excluding the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations. To present this information, current and comparative prior period results for entities reporting in currencies other than United States dollars are converted into United States dollars using the average exchange rates from the comparative period rather than the actual exchange rates in effect during the respective periods. All growth comparisons relate to the corresponding period in the last fiscal year. Microsoft has provided this non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding our performance. The non-GAAP financial measures presented in this release should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.

    Financial Performance Constant Currency Reconciliation

     

    Three Months Ended September 30,

     ($ in millions, except per share amounts)

    Revenue

    Operating Income

    Net Income

    Diluted Earnings per Share

    2023 As Reported (GAAP)

    $56,517

    $26,895

    $22,291

    $2.99

    2024 As Reported (GAAP)

    $65,585

    $30,552

    $24,667

    $3.30

    Percentage Change Y/Y (GAAP)

    16%

    14%

    11%

    10%

    Constant Currency Impact

    $(217)

    $(181)

    $78

    $0.01

    Percentage Change Y/Y Constant Currency

    16%

    14%

    10%

    10%

     

    Segment Revenue Constant Currency Reconciliation

     

    Three Months Ended September 30,

     ($ in millions)

    Productivity and Business Processes

    Intelligent Cloud

    More Personal Computing

    2023 As Reported (GAAP)

    $25,226

    $20,013

    $11,278

    2024 As Reported (GAAP)

    $28,317

    $24,092

    $13,176

    Percentage Change Y/Y (GAAP)

    12%

    20%

    17%

    Constant Currency Impact

    $(128)

    $(72)

    $(17)

    Percentage Change Y/Y Constant Currency

    13%

    21%

    17%

    We have recast certain prior period amounts to conform to the way we internally manage and monitor our business.

    Selected Product and Service Revenue Constant Currency Reconciliation        

     

    Three Months Ended September 30, 2024

    Percentage Change Y/Y (GAAP)

    Constant Currency Impact

    Percentage Change Y/Y Constant Currency

    Microsoft Cloud

    22%

    0%

    22%

    Microsoft 365 Commercial products and cloud services

    13%

    1%

    14%

    Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud

    15%

    1%

    16%

    Microsoft 365 Consumer products and cloud services

    5%

    1%

    6%

    Microsoft 365 Consumer cloud

    6%

    1%

    7%

    LinkedIn

    10%

    (1)%

    9%

    Dynamics products and cloud services

    14%

    0%

    14%

    Dynamics 365

    18%

    1%

    19%

    Server products and cloud services

    23%

    0%

    23%

    Azure and other cloud services

    33%

    1%

    34%

    Windows OEM and Devices

    2%

    0%

    2%

    Xbox content and services

    61%

    0%

    61%

    Search and news advertising excluding traffic acquisition costs

    18%

    1%

    19%

     

    About Microsoft

    Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) creates platforms and tools powered by AI to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers. The technology company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Statements in this release that are “forward-looking statements” are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors such as:

    ·        intense competition in all of our markets that may adversely affect our results of operations;

    ·        focus on cloud-based and AI services presenting execution and competitive risks;

    ·        significant investments in products and services that may not achieve expected returns;

    ·        acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances that may have an adverse effect on our business;

    ·        impairment of goodwill or amortizable intangible assets causing a significant charge to earnings;

    ·        cyberattacks and security vulnerabilities that could lead to reduced revenue, increased costs, liability claims, or harm to our reputation or competitive position;

    ·        disclosure and misuse of personal data that could cause liability and harm to our reputation;

    ·        the possibility that we may not be able to protect information stored in our products and services from use by others;

    ·        abuse of our advertising, professional, marketplace, or gaming platforms that may harm our reputation or user engagement;

    ·        products and services, how they are used by customers, and how third-party products and services interact with them, presenting security, privacy, and execution risks;

    ·        issues about the use of AI in our offerings that may result in reputational or competitive harm, or legal liability;

    ·        excessive outages, data losses, and disruptions of our online services if we fail to maintain an adequate operations infrastructure;

    ·        supply or quality problems;

    ·        government enforcement under competition laws and new market regulation may limit how we design and market our products;

    ·        potential consequences of trade and anti-corruption laws;

    ·        potential consequences of existing and increasing legal and regulatory requirements;

    ·        laws and regulations relating to the handling of personal data that may impede the adoption of our services or result in increased costs, legal claims, fines, or reputational damage;

    ·        claims against us that may result in adverse outcomes in legal disputes;

    ·        uncertainties relating to our business with government customers;

    ·        additional tax liabilities;

    ·        sustainability regulations and expectations that may expose us to increased costs and legal and reputational risk;

    ·        an inability to protect and utilize our intellectual property may harm our business and operating results;

    ·        claims that Microsoft has infringed the intellectual property rights of others;

    ·        damage to our reputation or our brands that may harm our business and results of operations;

    ·        adverse economic or market conditions that may harm our business;

    ·        catastrophic events or geo-political conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that may disrupt our business;

    ·        exposure to increased economic and operational uncertainties from operating a global business, including the effects of foreign currency exchange and

    ·        the dependence of our business on our ability to attract and retain talented employees.

    For more information about risks and uncertainties associated with Microsoft’s business, please refer to the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of Microsoft’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by contacting Microsoft’s Investor Relations department at (800) 285-7772 or at Microsoft’s Investor Relations website at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor.

    All information in this release is as of September 30, 2024. The company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the company’s expectations.

    For more information, press only:

    Microsoft Media Relations, WE Communications for Microsoft, (425) 638-7777, rrt@we-worldwide.com

    For more information, financial analysts and investors only:

    Brett Iversen, Vice President, Investor Relations, (425) 706-4400

    Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers, and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. Shareholder and financial information, as well as today’s 2:30 p.m. Pacific time conference call with investors and analysts, is available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor.


     

    MICROSOFT CORPORATION

    INCOME STATEMENTS

    (In millions, except per share amounts) (Unaudited)

    Three Months Ended

     September 30,

     

    2024

    2023

    Revenue:

    Product

     $15,272

     $15,535

    Service and other

    50,313

    40,982

    Total revenue

    65,585

    56,517

    Cost of revenue:

    Product

    3,294

    3,531

    Service and other

    16,805

    12,771

    Total cost of revenue

    20,099

    16,302

    Gross margin

    45,486

    40,215

    Research and development

    7,544

    6,659

    Sales and marketing

    5,717

    5,187

    General and administrative

    1,673

    1,474

    Operating income

    30,552

    26,895

    Other income (expense), net

    (283)

    389

    Income before income taxes

    30,269

    27,284

    Provision for income taxes

    5,602

    4,993

    Net income

     $24,667

     $22,291

    Earnings per share:

    Basic

     $3.32

     $3.00

    Diluted

     $3.30

     $2.99

    Weighted average shares outstanding:

    Basic

    7,433

    7,429

    Diluted

    7,470

    7,462

     


     

    COMPREHENSIVE INCOME STATEMENTS

    (In millions) (Unaudited)

    Three Months Ended

     September 30,

     

    2024

    2023

    Net income

     $24,667

     $22,291

    Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax:

    Net change related to derivatives

    (10)

    21

    Net change related to investments

    1,114

    (260)

    Translation adjustments and other

    304

    (355)

    Other comprehensive income (loss)

    1,408

    (594)

    Comprehensive income

     $26,075

     $21,697

     


     

    BALANCE SHEETS

    (In millions) (Unaudited)

     

    September 30,

    2024

    June 30,

     2024

    Assets

    Current assets:

    Cash and cash equivalents

     $20,840

     $18,315

    Short-term investments

    57,588

    57,228

    Total cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments

    78,428

    75,543

    Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $647 and $830

    44,148

    56,924

    Inventories

    1,626

    1,246

    Other current assets

    25,724

    26,021

    Total current assets

    149,926

    159,734

    Property and equipment, net of accumulated depreciation of $80,517 and $76,421

    152,863

    135,591

    Operating lease right-of-use assets

    20,528

    18,961

    Equity and other investments

    15,778

    14,600

    Goodwill

    119,374

    119,220

    Intangible assets, net

    26,751

    27,597

    Other long-term assets

    37,793

    36,460

    Total assets

     $523,013

     $512,163

    Liabilities and stockholders’ equity

    Current liabilities:

    Accounts payable

     $22,768

     $21,996

    Short-term debt

    0

    6,693

    Current portion of long-term debt

    2,249

    2,249

    Accrued compensation

    8,326

    12,564

    Short-term income taxes

    9,717

    5,017

    Short-term unearned revenue

    53,026

    57,582

    Other current liabilities

    19,114

    19,185

    Total current liabilities

    115,200

    125,286

    Long-term debt

    42,868

    42,688

    Long-term income taxes

    24,452

    27,931

    Long-term unearned revenue

    2,663

    2,602

    Deferred income taxes

    2,581

    2,618

    Operating lease liabilities

    16,361

    15,497

    Other long-term liabilities

    31,165

    27,064

    Total liabilities

    235,290

    243,686

    Commitments and contingencies

    Stockholders’ equity:

    Common stock and paid-in capital – shares authorized 24,000; outstanding 7,436 and 7,434

    102,976

    100,923

    Retained earnings

    188,929

    173,144

    Accumulated other comprehensive loss

    (4,182)

    (5,590)

    Total stockholders’ equity

    287,723

    268,477

    Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

     $523,013

     $512,163

     


     

    CASH FLOWS STATEMENTS

    (In millions) (Unaudited)

    Three Months Ended

     September 30,

     

    2024

    2023

    Operations

    Net income

     $24,667

     $22,291

    Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash from operations:

    Depreciation, amortization, and other

    7,383

    3,921

    Stock-based compensation expense

    2,832

    2,507

    Net recognized losses (gains) on investments and derivatives

    (125)

    14

    Deferred income taxes

    (1,433)

    (568)

    Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

    Accounts receivable

    14,037

    11,034

    Inventories

    (373)

    (505)

    Other current assets

    (82)

    (796)

    Other long-term assets

    (1,761)

    (2,013)

    Accounts payable

    (916)

    1,214

    Unearned revenue

    (5,553)

    (4,126)

    Income taxes

    1,016

    1,425

    Other current liabilities

    (5,479)

    (4,106)

    Other long-term liabilities

    (33)

    291

    Net cash from operations

    34,180

    30,583

    Financing

    Proceeds from issuance (repayments) of debt, maturities of 90 days or less, net

    (5,746)

    18,692

    Proceeds from issuance of debt

    0

    7,073

    Repayments of debt

    (966)

    (1,500)

    Common stock issued

    706

    685

    Common stock repurchased

    (4,107)

    (4,831)

    Common stock cash dividends paid

    (5,574)

    (5,051)

    Other, net

    (889)

    (307)

    Net cash from (used in) financing

    (16,576)

    14,761

    Investing

    Additions to property and equipment

    (14,923)

    (9,917)

    Acquisition of companies, net of cash acquired, and purchases of intangible and other assets

    (1,849)

    (1,186)

    Purchases of investments

    (1,620)

    (8,460)

    Maturities of investments

    2,136

    15,718

    Sales of investments

    1,968

    5,330

    Other, net

    (913)

    (982)

    Net cash from (used in) investing

    (15,201)

    503

    Effect of foreign exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents

    122

    (99)

    Net change in cash and cash equivalents

    2,525

    45,748

    Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period

    18,315

    34,704

    Cash and cash equivalents, end of period

     $20,840

     $80,452

     


     

    SEGMENT REVENUE AND OPERATING INCOME

    (In millions) (Unaudited)

     

    Three Months Ended

     September 30,

     

     

    2024

    2023

    Revenue

     

     

    Productivity and Business Processes

     $28,317

     $25,226

    Intelligent Cloud

    24,092

    20,013

    More Personal Computing

    13,176

    11,278

    Total

     $65,585

     $56,517

    Operating Income

     

     

    Productivity and Business Processes

     $16,516

     $14,297

    Intelligent Cloud

    10,503

    8,908

    More Personal Computing

    3,533

    3,690

    Total

     $30,552

     $26,895

     

    We have recast certain prior period amounts to conform to the way we internally manage and monitor our business.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: IMF Executive Board Concludes the Seventh and Eighth Reviews under the Extended Fund Facility and Extended Credit Facility and Review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility Arrangement with Kenya

    Source: International Monetary Fund

    October 30, 2024

    • The Executive Board’s decision to complete the reviews enables a combined disbursement of around US$606 million to support the authorities’ efforts to rebuild fiscal and external buffers, including to enhance resilience to climate shocks.
    • Resolution of the exceptional external financing pressure earlier this year has revived market confidence, aided stabilization of the shilling, and enabled a faster buildup of foreign exchange reserves. However, large revenue shortfalls in FY2023/24 and pushback against revenue measures owing to governance concerns pose a challenge to the ongoing fiscal consolidation efforts.
    • The Kenyan authorities face a difficult balancing act of boosting domestic revenues to protect critical spending in priority areas while meeting heavy debt service obligations. Delivering on this would call for improving governance and transparency to restore public trust in the effective use of public resources.

    Washington, DC: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded today the seventh and the eighth reviews under the extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF), approved in April 2021, and a review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) arrangement, approved in July 2023, with Kenya.

    The EFF/ECF arrangements aim to support Kenya’s program to address debt vulnerabilities while safeguarding resources for priority social and developmental needs; build resilience to shocks; improve governance and transparency; and support broader economic reforms to realize the country’s medium-term potential. The RSF arrangement aims to reinforce Kenya’s strong efforts to address climate-related challenges and catalyze further private climate finance.

    The Executive Board’s decision allows for the immediate disbursements of SDR365.28 million (about US$485.8 million) under the EFF/ECF arrangements and SDR90.47 million (about US$120.3 million) under the RSF arrangement. In addition, following the resolution of exceptional financing needs earlier this year, the Board approved a reduction in the total access under the EFF/ECF arrangements from exceptional access, approved in January 2024 (see PR24/12), to within the normal access limits and a rebalancing of access toward the zero-interest ECF arrangement. Together with the recent changes to the IMF’s charges and surcharges policy, these adjustments would lower Kenya’s interest payments to the IMF.

    Under the EFF/ECF arrangements, total IMF financial commitment stands at SDR2.714 billion (about US$3.61 billion), of which SDR2.343 billion (about US$3.12 billion) has been approved for disbursement. For the RSF arrangement, the corresponding amounts are SDR407.1 million (about US$541.3 million) and SDR135.70 million (about US$180.4 million), respectively.

    In completing the reviews, the Executive Board recognized that the resolution of the exceptional external financing pressure earlier this year has revived market confidence, supporting shilling stabilization and facilitating faster buildup of reserves. However, the fiscal consolidation efforts have faced headwinds following a sizable tax revenue shortfall in FY2023/24 and withdrawal of the 2024 Finance Bill after widespread public protests. Nevertheless, the EFF/ECF program has delivered on reducing inflation, strengthening external buffers, and stabilizing the exchange rate. In addition, the Board approved waivers of non-observance for the end-December 2023 tax revenue and the end-June 2024 primary budget balance and tax revenue targets based on the corrective action taken through the passage of the Supplementary FY2024/25 Budget, which together with medium-term fiscal consolidation would help reduce debt vulnerabilities, a core objective of the program. The Board also completed review under the RSF arrangement and approved the disbursements associated with two reform measures implemented.

    The Board emphasized that sustaining progress requires improving the quality of fiscal adjustment, addressing fiscal and financial sector vulnerabilities, advancing governance reforms, and implementing the structural agenda, including climate-related reforms. Continued efforts to support the vulnerable population, broadening the socio-political support for reforms, and ensuring agile policymaking will also be necessary.

    At the conclusion of the Executive Board’s discussion, Ms. Gita Gopinath, First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF and Acting Chair, made the following statement:

    “Kenya’s economy remains resilient, with growth above the regional average, inflation decelerating, and external inflows supporting the shilling and a buildup of external buffers, despite a difficult socio-economic environment.

    “The EFF/ECF and the RSF arrangements continue to support the authorities’ efforts to anchor macroeconomic stability, reduce debt vulnerabilities, promote reforms, and mitigate climate-related risks.

    “Performance since the last reviews of these arrangements has weakened. While accumulation of foreign exchange reserves and inflation were better than expected, the fiscal performance fell significantly short of the targets. The revenue and export underperformances increased debt vulnerabilities. Implementation of several reforms was also delayed.

    “In this context, a difficult adjustment path lies ahead. A credible fiscal consolidation strategy remains central to addressing debt vulnerabilities while protecting social and development spending. Reforms to make the tax regime more efficient, equitable, and progressive as well as strengthening accountability, transparency, and efficiency of public finances will help garner political and societal support for reforms. Clearly communicating the necessity and benefits of the reforms is paramount.

    “Given the elevated risks around the fiscal strategy, policymaking needs to be agile. Contingency planning remains critical, with policies adapting to evolving outcomes to safeguard stability and ensure that program objectives continue to be met.

    “The Central Bank of Kenya’s decisive actions have supported price stability and external sustainability, including through institutional changes to improve the functioning of the monetary policy operational framework and the money and foreign exchange markets. Exchange rate flexibility is vital to improve resilience to external shocks and competitiveness. Addressing banks’ deteriorating asset quality and emerging risks requires close monitoring and strengthened oversight.

    “Fast-tracking key reforms would raise medium-term potential. In particular, addressing deficiencies in governance, anti-corruption frameworks, and AML/CFT, including leveraging the requested governance diagnostic, is essential for garnering public trust and enhancing policy credibility, and for attracting fresh investments, including finance to build climate resilience.”

    Kenya: Selected Economic Indicators, 2021–2026

    2021

    2022

    2023

    2024

    2025

    2026

    Act.

    Act.

    Act.

    Est./ Proj.

    Proj.

    Proj.

    Output

    Real GDP growth (percent)

    7.6

    4.9

    5.6

    5.0

    5.0

    5.0

    Prices

    Inflation –average (percent)

    6.1

    7.6

    7.7

    5.0

    5.3

    5.1

    Central government finances (fiscal year)1

    Total revenue (percent of GDP)

    16.1

    17.5

    16.7

    17.2

    18.0

    18.7

    Expenditure and net lending (percent of GDP)

    24.4

    23.7

    22.5

    22.8

    22.3

    22.7

    Overall fiscal balance (percent of GDP)

    –8.3

    –6.2

    –5.6

    –5.3

    –4.3

    –4.0

    Public debt

    Gross nominal debt (percent of GDP)

    68.1

    67.8

    73.1

    67.0

    68.8

    68.8

    Gross external debt (percent of GDP)

    34.7

    34.6

    40.4

    34.9

    37.0

    37.4

    Money and Credit (end of period)

    Broad money (percent change)

    6.1

    7.1

    21.3

    5.6

    10.3

    10.2

    Credit to private sector (percent change)

    8.6

    12.5

    13.9

    3.3

    12.4

    11.2

    Policy rate, end-of-period (percent)

    7.0

    8.75

    12.50

    …

    …

    …

    Balance of payments

    Current account balance (percent of GDP)

    –5.2

    –5.0

    –4.0

    –3.9

    –4.0

    –4.1

    Gross international reserves (in months of imports)

    4.7

    4.4

    3.8

    4.1

    4.1

    4.2

    Exchange rate

    REER (average percent change; positive = appreciation)

    –2.6

    2.2

    –8.3

    …

    …

    …

    Sources: Kenyan authorities; and IMF staff estimates and projections.

    1 Based on fiscal year (i.e., 2025 represents fiscal year 2024/25, covering July 2024–June 2025).
    IMF Communications Department
    MEDIA RELATIONS

    PRESS OFFICER: Pavis Devahasadin

    Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

    @IMFSpokesperson

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Adesina and Banga lead the charge to end hunger in Africa at 2024 Borlaug Dialogue

    Source: African Development Bank Group
    In a powerful opening to the 2024 Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue, the president of the African Development Bank Group Dr. Akinwumi Adesina and his counterpart at the World Bank Ajay Banga, stressed the need for more global action against hunger, a goal slipping further away due to the combined effects of conflict,…

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: African Development Bank Approves a $75 Million Participation in Export Trading Group’s Sustainability Linked Loan for Core Value Chain Financing…

    Source: African Development Bank Group

    The African Development Bank Group has approved a $75 million financing package to support Export Trading Group (ETG), a Mauritius-based conglomerate with extensive operations across Africa. ETG boasts a diverse portfolio spanning agricultural inputs, logistics, merchandising and processing, supply chain optimization, digital transformation, and energy.

    This package includes a $65 million participation from the Bank’s own resources, along with $10 million in concessional co-financing from the Agri-Food Catalytic Financing Mechanism (ACFM) into ETGs Sustainable Linked Loan facility for financing its core value chain assets. The Agri-Food Catalytic Financing Mechanism is an internally managed Special Fund, capitalized by Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, to build markets and mobilize finance for gender-oriented and underserved agri-SMEs in Africa.

    Through participation in the Sustainable Linked Loan facility, the financing will be deployed to ETG’s core value chains in 14 countries, namely Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. This will support ETG’s processing and packaging facilities and warehouses and provide farmers with fertilizers and other agri-inputs. The Bank’s financing may be deployed to up to 28 African countries based on ETG’s emerging needs.

    The Sustainable Linked Loan facility establishes annual sustainability key performance indicators and targets focused on decarbonization, reforestation, zero deforestation, farmer extension services, and gender empowerment with inherent direct financial consequences for non-compliance.

    “The African Development Bank Group is thrilled to expand our work with Export Trade Group and support its commitment to strengthen women’s economic development in Africa. Access to finance and training in agriculture will contribute to food security and economic growth,” said Dr. Beth Dunford, Bank Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development.

    ETG plans to engage 600,000 smallholder farmers by 2027, with a 25 percent target for women farmers. This includes training on sustainable farming and improved access to resources. The project is expected to boost exports from Bank regional member countries and enhance intra-regional trade, particularly within the Economic Community of West African States, Southern African Development Community, and East African Community regional economic blocks.

    The Bank’s investment in ETG capitalizes on the Group’s proven track record and resilience in agriculture, aiming to mobilize private sector financing into a critical yet underserved sector of the economy. ETG will manage the project, with oversight from the company’s Board of Directors and support from specialized departments within the Group.

    The project aligns with the Bank’s ‘High 5’ priorities, specifically “Feed Africa,” “Integrate Africa,” and “Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa,” as well as the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy 2024-2033. It is expected to contribute to Africa’s agricultural transformation into a business-oriented and commercially viable sector, driving the continent’s food self-sufficiency.

    “By partnering with ETG, the African Development Bank continues to champion strategic enterprises that operate across multiple countries, furthering its mission to support agricultural development and improve the livelihoods of millions across the continent. The decision to continue funding ETG is just not a financial transaction. It is a strategic collaboration with a purpose – a mission to transform African agriculture and a commitment to optimize the influence of their investments, “said Richard Ofori-Mante, Director of the Agricultural Finance and Rural Development Department at the Bank.

    “By tying loan conditions to performance indicators related to sustainability, ETG is more likely to engage in activities that advance the Sustainable Development Goals. This alignment will drive better environmental, social, and governance outcomes. The transaction not only promotes sustainable practices within ETG’s operations but also influences its supply chain and partners, amplifying the impact on sustainable development,” Ofori-Mante added.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Africa Investment Forum welcomes BADEA as new partner ahead of the December Market Days in Rabat

    Source: African Development Bank Group

    The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) has joined the Africa Investment Forum as a founding partner, marking a new phase in the Forum’s expansion and influence as a catalyst for mega investments into the continent.

    The official announcement came during a breakfast meeting of heads of the Africa Investment Forum Founding Partner institutions, convened by the African Development Bank in Washington, DC on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s annual meetings. During the meeting, the partners examined and adopted a new strategic framework to govern the forum. The meeting took place on Friday 25 October.

    In welcoming BADEA as a new partner, African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina said: “Since 2018, BADEA has been a steadfast supporter of the Africa Investment Forum, consistently contributing to the growth and success of this platform.”

    The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa is a multilateral development financial institution owned by 18 Arab countries. Its operations cover the entire Sub-Saharan African region.

    BADEA group president Dr. Sidi Ould Tah said the main shareholders of his bank had been working on a new mechanism to support investment flows to Africa. The group has sovereign funds under management with assets in the trillions of dollars, of which they had pledged to channel a part for Africa’s infrastructure needs.

    “The role of BADEA is to catalyse resources for Africa. BADEA will work with all the member countries of AIF to make this pledge a reality,” Tah said.                                 

    The addition of BADEA brings the AIF’s founding partners to nine:  the African Development Bank, Afreximbank, Africa Finance Corporation, Africa50, Development Bank of Southern Africa, European Investment Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and Trade and Development Bank.

    Meeting of AIF founding partners in Washington, DC October 2024

    Heads and representatives of each of the partners who attended the meeting included included Trade and Development Bank President and CEO Admassu Tadesse, Africa Finance Corporation’s CEO  Samaila Zubairu, Africa50  President Alain Ebobissé, European Investment Bank Vice President Ambroise Fayolle,  Hani Salem Sonbol  Chief Executive Officer of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation representing Islamic Development Bank President Dr. Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, and Afreximbank’s Director for Export Development Oluranti Doherty, who represented its president.

    Adesina also commended the founding partners for their energy, drive and momentum which he described as a testament to their confidence in the Forum.

    The AIF’s Market Days events, held annually, have drawn sovereign and non-sovereign investors from around the world, enabling a shift in risk perception and fostering confidence in Africa’s investment landscape.

    The platform has actively supported women-led businesses under its Women as Investment Champions pillar with examples such as Mobihealth International Ltd (Healthcare, Nigeria) which was supported to access grant and loan funding for feasibility studies and pan-African expansion.

    From the African Development Bank, Senior Vice President Marie Laure Akin-Olugbade, Hassatou N’Sele Vice President for Finance and CFO, Beth Dunford, Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development,  Nnenna Nwabufo, Vice President for Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery and Kevin Urama, Chief Economist and Vice President, Economic Governance and Knowledge Management, also attended the meeting. The Senior Director of Syndications, the Africa Investment Forum and Client Solutions, Max Magor Ndiaye, and the Special Representative of President Adesina, Yacine Fall were also present.

    The 2024 Market Days will take place from 4-6 December 2024 in Rabat, Morocco, under the theme: “Leveraging Innovative Partnerships for Scale.”

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Mozambique: African Development Bank approves $54 million loan for Mozambique’s first wind energy project

    Source: African Development Bank Group

    The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank has approved a loan of $54 million for a 120 MW onshore wind farm that will help position Mozambique as a regional energy hub.

    The Bank’s loan, which includes $12 million from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), is in addition to financing expected from International Finance Corporation (IFC), U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund (EAAIF) and the Private Infrastructure Development Group’s Technical Assistance. The total project cost is estimated at $224.5 million.

    Mozambique’s national electricity utility, EDM, will be the sole off-taker from the wind farm, located 50 km west of Maputo, under a 25-year power purchase agreement.

    The wind farm will be Mozambique’s first utility-scale wind power project. It is expected to generate 331.6 GWh annually, supplying affordable, reliable, and clean energy to both local consumers and regional markets, diversifying Mozambique’s energy mix, and improving access to electricity. It will also position the country as a regional energy hub, capitalizing on increased energy trade through the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).

    With Mozambique’s energy sources currently dominated by hydropower and gas, the Namaacha wind farm project will help reduce annual CO₂ emissions by approximately 71,816 tons, contributing to the country’s commitments under the Paris climate agreement.

    The project will support economic growth, job creation, and improved living standards. During construction it will create 600 jobs, of which its targeting about 120 will be for women, and 300 for youth. Once operational, 20 permanent jobs will be created, with a focus on gender and youth inclusion.

    Commenting on the project, Kevin Kariuki, Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate, and Green Growth at the African Development Bank, said, “This wind project represents a milestone for Mozambique and underscores the Bank’s strong commitment to advancing clean, renewable energy solutions in the region. It will not only enhance energy security but also facilitate regional electricity trade, benefiting Mozambique’s socio-economic development.”

    Wale Shonibare, Director of the Energy Financial Solutions, Policy, and Regulations Department at the African Development Bank stressed the technological impact of this milestone project. “As the first large-scale wind energy initiative in Mozambique, this project showcases the transformative potential of renewable technologies to drive sustainable growth. By leveraging Mozambique’s natural resources, we are creating pathways toward a diversified and resilient energy sector that not only meets current demands but is future-proofed to support an evolving economy,” he said.

    Globeleq is one of the project developers. Its CEO Jonathan Hoffman said: “The Namaacha Wind Farm is a significant milestone in Mozambique’s journey toward a diversified and sustainable energy landscape. We are proud to partner with EDM and Source Energia in contributing to the government’s ambitious ‘Energy for All by 2030’ program, which is rapidly transforming into a reality for countless Mozambicans. This project reflects our commitment to supporting Mozambique’s clean energy goals and bringing reliable power to the communities we serve.”

    Aligned with the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy, the New Deal on Energy for Africa, and its High 5 objective of “Light Up and Power Africa,” the project underscores Mozambique’s dedication to renewable energy development and supports its goal of achieving universal access to electricity by 2030.

    The project complements the Bank’s earlier energy sector initiatives in Mozambique, including the Songo Matambo transmission line and the Mozambique Energy for All program.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Gartner ReimagineHR Conference, Orlando: Day 3 Highlights

    Source: Gartner – IT Research

    Headline: Gartner ReimagineHR Conference, Orlando: Day 3 Highlights

    We are bringing you news and highlights from the Gartner ReimagineHR Conference, concluding today, in Orlando, Florida. Below is a collection of the key announcements and insights coming out of the conference. Here’s a summary of happenings from Day 1 and Day 2.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Result of the Overnight Variable Rate Reverse Repo (VRRR) auction held on October 30, 2024

    Source: Reserve Bank of India

    Tenor 1-day
    Notified Amount (in ₹ crore) 75,000
    Total amount of offers received (in ₹ crore) 35,525
    Amount accepted (in ₹ crore) 35,525
    Cut off Rate (%) 6.49
    Weighted Average Rate (%) 6.49
    Partial Acceptance Percentage of offers received at cut off rate NA

    Ajit Prasad          
    Deputy General Manager
    (Communications)    

    Press Release: 2024-2025/1399

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Q&A: Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific (IF-CAP)

    Source: Asia Development Bank

    • Workers walking by a solar power plant in Kazakhstan

    Article | 30 October 2024
    Read time: 6 mins

    SHARE THIS PAGE

    •  IF-CAP is the first leveraged guarantee mechanism for climate finance to ever be adopted by a multilateral development bank.
    •  Various simulations have shown that for every $1 that is guaranteed, up to $4.5 of new climate finance will be generated under IF-CAP’s mechanism.
    •  IF-CAP will strengthen ADB’s developing member countries’ capacity to develop their low-carbon and climate-resilient strategies and build a larger pipeline of potential investments.

    What is IF-CAP?

      The Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific, or IF-CAP, is a multi-donor financing partnership facility with the goal of scaling-up finance for accelerated action against climate change in Asia and the Pacific. IF-CAP partners will provide guarantees for parts of ADB’s sovereign loan portfolios to enable ADB to free up capital to increase lending for climate investments. Supplementary grants will facilitate project preparation, capacity building, and knowledge solutions.

    Why is IF-CAP being formed?

    The battle against climate change will be won or lost in Asia and the Pacific. And our region is uniquely vulnerable to the impacts. More than 40% of climate-related disasters occurred in Asia and the Pacific since the start of the century, affecting nearly 3.6 billion people. ADB estimates that $1.7 trillion per year will need to be invested in infrastructure in developing Asia between 2016-2030 to meet both climate and development goals. The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) says the year 2030 is a significant crossroad after which it will become considerably harder to meet climate targets.

    As Asia and the Pacific’s climate bank, the Asian Development Bank is spearheading significant climate change financing and expertise across the region.   IF-CAP is the first leveraged guarantee mechanism for climate finance to ever be adopted by a multilateral development bank. It is inspired by the International Finance Facility for Education (IFFEd), which aims to use innovative financing to unlock new education funding in low-and middle-income countries.

    What will IF-CAP do?

    IF-CAP will allow ADB to significantly increase climate finance for investments that are aligned with the Paris Agreement and other key ADB policies, including the forthcoming Climate Change Action Plan.

      With a model of “$1 in, $4.5 out”, IF-CAP’s current guarantee size of $2.5 billion will create over $11 billion in climate finance for much-needed climate projects across Asia and the Pacific. Alongside lending facilitated by IF-CAP, ADB will provide up to $1 billion in concessional ordinary capital resources lending (COL) from its own resources, in support of projects enabled by IF-CAP’s guarantee structure. In total, resources aligned with IF-CAP amount to over $12 billion.

    IF-CAP enabled projects will address both climate change mitigation, which focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change adaptation, which focuses on building resilience to the worsening effects of climate change. These investments could cover a wide range of sectors, such as transportation, energy, urban, and agriculture and natural resources, as well as social sectors such as health and education, for projects with high climate impacts.

    What will IF-CAP not do?

    IF-CAP will not support new or existing fossil fuel-based electricity generation facilities or dedicated transmission, or any new or existing natural gas-related projects. Climate finance enabled by IF-CAP will not be used towards early retirement or repurposing of fossil fuel fired power plants.

    • Developing Asia’s share of global greenhouse gas emissions nearly doubled, from 22% in 1990 to 44% in 2019 and is expected to remain at this level until mid-century under current policies.

    • Asia and the Pacific can only realize its climate goals if it pursues a transition away from coal-based energy in the near term.

    How does the leverage mechanism work?

    The program is based on the use of financial guarantees from our partners. By guaranteeing a portfolio of ADB sovereign loans on a first-loss basis, they will help shoulder some of the loss in case of a default by one of our borrowers included in our portfolio.

    This is a groundbreaking arrangement because IF-CAP’s portfolio guarantee enables ADB to optimize the usage of our balance sheet, supported by the strength of our triple-A credit ratings and preferred creditor status. This allows ADB to reduce the capital held for credit risk and release more capital for climate loans. Every dollar of guarantee into IF-CAP will result in the capacity to provide more climate finance for eligible projects. Simulations show that for every $1 that is guaranteed, $4.5 of climate finance could be generated. That is a fundamental shift from the traditional “one dollar in, one dollar out” facilities at MDBs, because of IF-CAP’s leverage effect.

    Who are the partners supporting IF-CAP?

    IF-CAP’s founding partners are Denmark, Japan, Norway, Republic of Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 2023, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet established a trust fund under the IF-CAP Financing Partnership Facility.

    What sovereign portfolios will their guarantees cover?

    IF-CAP will cover a dynamic and diversified reference portfolio consisting of ADB’s exposures to a board spectrum of developing member countries, which have been identified to achieve the desired leverage based on the risk appetite of the partners.

    Which countries are eligible for IF-CAP financing?

    All ADB’s developing member countries (DMCs) are eligible. Individual financing partners may exercise discretion for certain projects based on their policies and priorities.

    Will IF-CAP differ from ADB’s regular climate financing?

    Functionally, there will be no difference. IF-CAP’s role will be to enable ADB to approve climate financing more quickly and at a higher volume.

    What are the benefits of IF-CAP?

    For DMCs, IF-CAP can help them advance operations with high climate ambition that are currently not in their pipeline, increase climate finance components of existing pipeline projects, and enable greater visibility and demonstration effects for projects including those with innovative components or high climate impact.

    For IF-CAP partners, it can enable them to make a greater impact through a leveraged guarantee mechanism not offered by other financing partnership facilities, providing them with an effective and efficient way to fight climate change in support of their national commitments.

    For ADB, IF-CAP is an innovative method to optimize our balance sheet, unlock capital resources, and increase our lending capacity by over $11 billion so we can make more resources available for critical climate projects in Asia and the Pacific.

    Will IF-CAP contribute to ADB’s ambition of $100 billion climate financing for 2019-2030?

    IF-CAP will be one of the flagship instruments to enable ADB to reach its climate finance target beyond $100 billion and support our target for climate finance to reach 50% of the total committed financing volume by 2030.

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    Subjects
    • ADB funds and products
    • Climate change
    • Climate finance

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  • MIL-OSI Economics: Historical data on currency exposure and hedging are now available

    Source: Danmarks Nationalbank

    Insurance and pension

    Statistics period: September 2024

    In May 2024, Danmarks Nationalbank published an extended statistic on insurance and pension companies’ currency exposure and hedging including data from January 2019 onwards.* The statistic has now been expanded to also include historical data from January 2015 onwards, whereby the time series now covers close to a full decade. You can read more about recent developments in the dollar hedge ratio of the Danish insurance and pensions companies in the newest edition of Danmarks Nationalbank’s biannual analysis Monetary and financial trends.**

    The data coverage approaches a full decade

    Note:

    Danish insurance and pension companies’ dollar hedge ratio measured as the hedged dollar exposure divided by the total dollar exposure.

    Source:

    Danmarks Nationalbank, DNFPVALE.

    * See Extended Statistic on Currency Exposure and Hedging (link).

    ** See Policy rates have been lowered, but monetary policy remains restrictive, Danmarks Nationalbank Analysis (Monetary and financial trends), no. 13, September 2024 (link).

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Secretary-General of ASEAN meets with Minister of Labour and Vocational Training of the Kingdom of Cambodia

    Source: ASEAN

    Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, this afternoon met with Minister of Labour and Vocational Training of Cambodia, H.E. Heng Sour, on the sidelines of the 28th ASEAN Labour Ministers’ Meeting (ALMM), on 30 October 2024, in Singapore. They exchanged views on the follow-up actions to the ASEAN Guidelines on Portability of Social Security Benefits for Migrant Workers in ASEAN, which was championed by Cambodia and adopted by the ALMM this year. Dr. Kao expressed the ASEAN Secretariat’s readiness to fully support Cambodia-led regional initiatives as well as that of other ASEAN Member States in order to advance social protection for all workers and to strengthen resilience and competencies of workforce in the region.

    The post Secretary-General of ASEAN meets with Minister of Labour and Vocational Training of the Kingdom of Cambodia appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Supply chain resilience drives 18% YoY growth in global M&A deal activity in Q3 2024, reveals GlobalData

    Source: GlobalData

    Supply chain resilience drives 18% YoY growth in global M&A deal activity in Q3 2024, reveals GlobalData

    Posted in Strategic Intelligence

    Despite high interest rates and modest economic growth, global mergers, and acquisition (M&A) deal activity surged during the third quarter (Q3) of 2024, with an 18% increase in total deal value year-over-year (YoY). Supply chain resilience drove this momentum, with $71 billion in supply chain-related transactions across 38 deals, spotlighting sectors like automotive, healthcare, and industrials, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

    GlobalData’s latest Strategic Intelligence report, “Global M&A Deals in Q3 2024 – Top Themes by Sector,” reveals that in terms of deal volume, there was a 4% increase from Q3 2023 to record 7,890 deals in Q3 2024.

    Priya Toppo, Analyst, Strategic Intelligence at GlobalData, comments: “An increase in geopolitical tensions, population growth, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations, labor shortages, and digital transformation have all contributed to a greater focus on supply chain related deals. This was especially true in the automotive, consumer, basic materials, healthcare, transportation, infrastructure, and logistics and industrials sectors.”

    The biggest supply chain deal was China First Heavy Industries’ merger with China Shipbuilding for $16 billion. This deal was also the biggest in the industrials sector in Q3 2024. It was followed by TowerBrook Capital Partners and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice’s acquisition of R1 RCM for $9 billion and Boeing’s acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems for $8 billion.

    Toppo continues: “An ongoing trend is the dominance of North America in M&A deal activity, accounting for 3,112 deals worth $325 billion during Q3 2024. However, Europe, China, South America, and the Middle East and Africa saw a YoY decline in deal value.”

    Toppo concludes: “The M&A forecast for the last quarter of 2024 is cautiously optimistic, as potential rate cuts in certain markets and a generally improving global economic outlook could drive the activity. Nonetheless, mega-deals may encounter obstacles, especially in the US, where antitrust issues remain a priority for regulators.”

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: France defense expenditure to reach $67.8 billion in 2029, forecasts GlobalData

    Source: GlobalData

    In July 2023, France outlined its defense spending plans for the next six years in the Military Planning Law (LPM) 2024-30, expanding the modernization initiatives kickstarted by LPM 2019-25 to reflect evolving geostrategic dynamics and better incorporate emerging technologies, including unmanned and space-based assets. Against this backdrop, France is expected to increase defense spending from $60.4 billion in 2024 to $67.8 billion in 2029, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

    GlobalData’s latest report, “France Defense Market Size, Trends, Budget Allocation, Regulations, Acquisitions, Competitive Landscape and Forecast to 2029”, reveals that France’s defense spending is forecast to rise to $64 billion in 2025.

    Tristan Sauer, Senior Defense Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The deterioration of European security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the importance of France’s strategic reforms, providing the impetus for further and more diversified investment in defense and security capabilities. The most recent spending commitments will allow French defense expenditures to surpass 2% of GDP and finally attain the minimum threshold recommended for NATO members.”

    France’s armed forces continue to pursue modernization across the different operational domains. The largest amount of spending is being directed to the fixed-wing aircraft, missiles and missile defense systems, naval vessels, submarines, and armored vehicles market segments over the next several years. Between 2024-2034, France’s largest investments are for the international FCAS New Generation Fighter program ($17.9 billion), the SNLE 3G nuclear submarines ($17.3 billion), and various upgrades to the Rafale fighter jet program ($12.9 billion).

    Sauer continues: “These investments are indicative of a renewed strategic focus on the commensurate rise of both great power competition and the risk of high intensity conflict. Procurement of conventional capabilities such as aircraft, naval assets, artillery, armored vehicles, and weapons systems is being supplemented with investment in cybersecurity as well as space systems to account for the increasingly diffuse and multi-domain nature of modern warfare.”

    As with many western nations, France is facing recruitment issues leading to personnel shortages despite growing investment. GlobalData forecasts that France will spend $125.9 billion on military personnel between 2025-2029, though spending will only increase at a CAGR of 0.5%, which is far slower than the 1.26% CAGR achieved between 2020-2024.

    Sauer concludes: “France’s continued investments in modernization and acquisition programs provide substance to the broader political refocus on strategic competition and its associated risks, with the nation’s growing defense industrial base providing growing opportunities for international engagement. However, much like with the US and other NATO allies, lackluster performance with regards to personnel recruitment and retention is indicative of a wider challenge, which current investments have thus far failed to overcome.”

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Tech startups well placed to proliferate in Africa as digitalization enables growth in greenfield projects, says GlobalData

    Source: GlobalData

    Tech startups well placed to proliferate in Africa as digitalization enables growth in greenfield projects, says GlobalData

    Posted in Technology

    With digitalization as a key enabler of organic growth in greenfield projects in Africa, technology startups are well placed to capitalize on the desire of larger and established corporations wanting to move into various enterprise technologies in the region, according to research conducted by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

    Recent tie ups – including Safaricom’s deal with Kenyan SaaS startup tappi, American security firm Unartificial Labs tapping Tunisian startup Enova Robotics, and British payment processing firm partnership and financial inclusion firm Paymentology partnering with Zambian fintech startup Union54 – point to this trend.

    Ismail Patel, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Technology and Services at GlobalData, says: “Africa remains a price-sensitive market not only for consumers but also for corporate buyers. This means that technology enablement beyond the deployment of costly physical infrastructure will be a space occupied by smaller vendors who are both less costly and seeking to build their own profiles in the region.”

    GlobalData analysis finds Africa is seeing burgeoning growth in the number of tech startups across cybersecurity, IoT, fintech, SaaS, APIs, analytics, blockchain, and AI. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity associated with these startups has picked up over the past decade, and the number of contractual deals with startups, both inside Africa and beyond, is growing.

    The expectation is that this expansion will continue to grow as there is plenty of room for organic growth across key sectors, including rural communities and SMBs (small and medium businesses), where digitalization is a prime enabler for next-gen technology adoption and boosting national economies. Still, the key buyers for these startups will remain the large African corporate enterprises looking to either partner with them or bring them in-house via acquisition.

    Patel concludes: “Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Tunisia have emerged as the tech startup capitals across Africa. Tech enablement is being fueled by capital raising success stories across the board, from debt financing and governmental grants to angel and venture capital investments, all of which are encouraging the startup trends. In its own way, the region is responding to the global technological boom.”

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: The 17th Meeting of the High-Level Task Force on ASEAN Community’s Post-2025 Vision (HLTF-ACV) convenes

    Source: ASEAN

    Co-Chaired by Lao PDR and Malaysia, the 17th Meeting of the HLTF-ACV starts today, 29 October 2024, in Hoi An, Viet Nam, with drafting sessions of the APSC Strategic Plan. The ASEAN Community Vision 2045 and the Strategic Plans of the three Community Pillars and ASEAN Connectivity are expected to be adopted in 2025.

    The post The 17th Meeting of the High-Level Task Force on ASEAN Community’s Post-2025 Vision (HLTF-ACV) convenes appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Northern Ireland Named As The UK’s Future ‘Silicon Valley’

    Source: Samsung

     

     
    LONDON, UK – October 30, 2024 – Samsung Electronics Co. (UK) Ltd has unveiled that Northern Ireland is set to become the ‘Silicon Valley’ of the United Kingdom, with a staggering 77% of young people in the country looking to pursue a career in technology. The findings align with data from the Intellectual Property Office, which shows that patent applications have increased by 33% in Northern Ireland between 2022-23, compared to an increase of just 11% in London.
     
    Whilst a high proportion of young people living in the Capital are considering working in technology (69%), other potential hotbeds for future innovators include the West Midlands (63%), North-East (63%), East of England (62%), East Midlands (61%) and Yorkshire and The Humber (57%).
     
    In terms of cities, Coventry scored highly (79%), with Cambridge (76%) and Birmingham (71%) also being seen as future hotbeds for inventions and tech.
     
    When it comes to motivation, almost half (48%) of young people polled were confident that they could invent or develop a technology product that would positively impact society. This desire for ‘tech for good’ can also be seen amongst the 85% of young people who believe that a career in technology would allow them to positively contribute to society, and the 20% who would be interested in working in tech start-ups with societal purpose. Other key areas of technology young people aspire to have a career in include app development (41%), cybersecurity (35%), AI for Good (31%) and health-based technology (30%).
     
    The findings have been released as Samsung launches its fifth Solve for Tomorrow competition, which aims to find and support young innovators across the UK.
     
    The research revealed that although young people are particularly ambitious when it comes to their ability to make positive change to the world through tech, they are facing challenges in making this a reality. In fact, the study found 39 per cent of those polled believe there are too few resources for them to make a change in society through technology. This is despite a third (33%) believing they have what it takes to create the next big tech invention.
     

     
    Breaking Barriers To Entry
     
    Despite the ambition of young people across the country, there’s still a strong sense that making a change in the world through tech isn’t an option for everyone. When asked, 96% of young people believed there are barriers to entering the tech industry, and 65% believe that their personal background impacts their ability to harness their creativity through tech.
     
    A lack of education (40%), practical experience (36%) and lack of contacts or mentors in the industry (31%) were listed as the top barriers to entry for young people.
     
    Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow competition asks 16–25-year-olds to come up with ideas that help solve societal challenges, then help bring them to life through offering free educational workshops, mentoring, funding and support.
     

     
    Commenting on the competition launch, Soohyun Jessie Park, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Samsung Electronics UK, said: “We’re beyond excited to kick-off our fifth year of Solve for Tomorrow. Innovation is for everyone and no young person should ever feel discouraged to pursue a good idea. This is why we’re proud to be working with our partners Social Mobility Foundation and InnovateHer again this year. Our research shows the UK is full of young people with confidence and potential, but they still feel like they don’t have the support they need to make a difference through tech. That’s what the Solve for Tomorrow programme aims to address.”
     
    Applications to the competition are now open, following a panel discussion launch event held at Samsung KX to inspire future changemakers, and featuring rapper and entrepreneur, Krept. The competition offers two age categories – 16-18 and 18-25. Winning teams in both categories receive £10,000 cash prize in funding, and three months expert mentoring with a personalised action plan, to help bring their ideas to life. Young people across the country can visit the Solve For Tomorrow website for more information, and enter here.
     

     
    About his role as a Solve for Tomorrow ambassador, British musician, broadcaster and entrepreneur, Krept. said: “As an entrepreneur, I’ve been in the position where you have an idea but you don’t know how to make it a reality. It’s a struggle everyone faces, but unfortunately, it’s easier for some to get around that than others. Programmes like Solve for Tomorrow from Samsung are great – they help remove the barriers young people face, whether it’s not having a degree or not knowing the right person – I’m thrilled to be involved in this initiative.”
     
    Talking at the panel event at KX, Sarah Atkinson, CEO of Social Mobility Foundation, said of the programme partnership: “Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. At The Social Mobility Foundation, we work towards creating a culture where young people from all social backgrounds can thrive, leading to more representation and innovation. Solve for Tomorrow equips and empowers young minds to create solutions to real-world issues and we are proud to be partnering again with Samsung on this exciting initiative.”
     
    Chelsea Slater, CEO at InnovateHer, also commented: “We’re thrilled to partner with Samsung on the Solve for Tomorrow initiative, which aligns perfectly with InnovateHer’s mission to empower the next generation of diverse innovators. This programme gives young people, especially girls, the opportunity to tackle real-world problems using technology, while building essential skills for the future. By working together, we’re ensuring that more young women are inspired, included, and equipped to lead in the tech industry—helping to create a more inclusive and innovative future for everyone.”
     
    To enter this year’s competition, go to: www.samsung.com/uk/solvefortomorrow/competition/
     
    Methodology Consumer research was commissioned to 1,000 UK teenagers aged 13-19 between the 4th and 10th October 2024 by OnePoll. Onepoll are members of ESOMAR and comply with the ESOMAR guidelines for online research.
    Patent information was obtained via the Intellectual Property Office.
     

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Joint Communique of the Twenty-Eight ASEAN Labour Ministers Meeting (28th ALMM)

    Source: ASEAN

    The 28th ASEAN Labour Ministers’ Meeting (ALMM) was held on 30 October 2024 in Singapore. The Meeting was chaired by H.E. Dr. Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower of Singapore, and attended by representatives of ASEAN Member States, Secretary-General of ASEAN and their respective accompanying delegations. The representatives of Timor-Leste attended as observers.As ALMM commemorates its 50th year since the ALMM first met in Jakarta, April 1975, and guided by Singapore’s 28th ALMM Chairmanship theme “Strengthening Resilience and Promoting Innovation,” we exchanged views on fundamental labour issues in the face of the rapidly changing world of work. Technological advancement, digital and green economy, demographic changes, and intensifying labour mobility present challenges and opportunities to the labour markets of ASEAN Member States. We affirmed the remarkable progress of cooperation under the ALMM over the past 50 years and looked forward to sustained regional cooperation to build a resilient and dynamic ASEAN workforce.

    Download the full statement here.
    The post Joint Communique of the Twenty-Eight ASEAN Labour Ministers Meeting (28th ALMM) appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Thirty years of WTO technical assistance enhancing participation in world trade

    Source: World Trade Organization

    Since its establishment in 1995, the WTO has supported the participation of developing economies and least-developed countries (LDCs) in the multilateral trading system through the provision of technical assistance, helping beneficiaries develop their capacity to take full advantage of global trade. Over the past 30 years, more than 320,000 government officials have benefited from this assistance.

    WTO technical assistance is a pivotal function of the organization and has evolved constantly to meet the emerging needs of the beneficiaries and a changing global environment, with an increasing focus on achieving measurable results.

    Regional breakdown of activities

    The WTO has conducted over 10,000 technical assistance activities for its eligible members and observers since 1995. In the initial three years following the organization’s establishment, these activities were carried out globally, without focusing on particular regions. However, starting in 1998, the focus shifted toward addressing the specific needs of individual members, either regionally or at the domestic level.

    Africa has consistently received the largest share of technical assistance, averaging around 30 per cent of annual activities and rising as high as 40 per cent between 2005 and 2011 (see Chart 1). The Asia-Pacific region has benefited from roughly 20 per cent of activities. The Middle East, the Caribbean, and Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia have received respectively between 5 per cent and 10 per cent annually. Latin America has also featured prominently in technical assistance programmes, receiving on average approximately 10 per cent of activities.

    Developing online technical assistance

    The launch in 2004 of the WTO technical assistance e-Learning platform, which was upgraded in 2022, was a game-changer in terms of delivering more accessible technical assistance and providing more cost-effective training. The platform gained additional importance during the COVID-19 pandemic, when travel restrictions prevented face-to-face activities.

    Since 1995, over 110,000 government officials have been trained via the e-Learning platform, representing more than a third of the total number of beneficiaries (see Chart 2). The number of e‑Learning participants per year has surpassed the number of beneficiaries of face-to-face activities since 2014. More recently, a new approach, combining e‑Learning, face-to-face and virtual activities is gradually being introduced.

    WTO technical assistance is primarily aimed at government officials, but its outreach extends to other key groups, including the academic community through the WTO Chairs Programme, as well as members of parliament, journalists, the private sector and non-governmental organizations.

    Evolving pedagogical approaches

    In 2010, a progressive learning strategy was introduced to improve the efficient use of resources in technical assistance delivery by focusing on advancing participants’ skills progressively. This progressive learning strategy structures technical assistance activities around three levels of learning — introductory, intermediate and advanced — and two training paths — for generalists and for specialists — with the aim of building beneficiaries’ capacity in a sustainable and cumulative manner.

    The training methods used in the delivery of technical assistance programmes have also evolved over time. While the approach in 1995 was predominantly lecture-based, the proportion of lectures in the total training time has been somewhat reduced since 2013 in favour of face-to-face activities incorporating more hands-on sessions and interactive pedagogical techniques (see Chart 3). Recent years have seen the introduction of mentoring and coaching.

    In addition to training programmes, the first internship programme was launched in 1998. Since then, four other similar programmes have been set up. These internship opportunities have collectively benefited more than 800 participants from over 100 WTO members and observers.

    Priorities for technical assistance

    WTO technical assistance is governed by biennial plans setting out priorities and strategies to ensure that the needs of beneficiaries are effectively met. In 2013, a results-based management approach was implemented to improve monitoring of all WTO technical assistance activities, from planning to evaluation. The approach aims to produce specific and measurable results to improve beneficiaries’ capacity to participate in the multilateral trading system.

    Since its introduction, the proportion of technical assistance targets fully or partially met, such as successful completion of the courses, reached 91 per cent in 2018. This number declined between 2020 and 2022 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on technical assistance delivery but rose again in 2023 (see Chart 4).

    WTO negotiations and implementation of WTO agreements: Some measurable results

    Technical assistance has contributed to improving the capacity of developing WTO members and observers, and particularly LDCs, to engage effectively in WTO negotiations and participate in the work of WTO bodies. It has also been essential to economies wishing to join the WTO as they proceed through their WTO accession processes.

    For several recent agreements negotiated at the WTO (e.g., the agreements on trade facilitation, fisheries subsidies and investment facilitation for development), provisions related to technical assistance for developing and LDC members have been crucial to concluding the negotiations. Over the past 10 years alone, thousands of government officials have benefited from technical assistance training programmes designed to strengthen their capacity to comply with obligations under WTO agreements and to benefit fully from these WTO agreements (see Chart 5).

    The topics covered by technical assistance training programmes have continued to evolve over the years in line with the priorities defined by beneficiaries. This flexibility allows WTO technical assistance to take account of evolving issues on the WTO agenda, such as digital trade, the green economy and inclusive trade.

    The impact of these efforts can be measured in different ways. For example, WTO technical assistance has striven through capacity-building to stimulate a sustained increase in the number of proposals or other documents covering a variety of topics under negotiation or discussion submitted to WTO bodies by technical assistance beneficiaries. These contributions have been invaluable in making trade deliberations and decision-making more inclusive.

    Strengthening the capacity of technical assistance beneficiaries to fulfil their transparency obligations under various WTO agreements, including by notifying new trade measures, is among the performance targets for WTO technical assistance. As the overall volume of notification obligations has increased each year, technical assistance efforts have enabled beneficiaries not only to keep pace with their new notification obligations, but even to reduce their backlog progressively.  

    Financial commitments to WTO technical assistance

    WTO technical assistance is financed both by the regular budget of the WTO Secretariat and by means of voluntary contributions made by WTO members to trust funds. A total of over CHF 500 million has been committed since 1995. Contributions from the regular budget reached their highest levels between 2002 and 2013 and have remained at CHF 4.5 million since then. Meanwhile, members’ voluntary contributions have steadily declined, dropping from CHF 23 million on average between 2007 and 2009 to CHF 6.3 million in 2023 (see Chart 6).

    Sustained funding continues to be essential to responding efficiently to the evolving needs of members and securing the technical assistance necessary for an inclusive multilateral trading system.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: W&T Offshore Announces Timing of Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Release and Conference Call

    Source: W & T Offshore Inc

    Headline: W&T Offshore Announces Timing of Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Release and Conference Call

    HOUSTON, Oct. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE: WTI) (the “Company”) today announced the timing of its third quarter 2024 earnings release and conference call.

    The Company said it will issue its third quarter 2024 earnings release on Thursday, November 7, 2024, after the close of trading on the NYSE and host a conference call to discuss financial and operational results on Friday morning, November 8, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. Central Time (10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.)

    Interested parties may participate by dialing (844) 739-3797. International parties may dial (412) 317-5713. Participants should request to be joined to the “W&T Offshore, Inc. Conference Call.” This call will also be webcast and available on W&T Offshore’s website at www.wtoffshore.com under “Investors.” An audio replay will be available on the Company’s website following the call.

    About W&T Offshore

    W&T Offshore, Inc. is an independent oil and natural gas producer with operations offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and has grown through acquisitions, exploration and development. As of June 30, 2024, the Company had working interests in 63 fields in federal and state waters (which include 55 fields in federal waters and eight in state waters). The Company has under lease approximately 678,100 gross acres (520,400 net acres) spanning across the outer continental shelf off the coasts of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama, with approximately 519,000 gross acres on the conventional shelf, approximately 153,500 gross acres in the deepwater and 5,600 gross acres in Alabama state waters. A majority of the Company’s daily production is derived from wells it operates. For more information on W&T, please visit the Company’s website at www.wtoffshore.com.

         
    CONTACTS: Al Petrie Sameer Parasnis
      Investor Relations Coordinator Executive VP and CFO
      investorrelations@wtoffshore.com sparasnis@wtoffshore.com
      713-297-8024 713-513-8654
         

    This press release was published by a CLEAR® Verified individual.

    Source: W&T Offshore, Inc.

    Released October 30, 2024

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: RBI to conduct 14-day Variable Rate Reverse Repo (VRRR) auction under LAF on October 31, 2024

    Source: Reserve Bank of India

    On a review of the current and evolving liquidity conditions, it has been decided to conduct a Variable Rate Reverse Repo (VRRR) auction on October 31, 2024, Thursday, as under:

    Sl. No. Notified Amount
    (₹ crore)    		 Tenor
    (day)    		 Window Timing Date of Reversal
    1 1,75,000 14 10:30 AM to 11:00 AM November 14, 2024
    (Thursday)

    2. The operational guidelines for the auction as given in the Reserve Bank’s Press Release 2019-2020/1947 dated February 13, 2020 will remain the same.

    Ajit Prasad          
    Deputy General Manager
    (Communications)    

    Press Release: 2024-2025/1403

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: grmcapitalspro.com: BaFin investigates the company GRMcapitalsPRO

    Source: Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – In English

    The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) warns consumers about the company GRMcapitalsPRO and the services it is offering. BaFin has information that the company is offering banking business and/or financial services in Germany on its website grmcapitalspro.com without the required authorisation. The company is not supervised by BaFin.

    Financial services may only be offered in Germany if the company providing these services has the necessary authorisation from BaFin to do this. However, some companies offer these services without the necessary authorisation. Information on whether a particular company has been granted authorisation by BaFin can be found in BaFin’s database of companies.

    Theinformation provided by BaFin is based on section 37 (4) of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz – KWG).

    Please be aware:

    BaFin, the German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt – BKA) and the German state criminal police offices (Landeskriminalämter) recommend that consumers seeking to invest money online should exercise the utmost caution and do the necessary research beforehand in order to identify fraud attempts at an early stage.

    MIL OSI Economics –