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White House’s Kudlow says Jerome Powell can turn into good Fed chairman

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell holds news conference following two-day policy meeting in Washington
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell holds a news conference following the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo/File Photo

April 11, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Thursday that he has confidence in Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and believes he will turn into a good central bank chairman.

At a speaking event, Kudlow also said the White House is sticking by Herman Cain as a candidate for a Federal Reserve Board seat at the moment. President Donald Trump insists that Cain go through the Senate confirmation process but still supports him, said Kudlow.

(Reporting By Jeff Mason; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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StanChart extends U.S. deferred prosecution agreement by 10 days

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: A logo of Standard Chartered is displayed at its main branch in Hong Kong
FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: A logo of Standard Chartered is displayed at its main branch in Hong Kong, China August 1, 2017. REUTERS/Bobby Yip/File Photo

April 1, 2019

By Lawrence White

LONDON (Reuters) – Standard Chartered has agreed a 10-day extension of its deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with United States authorities over Iranian sanctions violations, suggesting the conclusion of a probe into its behavior may be near.

The bank said on Monday the short extension will run until April 10, implying it could soon reach a settlement with U.S. authorities over whether it continued to violate sanctions after 2007 when it said it would no longer do business with Iran.

“This brief extension will allow additional time to resolve the outstanding investigation into our historical U.S. sanctions compliance,” a StanChart spokeswoman said.

The bank has already paid $667 million for sanctions violations prior to 2007, and has warned in its most recent annual report that resolving the U.S. probe could mean “substantial monetary penalties.”

The lender said that the fresh agreement does not include the independent monitor installed in the bank and tasked with checking on its efforts to improve sanctions compliance, meaning the monitor’s term ended on March 31.

StanChart has been subject to the DPA with the United States since 2012, when it promised to end dealings with clients linked to Iran and to improve its compliance systems to prevent such activity happening again.

The DPA, which carries the threat of a bigger penalty if Standard Chartered breaks the terms of the settlement, had been due to expire on March 31 after it was extended in 2014, 2017 and 2018.

(Reporting by Lawrence White; Editing by David Goodman and David Evans)

Source: OANN

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Romanian Senate approves draft bill that could close graft cases

FILE PHOTO: Romanian Prime Minister Dancila attends a debate at the European Parliament in Strasbourg
FILE PHOTO: Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila attends a debate on the priorities of the Romanian presidency of the E.U. for the next six months, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, January 15, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler/File Photo

April 17, 2019

By Luiza Ilie and Radu-Sorin Marinas

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romania’s Senate approved changes to the criminal code on Wednesday that could shut down a number of ongoing high-level graft cases in one of the European Union’s most corrupt states.

The changes are the latest in a series made by the ruling Social Democrats since they came to power in 2017 that are seen by critics as threats to judicial independence. They could further heighten EU concerns about democratic values in some of its eastern states.

Among the changes to the criminal code is shortening the statute of limitations covering some offences, a move that would automatically shut down a number of ongoing cases. The lower house has the final say on the revised criminal code, and is likely to pass the law in a final vote expected next week.

However, opposition lawmakers and centrist President Klaus Iohannis could challenge the changes at the Constitutional Court, delaying enforcement.

Ruling party leader Liviu Dragnea, who has a suspended jail term in a vote-rigging case and an ongoing appeal against a second conviction for inciting others to commit abuse of office, would be among the politicians to benefit from the changes.

Social Democrat lawmakers initially spearheaded an overhaul of the country’s criminal codes last year. The European Commission said the proposed changes were a reversal of a decade of democratic and market reforms in the former Communist country.

The Constitutional Court struck down many of the changes following challenges by opposition lawmakers. Since then, the Social Democrats have been pressuring their own government to approve a smaller revision via emergency decree.

Unlike parliament bills, emergency decrees come into effect immediately and are much harder to challenge at the Constitutional Court.

Previous attempts to decriminalize several graft offences via decree triggered the largest street protests in decades.

The government has delayed approving the decree and a second one that would allow politicians and others convicted of graft since 2014 to retroactively challenge the verdicts handed down by the supreme court.

Twelve Western nations urged Bucharest earlier this month to scrap the decrees.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said she will fire Justice Minister Tudorel Toader unless he resigns first, potentially making way for a replacement who would push the decrees through.

Senior members of the ruling party have criticized Toader in recent weeks for delaying passage of the decrees.

“Minister (Toader) was wrong when he said he would do some things and then didn’t finalize them,” Dancila told reporters.

Asked about the decrees, Dancila said, “To approve an act in the government, I would have to have it on my table: I did not have it”.

Toader said on his Facebook page that there was not enough time to answer all of what he called misinformation.

He has been criticized by those advocating more transparency in Romania after he campaigned successfully to force out former chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi – a frontrunner to become the EU’s first fraud prosecutor.

He also created a special unit to investigate magistrates, seen by critics as a political tool to muzzle prosecutors.

Transparency International ranks Romania, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, among the bloc’s most corrupt states. Brussels has praised Romanian magistrates for their efforts to curb graft.

The EU stepped up its defense of judicial independence and rule of law across the EU this month, announcing new legal measures against Poland and cautioning Romania not to pardon corrupt politicians.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie and Radu Marinas; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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Denver airport’s $14.5M taxpayer-funded sign busted after less than 2 years in use: reports

Denver International Airport built a wall of sorts -- a 1,000-foot-long collection of illuminated poles interrupted by large television screens for displaying ads -- but now the wall doesn't work right.

The $14.5 million government-funded Panasonic sign has broken down after only 16 months in operation, leaving many questioning if the sign will ever rake in enough ad dollars to recoup the large investment, according to a report.

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The structure had been gradually deteriorating since being activated in 2017. The airport decided to shut off the “sticks” on April 5 until Panasonic can repair the problems, the Denver Post reported. The sign will still display advertisements on its large television screens in the meantime.

Panasonic received $11.5 from Denver International to build the sign and another $3 million to maintain it over 12 years, the Post reported. The airport grossed only $21,000 on its investment in 2018, prompting city officials to step in to ramp up ad sales, Denver's FOX 31 reported.

The Denver City Council hired an outside advertising firm, Outfront Media LLC, in February, to try to convince companies to place their ads on the multimillion-dollar sign. As per the contract, the airport will receive a minimum of $12,500 in monthly revenue until the sign begins to generate more revenue.

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The airport will receive 67 percent of gross ad sales, the rest going to the firm, Denver International told FOX 31. However, the airport expects to generate revenue at a higher pace in the coming months, expecting $1.2 worth of ad sales by the end of the contract’s first year.

Source: Fox News National

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UK’s Hammond says not there yet on Brexit vote support

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is seen outside Downing Street ahead of a Brexit vote in London
Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond walks outside Downing Street ahead of a Brexit vote in London, Britain March 14, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville

March 17, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The British government does not yet have the support of enough lawmakers to win a parliamentary vote on its Brexit deal but a “significant number” of colleagues are coming around to back the plan, finance minister Philip Hammond said on Sunday.

Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to bring her deal back to parliament for a third vote this week, but Hammond said it would only go ahead if the government thought it could win.

“What has happened since last Tuesday is that a significant number of colleagues, including some very prominent ones who have gone public, have changed their view on this and decided that the alternatives are so unpalatable to them that they on reflection think the prime minister’s deal is the best way to deliver Brexit,” he told BBC’s Andrew Marr program.

Asked if the government had enough numbers yet, he replied: “Not yet, it is a work in progress.”

British lawmakers rejected May’s deal by 149 votes on March 12.

(Reporting by Kate Holton and Elizabeth Piper)

Source: OANN

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UK PM May will give parliament a ‘meaningful’ Brexit vote on Tuesday: spokesman

Prime Minister Theresa May speaks on Brexit ahead of next week's vote in Parliament on her revised Brexit deal in Grimsby
FILE PHOTO: British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a speech during her visit in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, Britain March 8, 2019. Christopher Furlong/Pool via REUTERS

March 11, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May will hold the so-called a meaningful vote on her Brexit deal on Tuesday as planned, her spokesman said after media reports that she could downgrade the status of the vote.

The spokesman said the government’s motion which will be debated and voted on would be published later on Monday.

“It will be a meaningful vote,” the spokesman told reporters after being asked what the vote on Tuesday would entail – whether it would be on the Brexit deal as it stands or on a hoped-for deal that includes limitations to the so-called Irish backstop that have not as yet been agreed in Brussels.

“It’s important to note the PM spoke to (European Commision President) Jean-Claude Juncker by phone yesterday evening and talks are continuing. The PM and negotiating teams are focused on making progress so we can secure parliament’s support for the deal.”

(Reporting By Elizabeth Piper. Writing by Andrew MacAskill; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)

Source: OANN

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How the Feds Promoted Segregated Housing

Was the New Deal responsible for segregated housing?

The New Deal was filled with legislation that disproportionately hurt minorities such as African Americans. The Wagner Act of 1935, which granted entrenched labor unions major leeway in excluding low-wage workers, allowed these same unions to discriminate against blacks. Additionally, the Davis-Bacon Act was designed to prevent African American construction workers from working on public projects during the Great Depression.

However, one of the least discussed aspects of discriminatory government policy during Franklin Roosevelt’s administration was in housing.

In the article, How FDR Promoted Racial Segregation , Jim Powell detailed some interesting facts about New Deal housing policy. With the Great Depression in full swing, once FDR stepped into office, one of his legislative priorities was to promote home ownership among America’s middle class. FDR established the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC), which spent roughly $3 billion refinancing mortgages for people who failed to make their mortgage payments.

To minimize risks, HOLC would develop more standardized methods for property assessment. According to Powell, “HOLC rated properties and neighborhoods on a descending scale from most desirable to least desirable, and maps were produced to help speed up the process of evaluating mortgage applications.”

The neighborhoods were divided up into four categories:

Neighborhoods were marked as A (green), B (blue), C (yellow) or D (red). An “A” neighborhood was suburban with recent construction, low crime, business and professional people – a white neighborhood. A “D” neighborhood was inner city, old buildings often in need of repair, sometimes high crime – a minority neighborhood. HOLC avoided “D” neighborhoods. This was how official redlining began.

One year after FDR created the HOLC, he established the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Instead of loaning money or building anything, it provided insurance “that guaranteed to make bankers whole when they wrote mortgages for properties approved of by the FHA.”

Since the probability of mortgage defaults was high, the FHA took a page out of the HOLC’s playbook and crafted policies to minimize risk. Powell explains how the FHA fostered discrimination:

FHA mortgage insurance was originally limited to $20,000, so FHA officials favored “B” housing — modest, single-family homes with comfortable lots in all-white suburban residential neighborhoods where business and professional people lived. In “A” neighborhoods, homes tended to cost more than $20,000, and not many people needed help from the FHA. Officials were concerned about the presence of “inharmonious racial or nationality groups.” Few FHA-insured loans went to blacks. The FHA steered mortgage lending away from cities.

Discriminatory housing policies were a hallmark of the New Deal. Historian Kenneth H. Jackson argued that the “FHA exhorted segregation and enshrined it as public policy” for decades.

The Revival of the Segregated Housing Question

There was relative silence on the discriminatory nature of the New Deal housing policy until Richard Rothstein broke the silence in his book The Color of Law .

In an interview , Rothstein emphasizes that the government was the main catalyst of housing segregation:

“In many cases, the federal government did create…segregation in metropolitan areas and in cities that had never known segregation before. In other cases…it did reinforce segregation that was already in existence. But the country was much, much more segregated as a result of these federal policies than it was before, or would be today without them.”

World War II saw a significant portion of the population uprooted from their homes in order to contribute to the war effort either on the battlefield or in the domestic defense industry. Rothstein highlighted the case of Richmond, California and its segregationist policy:

From 1940 to 1945, the influx of war workers resulted in Richmond’s population exploding from 24,000 to more than 100,000. Richmond’s black population soared from 270 to 14,000….With such rapid population growth, housing could not be put up fast enough. The federal government stepped in with public housing. It was officially and explicitly segregated. Located along railroad tracks and close to the shipbuilding area, federally financed housing for African Americans in Richmond was poorly constructed and intended to be temporary. For white defense workers, government housing was built farther inland, closer to white residential areas, and some of it was sturdily constructed and permanent. Because Richmond had been overwhelmingly white before the war, the federal government’s decision to segregate public housing established segregated living patterns that persist to this day.

Although the South is commonly perceived as the hyper-segregated region of the country, Rothstein uncovered that Northern, liberal Democrats like Hubert Humphrey, who sponsored the Civil Rights Act of 1964, were adamant about maintaining segregated housing. As Rothstein points out in the interview, Northern liberals were actually opposed to any form of housing integration during the amendment process of the Housing Act of 1949:

Republicans in Congress put forward an amendment to Truman’s 1949 Housing Act, requiring that from now on, public housing had to be integrated. No more segregation in public housing. They assumed that conservative republicans would be able to get northern liberal democrats to support this amendment, and the amendment would pass. Then once the housing bill was saddled with an integration amendment, southern democrats would abandon it, and the entire bill would go down to defeat.

Well, the result was that northern liberals campaigned against the integration amendment. They were led by Hubert Humphrey, a civil rights advocate in the Senate, the leading civil rights advocate in the Senate was Paul Douglas of Illinois, and he also led the campaign against the integration amendment. The integration amendment was defeated. The 1949 Housing Act was adopted, preserving segregation in public housing.

Approximately 20 years later, the passage of the Fair Housing Act ended discrimination against African Americans during the home buying process. However, there was one problem — most housing was now unaffordable for both African Americans and working-class whites. Rothstein adds:

By the time the federal government decided finally to allow African Americans into the suburbs, the window of opportunity for an integrated nation had mostly closed. In 1948, for example, Levittown homes sold for about $8,000, or about $75,000 in today’s dollars. Now, properties in Levittown without major remodeling…sell for $350,000 and up. White families who bought those homes in 1948 have gained, over three generations, more than $200,000.

Most American families from the 1940s until the passage of the 1968 Fair Housing Act built their wealth from equity. On the other hand, African Americans were usually renting properties and accumulating no equity or owned less attractive properties. This is arguably one of the reasons why white Americans dwarf African Americans in terms of accumulated wealth .

What Must be Done?

Rothstein’s research has brought new light to segregation in the United States. It’s clear that government policy may have played a larger role in institutionalizing segregation than cultural norms. So what can be done to resolve this problem?

On one hand, completely getting rid of segregation is not very feasible when taking into account that people tend to self-segregate . And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. People should have the right to associate with whomever they please. Numerous ethnic enclaves such as Black Wall Street, Chinatown , and Koreatown have thrived without any need to be forcibly integrated.

Rothstein is no libertarian, and in fact, has actually floated the idea of “federal subsidies for middle-class African-Americans to purchase homes in suburbs.” Frankly, with so much government involvement in housing, adding more subsidies into the mix is simply sub-optimal.

Instead, we need genuine liberalization in housing markets. That means doing away with zoning laws and land-use regulations that restrict housing supply, thus pricing out many potential buyers, especially African Americans.

Source: InfoWars

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Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas
Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Manaure Quintero

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s foreign minister and a Venezuelan judge, according to a statement on the department’s website.

Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and a judge, Carol Padilla, were targeted over the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the Treasury Department said, the latest in a list of officials blacklisted by U.S. authorities for their role in President Nicolas Maduro’s government.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Makini Brice and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of
Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of “Avengers: Endgame” in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Marvel Studios superhero spectacle “Avengers: Endgame” hauled in a record $60 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices during its Thursday night debut, distributor Walt Disney Co said.

Global ticket sales for the film about Iron Man, Hulk and other popular characters reached $305 million for the first two days, Disney said.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Funeral of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attends the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland April 24, 2019. Brian Lawless/Pool via REUTERS

April 26, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said on Friday he had turned down an invitation to a state dinner which will be part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Britain in June.

“Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honor a president who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric,” Corbyn said in a statement.

He said maintaining the relationship with the United States did not require “the pomp and ceremony of a state visit” and he said he would welcome a meeting with Trump “to discuss all matters of interest.”

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Writing by William Schomberg)

Source: OANN

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A bedridden 67-year-old woman and more than a dozen animals were rescued Thursday after a welfare check found that they were living in a home filled with trash, urine, and feces, Florida police said.

Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies said when they arrived at the home in Dunedin around 7:20 p.m. Thursday, they could smell the odor of rotting trash and animal feces as they walked up to the driveway.

“Inside the residence, the odor of feces and urine was so overwhelming that deputies had to don masks,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement.

FLORIDA SHERIFF ON BORDER CRISIS AFTER MAJOR DRUG BUST: ‘IT MAKES ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY’

Walking throughout the residence, the deputies found 10 emaciated dogs and puppies living in bins filled with their own feces, five large Macaw birds flying freely, rats, bugs and overall squalor.

Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces.

Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)

Deputies said due to the large amounts of trash in the home, they had to clear a path to reach the victim’s bedroom.

“None of the home’s toilets were working and all were found to be overflowing with feces,” deputies said. “The only working sink was located on the opposite end of the house from the victim’s bedroom.”

They said there was no food or water for the victim or the animals.

FLORIDA MAN IN EASTER BUNNY COSTUME CAUGHT IN VIRAL BRAWL IS WANTED IN NEW JERSEY, HAS HISTORY OF ARRESTS

The victim was transported to a local hospital for injuries that were non-life threatening, while the animals were transported to shelters.

The woman’s caretaker, Richard Lawrence Goodwin, 65, was arrested and charged with abuse and neglect of an elderly person, disabled person, and cruelty to animals.

Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions.

Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)

The sheriff’s department said this was Goodwin’s second arrest for abuse and neglect of the same victim. He was previously arrested in May 2018.

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Neighbor Victoria Muenzerbeer told FOX 13 that Goodwin and the victim were hoarders and the conditions inside the home were horrible years ago when she visited once.

“I went in and it was absolutely, a human being couldn’t live there,” she said. “The kitchen wasn’t usable and part of the wall was falling in.”

Source: Fox News National

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Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli
Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli, Libya April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara

April 26, 2019

By Ulf Laessing

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s U.N.-recognized government has budgeted up to 2 billion dinars ($1.43 billion) to cover costs of a three-week-old war for control of the capital, such as treatment for the wounded, to be funded without new borrowing, the economy minister said.

Ali Abdulaziz Issawi suggested the government hoped for business to continue more or less as usual despite the assault on Tripoli, in the country’s northwest, by forces tied to a parallel administration based in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Once Africa’s third largest producer of oil, Libya has been riven by factional conflict since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with the country now broadly split between eastern-based forces under Khalifa Haftar and the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, in the west, under Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.

Still, with Haftar’s Libyan National Army forces unable so far to pierce defenses in Tripoli’s southern suburbs, normal life and business activities continue in much of the capital and western coastal towns.

Issawi, in an interview with Reuters in his Tripoli office, also said Libya’s commercial ports and wheat imports were still functioning normally, although some roads have been blocked.

He said the Serraj government estimates it will spend up to 2 billion dinars extra on medical treatment for wounded, aid for displaced people and other “emergency” war costs.

He said this was not military spending but analysts believe that the sum will also cover expenditures such as pay for allied armed groups or food for fighters.

“We could actually spend less,” he added, in comments that gave the first insight into the economic impact of the fighting.

Issawi said the Tripoli government, which controls little territory beyond the greater capital region, would not incur new debt to fund the war costs, sticking to a plan to post a 2019 budget without a deficit.

Tripoli derives revenue largely from oil and natural gas production, interest-free loans from local banks to the central bank, and a 183 percent surcharge on foreign exchange transactions conducted at official rates.

But with centralized tax collection greatly diminished, public debt has piled up – to 68 billion dinars in the west, including unpaid state obligations such as social insurance.

Some analysts expect Serraj’s government will be forced to raise new debt if the war for control of Tripoli drags on.

With much of Libya dominated by armed factions that also act as security forces, the public wage bill for both the western and eastern administrations has soared as fighters have been made public employees in efforts to buy their loyalty.

The east has sold bonds worth 35 billion dinars outside the official financial system as the Tripoli central bank does not fund the parallel government apart from some wages.

Despite its limited reach, the Tripoli government still runs an annual budget of around 46.8 billion dinars, mainly for public salaries and fuel subsidies.

“This year we cannot finance via debt…we will not borrow (by agreement with the central bank),” Issawi said.

According to International Monetary Fund data, Libya’s central government debt-to-GDP ratio is 143 percent, making it one of the most heavily indebted in the world on that measure.

Issawi declined to say what parts of the budget would be trimmed to support the extra outlay for war costs.

However, with some 70 percent of the budget allocated to public wages, fuel subsidies and other welfare benefits, a portion devoted to infrastructure is most likely to be axed.

Widespread lawlessness has meant there have been no major infrastructural projects since 2011, when a NATO-backed uprising overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi, leaving schools, hospitals and roads in acute need of restoration.

FOREX SURCHARGE

Issawi said the government planned to raise as much as 30 billion dinars by the end of 2019 from hard currency deals after imposing in September a 183 percent surcharge on commercial and private transactions done on the official rate of 1.4 to the U.S. dollar. That fee has effectively devalued the official rate to 3.9, much closer to the black market equivalent.

Some 17 billion dinars have been raised since then, with hard currency allocated for import credit letters now issued without delays, Issawi said. The forex fee has helped the government forecast a budget in the black for 2019.

Despite the narrowing spread between the two rates, the black market continues to thrive. Dozens of traders remained at their favorite spot behind the central bank headquarters in Tripoli when Reuters reporters visited it last week.

But traders said it could take time for the Serraj government to register the extra forex receipts as official banking channels were taking up to six months to approve import financing, keeping the black market in play for dealers.

Issawi said authorities planned to lower the forex fee from 183 percent, without saying when. The black market rate has dropped from 6 to around 4.1 since September but it has hardly moved of late as demand for black market cash remains high.

The Tripoli government has stopped subsidizing food and bread, which used to be cheaper than drinking water in Libya. Wheat imports are now being arranged by private traders and there are surplus stocks of flour at the moment, Issawi said.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing in Tripoli with additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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