Category Archives: Economy

Japanese railway transportation company to sell 8 hotels to American investment fund

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The Japanese railway company, Kintetsu Group Holding, planned to sell 8 hotels in Osaka and Kyoto to the American investment fund Blackstone Group for about 60 billion yen.

Kintetsu’s financial results were negatively affected by a decrease in the number of passengers using its rail transportation business due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Japanese holding company intends to improve its financial situation by selling hotels, in addition to previously announced measures, such as layoffs and sales of office buildings.

The hotels for sale are the Kintetsu Universal City Hotel, located near the Japanese branch of Universal Studios in Osaka, and the Miyako Kyoto Hachijo Hotel. After the implementation, the holding will lease and continue to manage hotels, retaining the current names of hotels and staff.

However, the Japanese railway company will retain ownership of other hotels, including the resort hotel in Mie Prefecture in the Ise-Shima region and the Osaka Marriott Miyako Hotel.

Kintetsu’s sales for the first 9 months of fiscal year 2020 decreased by half compared to a year earlier. The net loss of the holding amounted to 35.4 billion. yen as opposed to a profit of 31.3 billion. yen in 2019. The number of hotel guests has sharply decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Blackstone is one of the largest investment funds in the world. He has extensive experience in investing in real estate. In January, the American fund bought a house rental business from Isetan Mitsukosi Holding.

This transaction means a change in Kintetsu’s strategy, in which attention is mainly focused on investing in assets that have proved relatively resistant to the effects of COVID-19, for example, such as residential real estate and logistics facilities. The Blackstone Group’s purchase of hotels suggests that the fund hopes to restore demand in hotels thanks to the spread of vaccines.

The “cheap” GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card will be available with a different amount of memory

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Already in January, we should see the presentation of new hardware from Nvidia at CES, and one of them should be the new cheap desktop model of the GeForce RTX 3050 video card at the moment.

According to information leaked on Twitter, Nvidia is preparing two different versions of the GeForce RTX 3050. One will have 8 GB of memory, and the other will have only 4 GB of memory, most likely of the GDDR6 type. In both cases, a 128-bit interface with a bandwidth of 224 GB /s should be used.

Both cards should have GA106 8nm chips manufactured at Samsung factories, but the number of cuda cores will be slightly different. The GeForce RTX 3050 with 8 GB of memory should have 2560 cuda cores, and the model with 4 GB of memory should be slightly smaller than 2304 cores. This is also due to the different number of cores tracking beams (20 vs. 18). The TDP on both models should be only 90 watts.

The launch is expected at the end of January, but the question still remains – how will the availability and the real price compare with the recommended ones? Considering that the GeForce RTX 3060 also costs about 76 thousand rubles in our country, we can expect from 45 to 60 thousand rubles.

Глава Prosper Trading Academy рассказал о своем прогнозе по биткоину

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По мнению руководителя компании Prosper Trading С. Бауэра, главная криптовалюта будет торговаться в диапазоне 30000 — 50000$.

Бауэр считает, что в последнее время цена BTC коррелировалась в основном с инфляцией и повышением ставок ФРС.

После выхода информации от BLS об увеличении инфляции до 7,3%, он назвал этот показатель самым большим с 1981 года и цена главной криптовалюты понизилась почти на 2%. При этом доходы на облигации выросли на 2%.

Вместе с тем руководитель заявил, что в текущем году ФРС повышать ставки в 7 или 8 раз не будет и в марте вряд ли возможен рост на 50 пунктов. Эксперт дополнил, что крупные инвесторы продолжат накопление монет, в случае падения.

NASA expressed concern about the satellite program of SpaceX

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Currently, the US Space Agency (NASA) is monitoring 25 thousand objects in orbit around the Earth, but due to the plans of SpaceX, owned by American billionaire Elon Musk, their number may double, which could have serious consequences.

The American Space Agency (NASA) has expressed concern about the implementation of the Starlink satellite program of the private company SpaceX. In a letter sent to the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. agency responsible for communications lines and satellites, the space agency said: “NASA is concerned about the potential increase in the number of collisions and the potential impact on scientific unmanned and manned space missions.”

SpaceX, owned by Tesla founder and multi-billionaire Elon Musk, has already received the appropriate permission from the authorities to launch 12 thousand satellites designed to provide access to broadband Internet in remote areas of the world. In addition, the company also submitted an application for approval of another 30 thousand satellites of the 2nd generation within the framework of the Starlink program.

“The number of tracked objects will double,” NASA officials say. According to them, the implementation of the Starlink program will more than double the number of objects monitored in Earth orbit and more than 5 times increase the number of objects at a distance of less than 600 km from the Earth’s surface. According to the space agency, at the moment a total of 25 thousand objects are regularly monitored in orbit around the Earth, of which about 6,100 are located at a distance of less than 600 km from the Earth’s surface. SpaceX has not responded to the statement of the space agency in the short term.

Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who is a member of the American Astronomical Society, also stressed that he would be concerned about the increase in the number of satellites interfering with astronomical observations. In his opinion, it makes sense to first gain more experience with several thousand satellites before increasing their number to several tens of thousands.

The risk of collisions of satellites and other space objects in orbit around the Earth is also increasing due to the fact that competing companies such as Amazon and Dish Network are also working on their own satellite programs. They realize that overlapping orbits can lead to a sharp increase in risks.

In mid-January, Elon Musk wrote on his Twitter page that 1,469 Starlink satellites are currently active, and the remaining 272 will soon be put into orbit.

Earlier it was reported that on Tuesday, February 8, SpaceX representatives reported that 40 new Starlink satellites crashed due to a solar storm.

Экономика Бельгии развивается медленнее всех стран Европы

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Ни одна европейская страна в этом году не будет развиваться экономически медленнее, чем Бельгия, сообщает бельгийский журнал The Bulletin со ссылкой на данные Еврокомиссии.

ЕК прогнозирует, что средние темпы роста европейской экономики (включая как еврозону, так и страны, не входящие в ЕС) в этом году составят 4%.

В Бельгии этот рост составит 2,7% – что делает ее самой медленно развивающейся страной в списке. При этом инфляция в этой стране ожидается на уровне 4,3% и будет выше, чем в среднем на 3,5 % для зоны евро.

В отчете ЕК также говорится об энергетических проблемах Бельгии и о том, что правительство принимает различные меры для борьбы с растущими ценами на электроэнергию и газ.

«При исключительно высоких ценах на электроэнергию и газ в IV квартале 2021 года и I квартале 2022 года ожидается постепенное снижение цен на энергоносители».

The Bank of Russia named the main signs of banks

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The activity of a commercial bank is based on a banking operation to attract funds to deposits.

This process takes place on the terms of payment, repayment and profitability for the bank as a whole.

A deposit account is an account opened in the name of a depositor and allows making payments for goods and services, receiving cash using a card, buying securities, paying bills and performing other financial transactions. Deposit accounts can be short-term, medium-term and long-term.

For short–term deposits, interest is paid once or twice a year, for medium–term deposits – quarterly, and for long-term deposits – monthly.

The Bank may provide deposits of its choice, which is stipulated in the agreement between the client and the bank.

The funds deposited by the client to the bank are his property, which is not subject to return to him at the first request of the depositor. The funds held in the deposit account have a certain period, which is fixed in the deposit agreement, and are subject to return within a certain period.

All deposits are classified by their maturity dates.

This allows the bank to determine the level of interest rates for each of them, set a minimum deposit amount and offer customers more favorable conditions.

In addition, the amount of interest rate is affected by the degree of risk inherent in a particular deposit. The longer the term of the deposit, the greater the risk, respectively, the higher the interest rate for its use.

Deposits are divided into:

  • on demand;
  • urgent;
  • savings;
  • special.

Term deposits are deposits attracted by banks for a certain period with interest payments.

Demand deposits (current accounts) are intended for performing settlement operations.

Their owner can receive funds on demand. For this reason, they have the lowest percentage compared to other types of deposit accounts.

However, if we take into account that these investments represent a source of funds for the bank’s work with the clientele, then their attractiveness is obvious.

Ипотека в Москве — названа заработная плата для покупки однокомнатной квартиры

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Сейчас такое время, что за наличный расчет купить квартиру, не могут себе позволить больше половины россиян. Опрошенные эксперты заявили, что для приобретения 1-комнатной квартиры в ипотечный кредит в Москве, необходима официальная заработная плата в 104 000 рублей.

Первоначальный взнос требуется 20% от стоимости квартиры, кредит дается под 10% годовых, более чем на 25 лет. Еще одно немаловажное условие, это то, что в 104 000 рублей не учитывается расход на дом и его содержание.

Рейтинговое агентство НКР отмечает, что всего лишь 1 год назад, для этого требовалась заработная плата в 84 000 рублей. Конечно и при этом условия были жестковаты, требовалось 70% от заработной платы на выплату долга. Первоначальный взнос требовался в 20%, а ипотека бралась под 10% годовых.

In Ukraine, the European gas metering system will start operating in May 2022

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From May 2022, gas bills will indicate not only m3, but also kWh. The new indicator will allow you to take into account the caloric content of fuel. To do this, consumers will not have to change meters.

Why do we need such calculations?

This innovation will allow the population to compare gas consumption in volumes with energy units and manage their own expenses more efficiently. Everyone will be able to decide for himself what it is profitable for him to heat his home – with gas or electricity, since the consumption will be carried out in a single energy unit (kWh).

In addition, the population will no longer have to pay extra money for low-quality coolant. The energy consumed will be taken into account, not the cubic meters spent. After all, more energy is obtained from higher-quality gas.

The transition to a new accounting system will simplify the import and export of fuel. This is one of the conditions put forward by the European Union within the framework of the association.

Ukraine buys gas in Europe in MWh, and then converts it into m3. But the caloric content of the gas is not constant, so the recalculation coefficient changes. This is where traders often suffer losses.

Who will make the calculations?

Regional gas companies will continue to calculate how much the consumer has to pay for gas. The calculation will be carried out according to a special formula: the consumed volume will be multiplied by the coefficient of heat of combustion for a given month, and the supplier’s price will be added to it.

Depending on the quality of the coolant, the heat coefficient will change. It all depends on where the gas is coming from.

All data will be entered in the billing. They can be viewed in the personal account of the consumer on the website of their regional gas.

How will this affect the cost of gas?

The new reform should not significantly affect the cost of gas for the population. But there are pitfalls here. Regional gas companies may exhibit a higher coefficient of calorific value than at present, and thereby affect the final cost of fuel.

Now in Ukraine, the average combustion index of 8229 kcal/m3 is used for calculations. But the new legislation will allow regional gas companies to take the highest coefficient of heat of combustion for calculations. And he is 20% above average.

As long as gas consumption is taken into account in m3, this indicator does not affect the price of the energy carrier. But when Ukrainians start paying for the energy consumed, their bills may increase by 20%.