Hundreds of municipalities in the Netherlands do not want to take part in the application of additional energy allowances initiated by the government for the low-income.

More than 340 municipalities refuse to continue making additional energy payments for low income earners on behalf of the government. The Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG) states that the plan puts a very heavy burden on municipal staff.

In the news in the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper, it was stated that the government was considering continuing the additional energy allowance for the next year, but the municipalities were opposed to this plan. Municipalities claim that the practice creates additional workload for the personnel and also brings additional costs.

According to the Dutch Association of Municipalities (VNG), the application of additional energy allowances puts excessive pressure on municipalities. For this reason, it is not “realistic” for municipalities to implement this plan for the third time in 2024, in addition to their normal duties, after the energy crisis in 2022 and 2023.

In a letter sent to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW) during the week, VNG stated that municipalities do not want to take part in this payment program in 2024.

“It is unreasonable to expect municipalities to do this for the third time after the energy crisis,” VNG director Leonard Geluk told the newspaper. made his comment.

It is not yet known how the government will take steps regarding the municipalities that refuse to pay, but VNG states that they will insist on this issue and that they will not distribute additional energy allowances on behalf of the government.

Additional energy allowance
Against the energy costs, which increased significantly last year, the government introduced additional energy allowances to protect low-income households. The amount of annual appropriation determined in the application is delivered to the citizens through the municipalities.

Government; has allocated a budget of over 850 million euros for the application, which supported approximately 800,000 households last year. Last year, 800 euro was paid per household in the additional energy allowance distributed through municipalities. This year, a total of 1300 euros will be paid.

It is estimated that whether the additional energy support package will be continued in 2024 will be finalized during the Budget Day in September.

The amount of international transfers in yuan reached 96.7 trillion yuan (about $14.14 trillion), up 21.48 percent year on year, according to data from the People’s Bank of China (PBoC).

Transfers made in the Chinese national busbar yuan for international payments increased in 2022 compared to the previous year.

The amount of international transfers in yuan reached 96.7 trillion yuan (about $14.14 trillion), up 21.48 percent year on year, according to data from the People’s Bank of China (PBoC).

During the year, 4.4 million remittances were made through China’s cross-border yuan payments system. The number of transfers also increased by 31.68 percent compared to the previous year.

While an average of 17,700 transfers were made in the system throughout the year, 388.34 billion yuan was transferred.

It was reported that approximately 2.1 million people had to take advantage of food banks due to the increasing cost of living crisis in England.

The UK Ministry of Labor and Social Security has published the data it collects in food banks in different parts of the country.

According to ministry data, between the end of April 2021 and March 2022, approximately 2.1 million people, equivalent to 3 percent of families, had to be fed from food banks in England.

INFLATION IS APPROACHING TO THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF THE LAST 40 YEARS

In the statement, it was stated that according to the data received from food banks, approximately 600 thousand people, who make up 1 percent of the society, had to use food banks at least once in the last 30 days.

The British charity Trussell Trust, on the other hand, drew attention to the fact that the number of people who had to be fed from food banks in the April-December period of last year increased by 52 percent to 1.3 million.

In February this year, inflation in the UK rose to 10.4 percent, approaching the highest level in the last 40 years.

Last month, the country experienced the sharpest increase in food prices in the last 45 years with 18.2 percent.

In the statement made by the British National Statistics (ONS), it was stated that house prices increased by 6.3 percent on an annual basis in January, and it was recorded that the average house prices in the country reached 290 thousand pounds with an increase of approximately 17 thousand pounds in the last year.

It was reported that house prices in England increased by 6.3 percent in January compared to the same month of the previous year.

In the statement made by the British National Statistics (ONS), it was stated that house prices increased by 6.3 percent on an annual basis in January, and it was recorded that the average house prices in the country reached 290 thousand pounds with an increase of approximately 17 thousand pounds in the last year.

In the ONS statement, it was reported that house rents in the UK increased by 4.6 percent on an annual basis, the steepest increase since 2016.

In the statement of the statistics agency, it was recorded that house prices in England decreased by 0.6 percent on a monthly basis in January.

Housing prices decreased by 0.4 percent in December 2022 compared to the previous month.

Aimee Nortn, Head of ONS Housing Markets, whose evaluations were included in the statement, said, “The rents continue to increase in the UK. As of February, the sharpest increase in housing rents in the country was recorded on an annual basis since 2016. used the phrases.

House prices in the Netherlands continued to decline in February, the first year-on-year decline since 2014, the national statistics agency CBS said.

Compared to February 2022, house prices decreased by 0.8%. On a monthly basis, the change was 1.5%.

The average house price in the Netherlands is around €410,000 as of March. This downward trend resulting from rising interest rates has been continuing since last August. About 12,000 were sold in February, but 15.5% less than the same period last year.

Apple analyst Mark Gurman explained why Apple did not make mass layoffs.

Gurman also announced what steps Apple has taken in this process.
Falling incomes due to global economic uncertainties caused the leading names of the technology world to make mass layoffs. However, while all this is going on, there is a brand that tries not to dismiss even one person. That brand is Apple.

Apple CEO Tim Cook made a statement a few months ago and said that mass layoffs would be the last option. In other words, Apple would go to reduce costs instead of mass layoffs. So how will the company do this?

According to the news of WebTekno; veteran Apple analyst Mark Gurman explained in his latest Power On bulletin why Apple did not make the layoffs and what steps he took in the process.

“APPLE MAKE TOO MUCH MONEY FOR MASS WORK”

According to the statement made by Mark Gurman, it is not easy for a brand like Apple to justify the decision of mass layoffs. Because Gurman states that the company earned $30 billion in the quarter, which is more than any other technology company.

In addition, the company’s stock has increased by around 20 percent since the first day of 2023. Gurman says he’s nervous about all this because of the comments that would be made if Apple were to go out of business.

According to Gurman, senior executives working at Apple are very important in the industry. And yet, a mass layoff would have resulted in interpretations either as Apple employees having made huge mistakes or as global economic indicators being much worse than people had anticipated.

According to the analyst, Apple could not make mass layoffs precisely because of these.

WHAT DID APPLE DO TO REDUCE COSTS?

Mark Gurman explains what Apple is doing to avoid mass layoffs:

Bonus payments have been delayed.
New models of less important products like the HomePod have been delayed.
Budgets for some teams were cut.
Recruitment has been stopped in some units.
No new purchases were made for vacant positions.
Attempts that would lead to additional costs were avoided.
It parted ways with non-full-time employees and subcontractors.
Travel budgets have been slashed. In some units, travel will now be made only if it is vital.
Working in the office was made mandatory.
Apple sales reps have been overburdened and employees feared being fired. It has also been reduced from normal leave days due to COVID-19.
According to Mark Gurman, Apple managed to stand out from its competitors by applying these methods instead of mass layoffs.

However, talking about the uncertainty of the future, Gurman states that the decision of mass dismissal is always possible.

In Germany, Mercedes is awash with bribery and corruption scandals worth millions of euros.

It turned out that two of the company’s top employees had been taking bribes for priority to ‘some companies that bought cars’ for years. Security forces searched Mercedes headquarters and employees’ homes.
A “bribery and corruption” raid was carried out on Mercedes, the world’s leading automobile manufacturer.

Stuttgart Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office searched the sales departments of Mercedes headquarters and the homes of two employees on the grounds that two Mercedes employees had been bribed “to get bribes in the purchase of high numbers of vehicles by some companies”.

MERCEDES HAS BEEN COMPLAINING

“We are investigating two people for bribery and corruption, especially in purchases made for commercial use,” said Attorney General Aniello Ambrosio, who conducted the investigation. It is stated that the size of bribery and corruption exceeds millions of Euros. In the statement made by Mercedes, it was emphasized that the complaint regarding the issue came from themselves.

POLICE ESTABLISHED EXPERT TEAM

It was stated that certain companies that bought a large amount of vehicles took the lead by bribing two employees, while various documents and computers were seized in the sales unit in order to reach the relevant information. It was announced that the search was also carried out in the research and development department at the center in Sindelfingen.

On the other hand, it was stated that corruption has been going on for years and that the top employees who did it have been hiding it very well for years. In order to shed light on the incident, the ‘Capture of White Collar Criminals’ unit was created from the German Public Security Office.

US e-commerce giant Amazon has announced that it will lay off 9,000 more of its employees in the coming weeks.

Amazon Chief Executive (CEO) Andy Jassy provided information on the operations plan and layoffs in a message he shared with company employees.

Jassy reported that they plan to lay off about 9,000 employees over the next few weeks, mostly from AWS, PXT, Twitch and advertising.

Pointing to the current and future uncertainties in the economy, Jassy said, “This was a tough decision, but we think it’s best for the company in the long run.” made its assessment.

Announcing that it decided to take a break from hiring in November last year due to the economic outlook, Amazon laid off 18,000 of its employees in January.

A WAVE OF LAUNCHES CONTINUE IN THE TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY

The wave of layoffs continues in US technology companies, which significantly increased the number of personnel in the epidemic.

While rising inflation and a possible recession caused concerns, many technology companies, especially in the USA, started to decide to lay off thousands of people or suspend new hires as of last year.

It was noteworthy that among these companies, leading companies in the technology sector such as Meta, Amazon, Microsoft and Google’s parent company Alphabet.

Finally, Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, announced that it plans to lay off 10,000 more of its employees.

It has been determined that Europe’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal capacity will exceed 400 billion cubic meters by 2030, and more than half of this capacity is at risk of being idle due to low demand.

It has been determined that Europe’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal capacity will exceed 400 billion cubic meters by 2030, and more than half of this capacity is at risk of being idle due to low demand.

According to the European LNG Tracker report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), Europe’s LNG infrastructure capacity, including the United Kingdom, Norway and Turkey, reached 270 billion cubic meters by the end of 2022.

SEEKING AN ALTERNATIVE TO RUSSIAN GAS, EUROPE ACCEPTED LNG

Europe, which sought alternative ways and resources to reduce dependence on Russian gas after the war started by Russia in Ukraine, accelerated its LNG investments, and a large capacity building is planned until 2030 in this area.

Europe’s LNG infrastructure capacity is expected to exceed 400 billion cubic meters by 2030, while LNG demand in Europe is expected to be at the level of 150 billion cubic meters in this period.

Thus, there is a risk that the LNG infrastructure with a capacity of approximately 250 billion cubic meters in Europe will remain idle. Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany stand out as the countries where the most idle capacity can occur.

It is estimated that the planned LNG infrastructure capacity in Europe by 2030 will be higher than the European Union’s gas consumption of 413 billion cubic meters in 2021. By contrast, the total gas demand in Europe in 2030 is expected to be 390 billion cubic meters.

‘THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE AND UNNECESSARY POLICY’

The report’s author and IEEFA Analyst Ana Maria Jaller-Makarewicz stated that excess LNG capacity is “the world’s most expensive and unnecessary guarantee policy”, adding that “Europe must carefully balance its gas and LNG systems. Increasing the LNG infrastructure will not increase the reliability of the system. This is also a situation that poses the risk of these assets being idle.” used the phrases.

Stating that LNG is costly infrastructures to build and operate, Jaller-Makarewicz said, “Decisions to expand LNG infrastructure in Europe should be based on future demand needs. The EU aims to reduce gas demand by a third by 2030. All this must be taken into account.” made its assessment.

DEPENDENCE ON RUSSIAN LNG DEPENDS

Although Europe’s pipeline gas imports from Russia decreased significantly after the war, LNG imports increased.

According to IEEFA, Europe received 20.2 billion cubic meters of LNG from Russia in 2022. This was recorded as a 12 percent increase compared to LNG imports, which was 18 billion cubic meters in the previous year. Russia has become Europe’s third largest LNG supplier after the United States and Qatar.

While France is the largest LNG importer in Europe with 35.7 billion cubic meters in 2022, 7.4 billion cubic meters of this import came from Russia.

While Spain supplied 5.2 billion cubic meters of total 29.5 billion cubic meters of LNG imports from Russia, Belgium received 3 billion cubic meters of 12.9 billion cubic meters of LNG imports from Russia.

France and Belgium’s LNG imports from Russia increased by 58 percent in 2022, while Spain’s LNG imports increased by 50 percent.

Although the UK was the third largest LNG importer in Europe with 26.5 billion cubic meters last year, LNG imports from Russia fell by 85% compared to 2021.

Last year, the Netherlands imported 17.1 billion cubic meters of LNG, Turkey 15.5 billion cubic meters and Italy 14.8 billion cubic meters.

Tens of thousands of employees are expected to be laid off after Swiss bank UBS bailed out rival Credit Suisse.

Tens of thousands of employees could be laid off as the world talks about the UBS acquisition of Credit Suisse.

Tens of thousands of people are threatened with unemployment as Switzerland’s financial sector prepares to take a heavy blow from the contentious takeover. According to sources speaking to the Financial Times, various liquidations will be made from the domestic business of Credit Suisse and its investment bank division, which employs a total of 30,000 personnel.

As part of the bailout package prepared by the Swiss government, UBS Group bought Credit Suisse, which has been operating for 167 years, for 3 billion Swiss francs and assumed the bank’s 5.4 billion dollars debt.

Following the acquisition, UBS will liquidate most of Credit Suisse’s investment bank unit, according to sources. UBS, which has 74,000 employees worldwide, has put on its agenda to remove overlapping roles with Credit Suisse in Switzerland, close branches and reduce staff in administrative positions.

LAUNCHES HAVE STARTED

It is expected that tens of thousands of people will be affected by the liquidations that will take place in the services and units where the two banks overlap. Employing just over 50,000 people at the end of 2022, Credit Suisse has laid off 4,000 employees so far this year.

“The takeover poses a threat of layoffs on a scale that the labor market in the banking sector cannot handle,” the Swiss Bank Employees Association said in a statement yesterday, calling for the layoffs to be halted by the end of the year. The association urged Credit Suisse’s management team to form a task force to manage the risk of mass layoffs.

COST WILL BE REDUCED

Following the announcement of the deal, UBS CEO Ralph Hamers said in a meeting with analysts on Sunday night that he would cut costs of $8 billion a year by 2027. Hamers stated that $6 billion of these cuts will come from staff reductions and $2 billion will be from information technology expenditures.

In a note to a staff member on Monday, Credit Suisse CEO Ulrich Körner said that no decision has yet been made regarding employees. “We will work diligently and rapidly over the next period to determine which roles may be affected. “When necessary, we will communicate with affected individuals in line with country-specific guidelines and policies.”

PREMIUM PAYMENTS STOPPED

On the other hand, the Swiss government took a step that punished bankers by stopping Credit Suisse’s premium payments to employees.

The Swiss government said in a statement yesterday that Credit Suisse has decided to suspend “variable wages, which it will give employees later,” until 2022. These variable wages consist of bonuses such as stocks distributed to employees.

The government also stated that it will not stop the premium payments that have been paid this year or are due in a short time, and that this only aims to protect the employees who did not cause the crisis.

It is quite unusual for the government to withhold bonus payments, but the government’s guarantee of about 260 billion francs to save the bank has drawn a strong reaction from the public.

Credit Suisse, in its last annual report published before being sold to UBS, stated that it had reduced its premium budget by 50 percent to 1 billion francs for 2022. Swiss unions yesterday demanded that the managers of the bank not be given bonuses.