Current payment systems are almost entirely digitized. The use of paper money is declining worldwide, as is the use of paper checks. But this payment method remains valid.

Among the reasons justifying the current use of paper checks is the simple fact that the recipient may not be registered with digital banking. In that case, payment would be made in cash or with a paper check that can be cashed at a bank branch.

On the other hand, some accounting systems require physical proof of transactions for budgetary purposes, although this requirement is becoming less frequent.

The reasons justifying the elimination of paper checks before online systems include faster transactions, greater transparency, enhanced security and privacy, and reduced administrative costs.

M.Pino

With information from specialized financial media

(Reference image source: Money Knack on Unsplash)

Visit our news channel on Google News and follow us to get accurate, interesting information and stay up to date with everything. You can also see our daily content on X/Twitter and Instagram

La entrada Paper check payments are not yet disappearing apareció primero en Bitfinance.

U.S. oil stockpiles experienced a fifth consecutive contraction during the week ending July 26. A drop of 3.4 million barrels was confirmed.

According to analysts, and according to a consensus collected by the Bloomberg agency, the figure is well above the 1.10 million expected.

The country is going through a drop in oil reserves that is not in line with “the slowdown in activity recorded in US refineries, which last week only operated at 90.1 % of their capacities compared to 91.6% the previous week.

For their part, gasoline reserves also fell, by 3.7 million barrels, exceeding the decrease of 1.29 million expected by analysts.”

However, oil production remained at 13.3 mbd. Regarding demand, the volume of refined products fell to 20.7 mbd compared to 21 million the previous week.

For its part, “demand rose a little in year-on-year measurement to 20.48 mbd compared to the 20.19 mbd registered a year ago (+1.4 %).”

M.Pino

Source: bancaynegocios

(Reference image source: Maria Lupan in Unsplash)

Visit our news channel on Google News and follow us to get accurate, interesting information and stay up to date with everything. You can also see our daily content on Twitter and Instagram

La entrada United States oil reserves recorded a drop of 3.4 mbd apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The International Labor Organization (ILO), in its report World Employment and Social Outlook: May 2024 Update, forecasts a decrease in the unemployment rate this year, placing it at 4.9 %.

THE international organization predicts a slight decrease in unemployment, despite the inequality that persists in the labor market, especially with respect to women and wages.

According to the ILO, unemployment will be at 4.9 %, down from 5.0 % in 2023. Likewise, it is expected to stabilize in 2025, with an unemployment rate also at 4.9 %.

The report does not leave aside the issue of the lack of employment opportunities, which persists in the world. In this sense, it estimates the number of people without work but who want to work at 402 million people. The estimate includes 183 million people counted as unemployed.

“The report reveals critical employment challenges that we still need to address. Despite our efforts to reduce inequalities globally, the labor market remains an unequal playing field, especially for women,” said Gilbert F. Houngbo, Director-General of the ILO.

According to the official, to achieve a sustainable recovery with benefits shared by all, inclusive policies are necessary that take into account the needs of all workers. That is, inclusion and social justice must be the focus of policies and institutions.

In the report, figures indicate that “the employment gap for women in low-income countries reaches a staggering 22.8 %, compared to 15.3 % for men. This contrasts with high-income countries, where the rate is 9.7 % for women and 7.3 % for men.”

M.Pino

Source: ILO

(Reference image source: Unsplash+, in collaboration with Getty Images)

Visit our news channel on Google News and follow us to get accurate, interesting information and stay up to date with everything. You can also see our daily content on Twitter and Instagram

La entrada ILO forecasts slight decline in global unemployment rate apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The number of bitcoin ATMs worldwide has experienced a decline of 11.1% compared to early 2023, breaking an annual growth trend that has been maintained over the past decade.

According to data from Coin ATM Radar, the global number of cryptocurrency ATMs as of January 1st, 2024 stands at 33,628, marking a decrease from 37,827 registered at the beginning of 2023. Throughout 2023, the total count of bitcoin ATMs fluctuated, experiencing both increases and decreases, finally decreasing towards the end of the year.

The biggest drop was recorded in the United States, where the number of cryptocurrency ATMs decreased by 15.4%, from 32,672 to 27,631. Despite this, the country still retains 82% of all cryptocurrency ATMs worldwide.

Coin ATM Radar data indicates that the manufacturer BitAccess could have contributed to this reduction, as its net facilities decreased by 26%, from 9,160 in August 2022 to 6,774 on January 1, 2024.

However, two other major manufacturers, General Bytes and Genesis Coin, managed to increase the number of bitcoin ATMs during the same period.

In the financial sphere, Bitcoin Depot, a leading player in the cryptocurrency ATM industry, debuted on the Nasdaq on July 3 and recently expanded its operations to the country’s 28th state. It reported revenues of USD 179.5 million in the third quarter of 2023, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 3%.

According to data from Coin ATM Radar, there are a total of 498 cryptocurrency ATM operators distributed in 71 countries.

Bitcoin (BTC) continues to be the main cryptocurrency accepted by ATMs, while Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ether (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) are some of the other cryptocurrencies available for purchase on these devices.

K. Tovar

Source: Cointelegraph

(Reference image source: GENERAL BYTES, Unsplash)

Visit our news channel on Google News and follow us to get accurate, interesting information and stay up to date with everything. You can also see our daily content on Twitter and Instagram

La entrada In 2023 the number of bitcoin ATMs fell by 11% apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) released its edition of the Labor Overview of Latin America and the Caribbean where it noted that the economic growth evidenced during 2021 in the region did not have enough impact to reduce unemployment and recover the labor market. On the contrary, the pandemic has caused high unemployment figures and an increase in informality.

The ILO director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Vinícius Pinheiro, said: “The labor outlook is uncertain, the persistence of infections due to the pandemic and the prospect of mediocre economic growth this year could prolong the employment crisis until 2023 or even until 2024”.

The international organization highlights that the region registered a strong level of economic recovery, obtaining growth of over 6 %. However, this situation did not make it possible to recover the number of jobs lost.

Four million unemployed due to the pandemic

During the second quarter of 2020, 49 million jobs were lost in Latin America and the Caribbean and by the end of 2021, 4.5 million still remain to be recovered, of which approximately 4 million are a consequence of the crisis caused by Covid -19.

By the end of 2021, an average unemployment rate for the region was estimated in the order of 9.6 %. This figure is lower than that registered in 2020, which stood at 10.6 %. However, it is considered a setback when compared to the 8 % registered in 2019, which is used as a reference to calculate the impact of two years of the pandemic.

It is currently estimated that there are some 28 million people in the region who are looking for a job without finding it.

As explained by Pinheiro, in “Latin America and the Caribbean, the pandemic had a more severe impact due to social comorbidities such as informality and inequality (…) contributing to the loss of jobs and income, without adequate social protection regimes for support people in such a difficult time.”

M. Rodriguez

Source: financedigital.com

La entrada Unemployment in Latin America will last until 2024 apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, insisted, in the European Parliament, that the conditions for raising interest rates will not be met in 2022, despite the fact that inflation will fall more slowly than expected and even, could remain high if energy prices continue to rise and supply chain problems “persist”.

“If we adopted a more restricted approach, it would do more harm than good,” the Frenchwoman stressed in an appearance before the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs committee in which she indicated that the conditions that the institute will not meet next year issuer has been flagged to start raising rates.

“Despite rising inflation, the outlook for inflation in the medium term remains weak and it is highly unlikely that these three conditions will be met next year,” said the president of the ECB.

The analysis of the European monetary institution, she explained, continues to predict that the price level will fall below the new “symmetric” objective of 2 % in the medium term and that explains why the ECB chooses to continue with its current monetary policy.

Lagarde has pointed out that the increase in inflation is explained by three factors: energy prices, the increase in demand that accompanies the recovery and the withdrawal of reduced VAT in Germany, which will disappear “mechanically” in January 2022.

In any case, the president of the ECB has admitted that inflation could continue at high levels if energy prices, which account for half of the price increase, continue to grow and the ‘bottlenecks’ persist in the chain of supply.

“This could lead to higher wages and consequently higher prices. But so far, we see no evidence of this in the negotiated wage data. We see that wage growth next year will be higher than this, but the risk of side effects remains,” she said.

With regard to the pandemic emergency program Lagarde admits that an “undue” tightening of the financing conditions “would not be desirable” and would represent an “unjustifiable headwind for recovery.”

Source: dpa

La entrada Lagarde says inflation will persist in 2022 apareció primero en Bitfinance.