The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns about the uncertainty and the “highly uncertain” future of the Spanish economy due to the development of the Covid-19 pandemic, although it positively values ​​the labor reform recently approved by the Spanish government. This was explained in an analysis on “Spain and the economic future that awaits after the pandemic” released on February 16.

In the report, the international organization also urges the Spanish government to make “efficient and transparent” use of the economic resources that the European Union plans to grant them to face the crisis caused by the pandemic and promote economic reactivation in the area.

On the other hand, the IMF celebrates “the exhaustive agenda of reforms and investments” that Spain has committed to developing, highlighting the “exceptional opportunity” to make investments and stimulate production that will make it possible to have an economy that is “more productive, inclusive, green and digital“. But insists on “the importance of establishing a reference framework that ensures a transparent and efficient use of funds.”

The IMF approves labor reform

The Spanish government recently approved a labor reform, which is valued as positive by IMF representatives. The managers and directors of the organization see this positive and consider that the objective is to “address the deficiencies” of previous years, as well as try to balance the “protection of workers and preserve flexibility for companies”.

They highlight the “high level of responsibility” obtained from an extensive dialogue where the different social agents involved in the work process participated. The institution recommends monitoring the impacts that the reform may produce in the different areas and sectors of the economy, as well as in public finances and they think it is significant “to make indefinite contracts more attractive to companies.”

M. Rodríguez

Source: 20minutos

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The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has announced that it will allocate 24,000 million dollars for climate and green financing over the next four years. The resources will be allocated to items for the protection and restoration of ecosystems and their biodiversity, as well as the reduction of pollution.

The multilateral organization has indicated that all its loans and projects will be fully aligned with the Paris climate agreement by 2023, a measure that will help the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to combat climate change and at the same time, advance in the steps to help the most vulnerable populations with a sustainable recovery for all.

The announcement comes as world leaders are meeting at COP26, the UN’s annual conference on climate change, to seek ways to slow global warming and achieve the climate goals agreed at a previous summit in Paris.

“We know that by prioritizing smart investments today, the cornerstone of our global fight against climate change can mutually reinforce our pandemic recovery efforts and we can accelerate our response,” said IDB President Mauricio Claver-Carone.

Between 2015 and 2020, the agency invested in 28 projects with nature-based solution components, for a total of $ 815 million. These projects leveraged an additional $ 437 million in partner funding, for a total of approximately $ 1.25 billion.

The announcement adds to the IDB’s efforts to integrate climate considerations and financing into the agendas and policies of its borrowing member countries. By the end of 2021, at least 75 % of the bank’s regional member countries will have submitted their updated nationally determined contributions, in many cases with IDB support.

Source: dpa

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The National Institute of Science and Technology of South Korea invented BeeVi, a toilet that pays cryptocurrencies to anyone who uses it.

In mid-July, the Institute presented this very new toilet that has transformed the “hygienic dynamics” to the students of the Uslan University campus in South Korea, because everyone who uses BeeVi obtains Ggool units, they are a cryptocurrency authorized to purchase products in some university stores.

Each person will receive 10 Ggool a day, with which they can buy books, coffee, fruits and even instant noodles. They just have to choose the products and scan the QR code to cancel with their crypto.

Cho Jae-weon, a professor responsible for leading the research and manufacturing of the invention, explained that the goal of creating the toilet is to convert human waste into compost and biogas for different uses.

According to Cho Jae-Weon, “feces have a precious value to produce energy and compost.” Therefore, the BeeVi toilet was presented as an “ecological and sustainable” option for the generation of combustible energy.

The BeeVi toilet also reduces the use of water, because it uses a vacuum pump to send the feces to an underground tank, where the microorganisms decompose the waste into methane that is converted into a “source of energy for the building, feeding a gas stove, a hot water boiler and a solid oxide fuel cell.

M. Rodríguez

With information from national media and social networks

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In China currently operates two types of refineries: Tetera 1.0 and Tetera 2.0. The latter are making progress because they cooperate with the vision of the future of the sector held by the President Xi Jinping, who protects the cleanest and most energy-efficient industries.

The new companies, known as Tetera 2.0, alluding to the first private refineries in the country, “belong to companies such as Jiangsu Eastern Shenghong and Hengli Petrochemical”, which make up “large, greener refining complexes, focused on the use of crude oil to produce plastics and chemicals instead of more polluting fuels like diesel.

According to Michal Meidan, director of the China Energy Research Program at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, the companies of the “Tetera 2.0” group have a different philosophy of “business and operating model” and that is why new approach that the authorities are granting some privileges such as tax benefits or permits to import oil.

The new private companies have increased in value as a result of the new approach. This is how Shenghong, which was oriented towards the production of synthetic fibers, changed its strategic vision and began and completed, last June, the installation of the largest refining tower in the country, generating a 4-fold increase in the value of its actions.

The Hengli company also increased its value 3 times more, since the construction of its first refinery, in 2018. While Bloomberg decided to build its new refineries in underserved or sparsely populated areas with the purpose of reducing pollution in cities or populated areas.

In addition, they also focused their orientation on the production of goods such as paraxylene, which is used to create articles for daily use.

M. Rodríguez

Source: actualidad.rt

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