text:
Russian Federation and the IMF
Transcript of a Press Conference Call with First Deputy Managing Director Stanley Fischer on the Russian Federation
[TRANSCRIPT PREPARED FROM A TAPE RECORDING]
MR. THOMAS DAWSON, Director, External Relations Department: This morning, Stanley Fischer, First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, will have, on the record, some comments on the Fund action last night with regard to Russia, as well as taking some questions from the participants in this call.
Mr. Fischer?
MR. FISCHER: Thanks very much, Tom. I thank you all for being willing to get up at this time of the day for a discussion of Russia, and I would like to welcome Tom Dawson as well. He formally becomes Director of External Relations on the 1st of August, but he's been here for a month already, and I am sure he will be working closely with you.
This is about Russia and the IMF Board meeting yesterday, and there are a few points to make in addition to what was said in our release last night. [See IMF Press Release No. 99/35, July 28, 1999, on IMF website at http://www.imf.org]
Point one, the Russian economy has done a bit better than expected this year. Economic activity is recovering. In fact, the economy seems to be growing. Inflation is down, and the balance of payments is stronger. If you ask how all of that could happen after the disaster of last August, there are two clear reasons. One is they've had a very big devaluation. That tends to discourage imports and encourage domestic production. The other is their debt-servicing payments have gone down as a result of the de facto default of last August. But in addition, their policies have been a little better than had been expected.
Point two, the macroeconomic framework that is in the IMF program, the agreed program, is already being implemented. The target is to have monthly inflation down below 3 percent per month in 1999. The budget will have a primary surplus of around 2 percent. That is more than it was last year. And they are achieving those goals, which is different than a year ago.
Third, structural reforms are also underway, particularly in the financial sector; in addition the program includes measures to reduce the extent of barter. We have cash collection targets for the main natural monopolies which are the gas sector, the railways and electricity. And they have met those cash collection targets which are slated to rise throughout the rest of the year, and that's a way of trying to get at the root of the barter problem in Russia.
Now, of course, we also had the two external investigations of various aspects of the Central Bank's operations of concern to the Fund. There was an investigation of what happened last July with the US$4.8 billion tranche, about which there had been many allegations. The external investigators were PricewaterhouseCoopers. They report no evidence of the misappropriation of balance of payments financing received last July; that is to say, they can track where the money went. As was agreed at the time, US$1 billion was transferred to the budget, and the rest was used for intervention in the foreign exchange markets, which is what money that is used to defend the currency goes for. And those transactions have all been followed by the examination.
More complicated is the second report on FIMACO. Several of you have already published reports on that. They were pretty accurate, but they were not exactly accurate. What the FIMACO report shows is no evidence of large-scale misappropriation of money, but there were important instances of misreporting to the IMF, the largest of which, around the time of the Russian election in 1996, was a transaction which was not accurately reported; in essence, it exaggerated Russia's reserves.
And so the IMF made disbursements at the time, which were based on misrepresentation. That is a very, very serious issue. The Board made it clear yesterday in the internal discussion how seriously they take that. We have a set of corrective actions in place. These include eliminating the conflicts of interest between the Central Bank of Russia and its subsidiaries, excluding any deposits it holds with them from their reserves, and most importantly, getting far more detailed reports on reserve holdings from the Russian Central Bank, and we will be sending a team there in August to help on that.
As you know and has been reported, the money that was approved for release yesterday, the total is about US$4.5 billion over 17 months, but the amount released yesterday, the first tranche roughly, US$640 million.
That money is being held at the request of the Russian authorities, in an SDR account in the IMF, and will be used to repay obligations falling due to the IMF. So that's the opening statement. We can shift to questions now.
JOURNALIST "A": I have a technical question and a substantive one. The technical one is when will the full report on FIMACO and the July tranche be published?
And the substantive one is we understand the discussion yesterday was quite tense, and until very late in the day there was no consensus. So why was that happening and what happened to change the situation, to break the deadlock?
MR. FISCHER: On the publication of the reports, the Russian government has authorized the publication of the reports. PricewaterhouseCoopers has to take care of potential legal complications. We are working with them to do that, and we hope that the reports would be issued on our Web site possibly by the end of this week; namely, tomorrow. But if not, very early next week. We're not in any disagreement on the principle of publication. But since they identify transactions, they have to take care of potential legal complications, and we are working together on that.
[The PricewaterhouseCoopers report was posted on the IMF website on August 5, 1999 at http://www.imf.org/external/country/rus/fimaco/index.htm. As requested by PricewaterhouseCoopers and agreed by the IMF, the report is to be removed from the website by September 4, 1999.]
On yesterday's discussion, I didn't think it was excessively tense. We came back--now, remember, we haven't had, first of all, an Article IV discussion on Russia for well over a year or a Board meeting on a loan to Russia for just over a year. So this is a revisiting of all of the events of the past year, and there was a lot to revisit.
If there was tension, it related to the fact that many members of the Board--made it clear that they regarded misreporting with the utmost seriousness, and they pushed to find out what was being done to prevent that happening in the future. And I would say that that probably prolonged the meeting a little.
But my guess is that it was not longer than the average meeting.
JOURNALIST "B": Did the report indicate how high up in the Russian leadership people were aware of this maneuver to misreport? And did that include President Yeltsin, the prime minister at the time, any other leaders? In other words, how politically deliberate was it?
MR. FISCHER: I don't know how politically deliberate. The report was confined to the Central Bank of Russia's activities because that's where the IMF money goes, and they identified people within the Central Bank who were involved.
JOURNALIST "B": Well, Stan, isn't this a central question to--and, obviously, this is a country that's facing an election in coming months--the message you need to send is obviously to the political leadership, as well as to those in the Central Bank who would organize this. Isn't a vitally and centrally important question about who ordered this, as well as what was done? And if that question wasn't answered, doesn't it suggest that the audit was technically sufficient, but doesn't get to the central issue?
MR. FISCHER: I think it gets to the central issue. The central issue was: were we lied to? The answer to that, coming out of the report, is, unfortunately, "yes."
Then the issues for us are what can you do to prevent that again and what other measures are being taken.
It has been made clear, at the highest levels of the Russian government, that is, the present political leadership, that what happened then was unacceptable and that we need measures in place to prevent anything like that happening again. So, to that extent, the conclusions have been drawn to the attention of the political leadership, and they are well aware of the implications of what was done, of the attitude of the Board and of the consequences.
JOURNALIST "B": Not to drive this into the ground, Stan, but just to make sure I understand. Did you, at any point, ask the question, either of the auditors or of the Russians, about how high up in the leadership chain, political leadership chain, they understood what was going on?
MR. FISCHER: PricewaterhouseCoopers was not asked to answer that question. They were asked to answer questions about what the Central Bank of Russia did.
A main issue that they were asked to address, incidentally, was whether there was theft, because there were widespread allegations of large scale theft, which appears not to be the case, from the report. Those were the charges that were being made.
Some of those in political leadership at the time have been informed by Fund senior management of our views of what was done and the current leadership is certainly informed.
JOURNALIST "A": Sir, did you discuss any forecast for the national economy for the GDP? I mean, they obviously did. So was there agreement between the parties on the Russian side as to what the figures will be on inflation, and exchange rates and stuff like that?
MR. FISCHER: We make assumptions on the exchange rate. For growth, year-on-year, we have--this, by the way, will be made public; in fact, has been made public already in Moscow, these assumptions. We have year-on-year growth of minus 2 percent. That, of course, means positive growth during this year because from August to December the GDP fell significantly. We have inflation assumptions and targets.
It's assumed the current account will be in very large surplus by about 7 percent of GDP, and inflation will be close to 50 percent on a 12-month basis.
JOURNALIST "C": Three quick questions for you, one related to the report.
Have the Russians given you any assurance that they will pursue and prosecute any wrongdoings--any wrong Central Bank activities?
And secondly, just sort of taking care of just making this loan rollover, what happens now? Do we basically start sitting down and working through an entirely new international rescue package? Because the U.S. has said that they will not seek, in any way, to help Russia financially until their deal has been done with the IMF. It would appear that deal has been done. So what's the next step?
MR. FISCHER: The reports of PricewaterhouseCoopers have been given to the prosecutor general and to the Duma for them to take the actions that might be required under Russian law.
On the second issue, what will be done on the financial front? Today, there is a Paris Club meeting on Russia that will follow-up on their desires to deal with official-sector debt. They have been meeting with the London Club, as well, to deal with their private-sector debt. You know that they are going on the basis that they will try to service Russian-era debt, but will need to find some way of deferring debt service or however they deal with it on the Soviet-era debt.
There is not a plan for a very large extra package beyond what is being done between the IMF and the World Bank, and the World Bank will be meeting today on this issue on Russia. So that we don't see the need, given that they are dealing with their private-sector creditors and their public-sector creditors, for a larger financing package than is currently envisaged.
JOURNALIST "D": Could I ask just two questions? One, the extent of the underreporting, how large was that?
And the second question is how much debt relief does Russia actually need and what are the implications of that in terms of their rescheduling or debt forgiveness or that kind of thing?
MR. FISCHER: The single largest element of misreporting was about US$1.2 billion in the middle of 1996, but there were others. It's ironic in the sense that, in those circumstances, one can't be sure, but I feel reasonably certain that had the Russians come to us and said, "We're under enormous pressure. We need a waiver on these reserve targets," that the Fund Board, given the market pressures at the time, would probably have said okay. But that's history.
JOURNALIST "D": And that was the reason for--that is what you think is the reason for the misreporting.
MR. FISCHER: Well, it could have been also to provide--to convince the markets that they were stronger than-
JOURNALIST "E": And this was right in the middle of the election campaign. They were spending money left, right and center.
MR. FISCHER: That's correct.
JOURNALIST "D": I'm sorry. You said it was 1 point-
MR. FISCHER: -- 1 point 2 billion dollars.
Sorry. I forgot the second question.
JOURNALIST "D": The second question related to debt relief and how much they need.
MR. FISCHER: Our work is based on and consistent with their view that if they can reschedule the Soviet-era debt, to public and private creditors, that that's about what they need.
Running at 7 percent of GDP, the current account surplus gives you a lot of room to service debt.
JOURNALIST "E": So there will be no need to reschedule Russian debt, which they don't want to do anyway. You don't see that being economically needed?
MR. FISCHER: That's the current analysis, yes.
JOURNALIST "A": Sir, if that is true, how worried is the management of the IMF with this issue of the commodity credits from Russia to Yugoslavia?
MR. FISCHER: We've heard about these credits and are following up. But at this stage, I don't have any precise information to give you.
JOURNALIST "F": I'm curious whether the Board is a little bit concerned at the trend that seems to be emerging here, that the Fund is helping countries rollover debt not only to the private sector and government, but to itself.
MR. FISCHER: You know, if there's any country that didn't rollover its debts to the private sector and that didn't get Fund assistance to do it, it was Russia in August 1998. So I'm not quite sure what the reference is to the Fund providing financing to help the Russians rollover their private-sector debt. And also they are trying to reschedule their private-sector debt. So I think in terms of burden sharing, the private sector is certainly bearing its fair share of the burden in the Russian case.
With regard to payments to the IMF, it should be noted in the first instance that payments to the IMF by Russia have been going on all through this year on schedule well before this agreement was made. It is also the case that the international community very much has an interest in the recovery of the Russian economy and that this program is an essential part of making that happen.
So this is not, as you imply, just a rollover. It's a program, and it's a program during which there will be quite large net payments from Russia to the IMF, of US$2.8 billion in 1999-2000.
JOURNALIST "G": I want to take a somewhat longer term view here. The problem with Russia for the past number of years that we've seen repeatedly is that these Fund programs get agreed and a little bit of money is disbursed and then the reform process stops, either because the government is too weak to get the legislation through the Duma or there is a change in government or some external something happens to throw things off track.
How confident are you in this new government and their ability to actually take the process forward in a way that can begin to build a long-term, sustainable Russian economy?
MR. FISCHER: Well, everybody involved has to be a little concerned about the longer term failures to deliver by the Russian government. But one of the big changes is that practically everything that was a prior action and that required Duma action was actually passed this time.
And so whatever the constellation of political forces--and I am sure that you all thought like we did, when the Primakov government went, that possibly Duma support would be less-- nonetheless, it's the case with the new government that it has had Duma support.
It's also the case that, at least so far this year, the fiscal tax collection has been on target and rising. These are all modest but pleasant surprises relative to the expectations many people had last August about the collapse of Russian reform and the possibility that Russia would retreat in on itself.
Now, we're obviously going to have to monitor very closely, and we will, of course, not be disbursing if they don't meet the necessary conditions. But I would say that on the basis of this year's performance by the Treasury, by the Central Bank, and of course on the balance of payments, which means by the private sector, all of those have been better than expected. We are not in the dawning of a new era, but we have seen an improvement this year relative to last year.
JOURNALIST "C": Stan, just on the moral hazard [inaudible], it's kind of okay to talk about holding disbursements if they don't make targets, but just about everyone seems to believe that, basket-case or not, Russia has to be aided, given its nuclear status. Doesn't that still present an overall and overriding condition to whatever the IMF and the rest of the international community does, that Russia remains too big to fail?
MR. FISCHER: You know, one would think, listening to you, that we are back to last July when Russia was being given US$25 billion. They were-
JOURNALIST "C": Well, they are still being aided in a financial sense.
MR. FISCHER: They were allowed to fail. It was very controversial last August, but the moral hazard play, as you recall, was Russia. It was actually the one case where I thought the markets might have a point. But when push came to shove, the official sector did not go along with that.
So I don't see, in the Russian case, how the moral hazard argument can be sustained at present. And yes, we are trying to help them; but yes, they are members of the IMF, they have a program, they are doing reasonably well on implementing it, they have a right to assistance.
I would say that the Russians have shown enormous determination to stay in the international financial system, and to find, after August, a consensual way of dealing with their creditors. And they've come up with this distinction between the Russian-era and Soviet-era debt that seems to provide a good organizing principle for dealing with external creditors.
MR. DAWSON: Can we take one more question?
JOURNALIST "F": Will this bolster your efforts to change the way euro bonds are--contracts are written, given the way Russia is beginning to open up these dialogues? It's been a relatively quiet period for the last two months or so,
MR. FISCHER: It may have been quiet for you. It hasn't been quiet for us because we've been dealing with the external debt issues in very difficult circumstances in Ukraine, in Pakistan, in Romania, in Ecuador. There's nothing that is going on now that would hinder the effort to find ways of involving the private sector. And the way the Russians are proceeding on this debt is consistent with the notion that there should be private-sector burden sharing. But I don't see, right now, a major breakthrough on how to deal with instruments like euro bonds and other marketable instruments like Bradys, which are not in the Russian case anyway.
MR. DAWSON: Thank you very much. The embargo will be lifted at 9:25.
MR. FISCHER: Thanks very much.
[End of Conference Call.]
IMF EXTERNAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
E-mail: publicaffairs@imf.org E-mail: media@imf.org
Fax: 202-623-6278 Phone: 202-623-7100


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Words by It's Nice That, Thursday 11 July 2019
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For the Lisbon-based multimedia artist, the future of digital technologies is not one that will arise in opposition to, or as a destruction of, the natural environment, but as an augmentation of our perceptions.
Work / Graphic Design Arabic and Latin typography don't have to mimic each other to be harmonious says Montasser Drissi
The Moroccan designer's work focuses on the relationship between Arabic and Latin typography.
Work / Response and Responsibility Shame Plane confronts our continued involvement in climate-destroying activities
Produced by Swedish design studio Grafik+Program, this website lays out exactly how much damage to the environment your roundtrip journey will do. And it doesn't make for pretty reading.
Work / Photography Peyton Fulford intimately photographs small-town America's LGBTQ+ communities
With her ongoing personal project, Infinite Tenderness, the Albany-born photographer aims to bring "a new visual understanding to the lives of queer people living in rural areas, specifically those who identify as trans and non-binary."
Work / Art Parted hair and succulent leaves: artist Molly Greene draws from the peculiar
Having become interested in the "idea of making this deeply familiar material seem alien or strange," the Los Angeles-based artist's recent work sees an abundance of brown hair carefully placed and combed onto the paper.
Work / Illustration Genie Espinosa's illustrations are not quite as innocent as you might think
Upon first glance of this illustrator's portfolio, you're instantly greeted with vibrant colours, outlandish figures and some powerful slogans.
Features / Response and Responsibility The climate crisis is daunting, but as a creative professional, there's much you can do
Naresh Ramchandani, Pentagram partner and founder of environmental charity Do The Green Thing, talks us through the few simple steps you can take as a creative to improve the lot of our planet.
Naresh Ramchandani — 17 July 2019
Work / Graphic Design "My creativity is sparked by music and architecture": meet graphic designer Stephanie Specht
Specht Studio, founded by the Belgium designer, features an array of playful designs inspired by her architectural past.
Work / Photography Bodily discomfort supplies the "subtle strangeness" of Melissa Schriek's photographs
In "experimenting with the body and space", the Netherlands-based photographer conceives of her role as that of a "photographic choreographer" creating staged compositions.
Work / Illustration Tara Booth explores the reality of her escapist fantasies in a lyrical new book
The Philadelphia-based illustrator developed the story for Cabin in the Woods over the past few years, creating a beautifully illustrated outcome which resonates with many in its concept, seeking to find an antidote for discontent.
Work / Art Artist Brian Rideout paints private art collections that will never be publicly available again
Motivated by the pictures that he finds and their historical relevance, this Canadian artist's portfolio is filled with astounding replicas of luxury interiors, architecture, still lifes and, most poignantly, art.
Work / Photography Photographer Eva Verbeeck looks at the place of young women in modern American society
With her ongoing series, America's Girls, the Belgium-born photographer forges a community of young women with an emphasis on positive recognition, acceptance and encouragement.
Regulars / Double Click Simple, experimental and sophisticated websites all feature in Double Click July
This month's Double Click is a testament to the diversity and variety that exists within the medium of web design.
Work / Photography Turning her lens to those around her, Danna Singer reveals the story of a working class community
Capturing "poverty, addiction, teen pregnancy, abuse and lack of healthcare", the portfolio of American photographer Danna Singer is one that's filled with pain and honesty.
Work / Animation "I don't like doing the same thing twice": Olivier Lescot on his new film's aesthetic
Olivier has created yet another intricate world filled with character in an animated music video for Christian Rich's Shibuya (Ghost II). Inspired by 80s manga comics, the Blinkink director discusses this new style of animation and what's next for him.
Work / Photography Kyle Berger's Photoshopped images exist in "a post-truth timeline"
The Canadian photographer's new series, titled If There Was Money On The Ground Someone Would Have Already Found It, exposes the absurdity of our collective relationship with modern commercial capitalism.
Work / Illustration Illustrator Anshika Khullar creates snapshots of the lives of underrepresented people
With their myriad references and maximalist style, these illustrations are overtly political and true-to-life representations of marginalised people and their experiences.
Work / Film Paris Hilton gives us the lowdown on where in the world is particularly hot
The New York-based directors Gigi and Roy Ben Artzi direct the Hilton heiress in a new film for lifestyle shopping platform Semaine. In Hot Weather, Paris takes up the role of a weather presenter, selecting the hottest and least hot places in the world according to her standards.
Regulars / In Conversation "AI felt like the next frontier": Holly Herndon in conversation with It's Nice That
We sit down with the musician to find out about her latest album Proto, produced with the help of an artificial intelligence called Spawn, and to discuss how the future of creativity may continue to evolve alongside such tools.
Work / Illustration Franz Lang on understanding freelance illustration as a business
The London-based illustrator discusses the important lessons she's learned since establishing herself as a freelance illustrator two years ago.
Work / Art Hester Finch's artworks portrays normal instances "rendered in a state of taut anxiety"
The London-based artist never limits herself to one subject or way of working, creating surreal and juxtaposing artworks.
Lucy Bourton — 12 July 2019
Regulars / Ones to Watch 2019 Regular Practice on returning back to the Royal College of Art for this year's show identity
For the second consecutive year (the year before that they were exhibiting in the show as students) It's Nice That Ones to Watch have designed the Royal College of Art's graduate show identity.
Work / Digital AIDOL is a computer-generated fantasy world set during the 2065 eSports Olympics
Renowned digital artist Lawrence Lek continues to stun the world with his innovative artworks with his latest work AIDOL. Delving into the fields of virtual reality and simulation, Lawrence's first feature film AIDOL tackles the relationship between humans and AI.
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Rent vesting is a powerful strategy that can enable you to buy your dream home and rent it out until you are in a strong enough financial position to manage the repayments when you move in. Own to live, own to invest or rent vest?
The traditional notion of home ownership was that of the owner-occupier: you bought a house to live in. However, the surge in property prices across the country has made this more of a dream than a reality. And even with the market coming back 10-15% in Sydney and Melbourne, property isn't cheap and won't be. Population growth is high, and money is cheap.
Barriers to entry in the property market have become more profound in recent times resulting in what's called 'rent vesting'.
Rent vesting is the act of renting a property where you want to live, and buying a property where you want to invest. From a purely financial point of view, this strategy makes a lot of sense.
Why should I rent vest?
Prior to the property boom of the late 90s, the concept of renting was often discouraged, with catch phrases such as "you are paying somebody else's mortgage", or "rent money is dead money", becoming the war cry of an older generation for whom housing was far more affordable than it is in the current climate.
Improved cash flow using tax dollars and rent to pay for the property you own (investment property).
Increase growth potential by not limiting your geographical purchasing focus to areas or cities that you want to live in.
Enriched lifestyle by living in a better area and residence (rental) that you would not have been able to afford to buy and live in.
Flexibility to move easily to accommodate a growing family, or perhaps a change in employment location, without the entry and exit costs associated with selling and repurchasing.
This strategy can allow people to buy their home sooner rather than later, while moving in later rather than sooner.
However, it does not account for the emotional drivers of property investment, particularly when that property is your home.
Why shouldn't I rent vest?
Allow me to explain from personal experience.
Coming from a financial background and having successfully implemented rent vesting for many clients in the past, I remember having the discussion around this strategy with my wife.
Although financially, rent-vesting makes sense, as I mentioned earlier, this alone cannot be a determining factor when purchasing a property. Where you choose to live, as opposed to where you choose to invest, is usually based on emotional, and not financial, drivers.
If you want improved cash flow, financial growth, an enriched lifestyle and increased flexibility, then rent vesting might be for you.
Should your first property be an investment property?
Julian's business 1Group was born from an aspiration to become innovators and leaders in the real estate space, with a vision to be the most trusted people in property, creating opportunity through the power of knowledge and positively impacting lives.


text:
KLBK News at 10
DPS, LPD warn drivers to slow down
Tuesday, Jan. 31 Weather Related Announcements
Jury selected, murder of police officer at TTU
Skylar Roddy
(Photo provided in a press release from the Frenship Independent School District)
Skylar Roddy (Photo provided in a press release from the Frenship Independent School District)
Frenship ISD names new Willow Bend Elementary principal
by: Chris Whited
WOLFFORTH, Texas — On Wednesday, the Frenship Independent School District (FISD) announced the selection of Skylar Roddy as the new principal for Willow Bend Elementary School.
According to a press release from FISD, Roddy is no stranger to the school as she recently served as the school's interim principal and was also an assistant principal.
"My first thought was overwhelming gratefulness to those who chose me to be the new leader of Willow Bend. I highly value each person who works at Willow Bend and am so excited to continue working alongside them in a new role," said Roddy in the press release. "I am most looking forward to continuing to build relationships with students, families, and staff and to continue seeing amazing things happen here at Willow Bend. It is a very special place."
FISD said Roddy has 10 years of experience in education, with five of those within its school district.
She is a Lubbock Christian University graduate, earning both a Bachelors of Science in Secondary Education and a Masters of Education in Educational Leadership.
Lubbock Salvation Army critically low on supplies
Man accused of running over woman near Lubbock bar
Lbk man charged with bestiality, child pornography
Frenship staff accused of inappropriate behavior
Lbk teen dies in sleep, family blames herbal supplement
UT fires men's hoops coach Chris Beard after arrest
Texas SNAP benefit extension to end in February
Woman pleads guilty after acquiring $60k+ in Lbk
Mom of Texas school shooting suspect arrested in …
Texas is getting a Universal Studios theme park


A housewife gains from Homeopathy, as not only her pains of sciatica but her menace of mania too get treated with Homeopathy.
A young physiotherapist finds healing process exercised by Homeopathic medicines, effective for her multiple joint pains and sciatica.
Homeopathy at Welcome Cure relieves sciatica as well as respiratory complaints in this 52 year old!
Homeopathy helps a bank manager get free from sciatica!
Homeopathy plays saviour in sciatica for this 63 year old lady!


Designed to help us to never miss a call, a message, an appointment, or to easily control the main functions of our smartphones, connected watches sometimes know themselves indispensable … provided you choose the right model!
With 1.2 million units sold in France by GFK, the market for connected devices is growing every year. If sales of connected watches have not met the expectations of manufacturers, consumer craze nevertheless manifests a little more each year. And it is expected to strengthen in 2016. It must be recognized that before saying goodbye to his beautiful traditional watch (what purists refuse) must be sure to replace it with a product that holds up. And if that was not really the case with the first connected models, some manufacturers now offer enough mature products, led to become very good companions of our digital lives. On their small screens, connected watches indicate the arrival of a message, a call for an appointment, but you also control the main functions of your smartphone's voice.
Overall, according to CentralLEDWatch, LED watches today boarded a sufficiently powerful equipment to be free from actual slowdown during use. And it should also to be improving, with the proliferation of chips (SoC) of new generation, including Qualcomm. The US has, in fact, recently announced its platform Snapdragon Wear in 2100 , more powerful, but the promise is to bring greater autonomy.One point, manufacturers still have much to do. For models already available, note that the operating systems benefit from regular updates to enhance the autonomy of the devices.
But in the current state of things, if you watch should not be charged more than once a week , forget the models under Android Wear, Tizen or iOS Watch with toughness, usually at best two days.
Those who find it prohibitive, can turn, for example, to the Pebble models, including electronic ink screens and little greedy system possible to take a few more days. There are also analog models, such as the Withings Activity, whose autonomy (battery) is this time of several months, but for which notifications functions are very limited.


Picked up Brian early and took him uplake to catch bait, John and his Dad would be a little late today. Caught bait easily and ran boards on a 15' flat with no success. Picked up other two clients and set up on a flat that I fished yesterday morning where we caught 5 Stripers and ran it with no luck. Was a bright and full moon last night and I thought it would make things tough today but no hits? Pulled up and hit a deeper flat nearby and poped 1 Striper in 16' on a board so I held that depth and ran the contour , hooking up with a couple other nice Stripers. The fish seemed to want the larger Gizzard but I only had a few. Fished 4 other flats with no luck and ended up with 4 Stripers and a couple of Cats.


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Bubble fears as Taipei property prices hit record
When 35-year-old Yu Chang-che made a record-breaking offer on an apartment on the fifth floor of The Palace, a gated community in downtown Taipei, he set off a wave of complaints across Taiwan.Yu, the son of a well-known property investor, agreed to pay 280 million Taiwan dollars (nine million US) for the 450-square-metre (4,800-square-foot) unit, a historic high that raised eyebrows around the island.
"Many people wouldn't be able to buy so much as the bathroom in such a luxury home even if they spent their entire life savings," said Lai Shyh-bao, a legislator of the ruling Kuomintang party.The deal ended up on the front pages of major newspapers and became a hot topic on the 24-hour news channels as fears mounted it would set off new cycles of speculation.
In the end, Yu backed out of the transaction.In the wake of the global financial crisis, Taiwan's property market has soared, sparking fears that prices will spiral out of the reach of the average buyer -- and generate a damaging property bubble.At the end of October, the average price of property in Taipei city was 4,614 US dollars per square metre, according to data from property agency Taiwan Realty.This is up 15 percent from a year earlier, and makes Taipei the fifth-most expensive Asian city, behind Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore and Seoul, and ahead of Shanghai and Beijing, according to the agency.
"No one expected an upturn such as this," said Chen Yu-cheng, a broker at National Realty, another Taipei-based property agency.Analysts say the rally has been spurred by low interest rates amid ample liquidity worldwide aimed at rescuing struggling economies.Adding fuel to the fire is a government decision to slash inheritance tax, prompting an inflow of idle money that had stayed abroad, said Chang Sheng-hung of Mega International Investment Services.Finally, the property market has been helped by a significant reduction in tension with Beijing after the China-friendly politician Ma Ying-jeou was elected president in 2008.
Tallies released by the government in August indicate that the house price-to-income ratio -- the ratio of the median market home price to the median annual household income -- hit 11.5, up from 9.9 at the end of 2008.In other words, even if an average Taiwan family spends nothing on food or clothes or anything else, it will still take more than a decade for them to be able to buy a home.
Skyrocketing housing prices have emerged as a key public complaint, and the central bank has raised interest rates twice while tightening credit for housing loans this year, but so far to little effect."The bubbles have been there for a while and are getting bigger and bigger," said Chang Chin-er, a specialist in land economics at National Chengchi University in Taipei.Unlike the academics, land developers say the present prices remain at reasonable levels, arguing that the risk of a sharp correction is low -- at least within the next year.
"If you take the price-to-income ratio into consideration, Taipei's realty prices still fall within reasonable levels," said Frank Chung, the chairman of Huaku Development Co.Chung remains bullish, citing the continued US attempts at quantitative easing measures which have been further driving up liquidity heading for emerging markets, including Taiwan.
Still, the private think-tank Taiwan Institute of Economic Research strikes a cautious note, saying short-term speculative trading, seen as one indicator of bubbles, has made up more than 20 percent of total transactions."The risk of bubbles bursting may be even more pronounced next year if the government takes no fresh measures to rein in prices," said Liu Pei-chen, a researcher at the think tank.
Also setting off alarm bells at the think tank is the fact that the total amount of the island's outstanding housing loans now account for more than 40 percent the island's gross domestic product, she said.Chengchi University's Chang estimated Taipei's property prices are already 43 percent higher than they should be, given average incomes and the current demand for rented homes."The bigger the bubbles, the greater damage they may wreak to the economy once they burst," he said.
Labels: Taiwan
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