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Eastern Europe
November 30, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
activity in Ireland to spy on companies involved in the technology sphere. Ireland is home to the European headquarters of Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and Apple due to its low corporate tax and easy access to the EU market.
“The Putin regime has literally a thousand different projects going with an unlimited budget to disrupt democracy in the west and it wouldn’t surprise me if they are active [in Ireland],” said Browder. “They run a thousand initiatives with the expectations that 995 will fail.”
IMF warns Belarus to get a 'Plan B' ready in case energy talks with Russia fail
bne IntelliNews
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned the government of cash-strapped Belarus to prepare "contingency plans" if energy negotiations with Russia fail.
"Although the government sees a low probability of less than full compensation for the tax manoeuvre losses, contingency plans would be helpful if such an event were to materialise," the IMF said in a statement e-mailed to bne IntelliNews on November 28.
According to the multinational lender, in such an event, oil refining activity would be reduced, dampen- ing export revenue and growth. Tax revenues would also be hit due to lower economic activity, lower transfers from Russia, and lower customs duties.
The policy response should aim to mitigate the impact on the balance of payments and facilitate
Disclosures made by Browder to the Irish Times in April this year indicate that the proceeds from the $230m tax fraud against Hermitage appear to have travelled through the bank accounts of Bank of Ireland and AIB, Ireland's two largest lenders.
Hermitage has asked the Irish authorities to investigate these transactions and money flows and to see whether the names of the Dublin companies were being used as part of a vast money-laundering scheme.
the reallocation of resources in the economy, including structural reforms. "The loss of energy discounts would underscore the need for faster and deeper reform to boost productivity in [state- owned enterprises], not least in the refineries," the statement reads.
Meanwhile, the IMF believes that Belarus
requires exchange rate flexibility to allow the needed adjustment in the balance of payments, supported by fiscal discipline to refrain from untargeted and costly subsidies to refineries, with additional measures as needed to maintain debt
on a downward trajectory. On top of that, a tighter monetary policy is needed to maintain inflation within target and limit undue volatility in the foreign exchange market, the multinational lender added.
The statement followed little progress in Belarus- Russia oil and gas negotiations. Minsk and Moscow