Finance
Russia goes toward de-dollarization

The West’s primary point of concern should be Russia and China’s recent commitment to de-dollarize their transactions and establish a financial bubble immune to Western sanctions, notes “The National Interest”.
There is a tendency in the West to discount Russian projects that supply the regime with enough funds to make it to the next month but cannot realistically last for an extended period of time. The problem with this mindset, though, is that Russia has no intention of reverting back to its participation in the U.S.-led international system since it is convinced that China holds the future.
Just as Putin demanded that European companies pay for Russian oil and gas in rubles or gold at the beginning of the year, he has also pressed Chinese energy firms to pay for gas in rubles or yuan. Russian banks have begun issuing checking and savings accounts in Chinese yuan.
In the past, it may have considered the dollar or the euro because they still represent the overwhelming majority of global trade, but this is no longer the case.
“Purchases of currencies of unfriendly countries, primarily dollars and euros, are now impossible,” – (Russian) Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said during an interview. “For us, these currencies are toxic.” When asked why Russian assets in dollars and euros are still accumulating abroad if Moscow intends to dissolve all links to these currencies, Siluanov maintained that Russia is in the process of abandoning them before adding a curious line: The only options that remain for Russia are “rubles, a currency that we trust, or imports that are of interest to us.”
Russia’s economy is also structured to take advantage of the war over energy. When adjusted for purchasing power parity, Russia has the sixth-largest GDP behind Germany. Sectors matter more than size, however. In 2021, Russia’s economy was composed of the following sectors: services (53 percent), agriculture (3.8 percent), industry (33 percent), and manufacturing (14 percent)—the total exceeds 100 percent because there is some overlap.
Russia’s comparative agricultural might reveals why it is at ease with provoking a food shortage and delaying grain exports from Ukrainian ports. Not only will Russian citizens suffer less than their European neighbors, but China is less likely to be affected by its food diplomacy.
Indeed, agriculture was one of Putin’s focal points during the recent Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting. Putin celebrated that agricultural production rose 5.4 percent among the members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in 2022. This “very good growth,” he said, “is all the more important… amid the growing food crisis in the world.” Putin could not help mentioning that gas prices in EAEU countries are currently “ten times” less than in the EU.
Moscow has made its greatest strides toward de-dollarization domestically, however, and this initiative is inextricable from its coercive natural resource diplomacy. For instance, major fuel and oil companies are planning to increase the use of the yuan in their operations. In August 2022, Russians bought a record number of the Chinese currency after Beijing doubled the yuan-ruble trading band in March to provide more flexibility in currency exchanges.
Putin said that Russia “will not give up the dollar,” but will instead dramatically reduce its shares.
Finance
Common statistics homework problems and how to solve them

Statistics is a branch of mathematics that deals with collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data. Statistics homework problems can be challenging for many students, especially if they lack the necessary skills and concepts. That is the reason why many choose to get statistics help for students. It seems like a more effective way of dealing with an issue at hand. However, there are some common types of statistics problems that can be solved using some basic steps and strategies.
Statistic help for students: examples of problems and solutions
Example 1: Finding the mean and median of a data set
The mean and median are two measures of central tendency that describe the average or typical value of a data set. The mean is calculated by adding up all the values in the data set and dividing by the number of values. The median is the middle value of the data set when it is arranged in ascending or descending order. If there is an even number of values, the median is the average of the middle two values.
To find the mean and median of a data set, we can follow these steps:
- Step 1: Arrange the data in ascending or descending order (optional for finding the mean, but necessary for finding the median).
- Step 2: Add up all the values in the data set and divide by the number of values to get the mean.
- Step 3: Find the middle position of the data set by dividing the number of values by 2. If the result is a whole number, then that position is the median. If the result is a fraction, then round it up to the next whole number and find the value at that position. This is the median if there is an odd number of values. If there is an even number of values, then find the average of the values at that position and the previous position. This is the median.
For example, suppose we have the following data set:
139 143 128 138 149 131 143 133
To find the mean and median, we can do the following:
- Step 1: Arrange the data in ascending order:
128 131 133 138 139 143 143 149
- Step 2: Add up all the values and divide by 8 (the number of values) to get the mean:
(128 + 131 + 133 + 138 + 139 + 143 + 143 + 149) / 8 = 138.25
The mean is 138.25.
- Step 3: Find the middle position of the data set by dividing 8 by 2:
8 / 2 = 4
Since this is a whole number, we look at the value at position 4 and position 5 (the next position) in the ordered data set:
128 131 133 (138) (139) 143 143 149
The values at these positions are 138 and 139. To find the median, we take their average:
(138 + 139) / 2 = 138.5
The median is 138.5.
Example 2: Constructing a frequency table
A frequency table is a table that shows how often each value or category occurs in a data set. It can be used to summarize and display categorical or numerical data. To construct a frequency table, we can follow these steps:
- Step 1: Identify the possible values or categories in the data set.
- Step 2: Count how many times each value or category occurs in the data set.
- Step 3: Record the counts in a table with two columns: one for the values or categories and one for their frequencies.
For example, suppose we have the following data on the GPA of six students:
3.0 3.3 3.1 3.0 3.1 3.1
To construct a frequency table, we can do the following:
- Step 1: Identify the possible values in the data set. In this case, they are 3.0, 3.1, and 3.3.
- Step 2: Count how many times each value occurs in the data set. In this case, 3.0 occurs twice, 3.1 occurs three times, and 3.3 occurs once.
- Step 3: Record the counts in a table with two columns:
GPA | Frequency |
3.0 | 2 |
3.1 | 3 |
3.3 | 1 |
This is our frequency table.
These are just two examples of common statistics homework problems and how to solve them. There are many other types of problems that require different methods and techniques, such as finding standard deviation, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, correlation, regression, and more. To learn more about these topics and how to solve them, you can check out some online resources such as Mathway, The Princeton Review, or Math-Drills. You can also consult your textbook, your instructor, or your classmates for more help and practice. Statistics can be a challenging but rewarding subject, and with some effort and guidance, you can master it.
How to find competent statistics help for students
When you are overwhelmed with your assignment and don’t feel like working on it, qualified statistic help for students is the best solution to your problem. However, you should find out a bit about the service before you place your order on its website. To specify, you need to know how long its team has been providing statistics assistance for students. What is more, you should check out what their pricing policy is like, as well as what other customers think about the agency in question.
Apart from that, don’t forget about the guarantees which a reliable service should provide. The more guarantees a service offers, the more secure you will feel placing your order on the website. All in all, finding a service that provides competent statistics assistance will not take you long as there are many companies you can trust. Yet, you need to pay special attention to a number of factors to choose the best service on the market. A company that provides competent assistance with statistics assignments is right on hand. You just need to learn more about what it has to offer.
Finance
U.S. companies are barreling towards a $1.8 trillion corporate debt

US firms are barreling towards a giant wall of corporate debt that’s about to mature over the next few years, Goldman Sachs strategists said in a note.
There’s $1.8 trillion of corporate debt maturing over the next two years, Goldman Sachs estimated. Firms could be slammed with higher debt servicing costs as interest rates stay elevated. That could eat into corporate revenue and weigh on the US job market.
The investment bank estimated that $790 billion of corporate debt was set to mature in 2024, followed by $1.07 trillion of debt maturing in 2025. That amounts to $1.8 trillion of debt reaching maturity within the next two years, in addition to another $230 billion that will reach maturity by the end of this year, Goldman strategists said.
The wave of debt that will need to be refinanced could spell trouble for companies, as interest rates have been raised aggressively by the Fed over the last year. The Fed funds rate is now targeted between 5.25%-5.5%, the highest range since 2001.
For every extra dollar spent to service their debt, firms will likely pull back on capital expenditures spending by 10 cents and labor spending by 20 cents, the strategists estimated, a reduction that could weigh down the job market by 5,000 payrolls a month in 2024 and 10,000 payrolls a month in 2025.
Experts have warned of trouble for US corporations as credit conditions tighten. Already, the tally of corporate debt defaults in 2023 has surpassed the total number of defaults recorded last year. As much of $1 trillion in corporate debt could be at risk for default if the US faces a full-blown recession, Bank of America warned, though strategists at the bank no longer see a downturn as likely in 2023.
Finance
Russian response to sanctions: billions in dollar terms are stuck in Russia

“Tens of billions in dollar terms are stuck in Russia,” the chief executive of one large company domiciled in a country told ‘The Financial Times’. “And there is no way to get them out.”
Western companies that have continued to operate in Russia since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine have generated billions of dollars in profits, but the Kremlin has blocked them from accessing the cash in an effort to turn the screw on “unfriendly” nations.
Groups from such countries accounted for $18 billion (€16.8 billion) of the $20 billion in Russian profits that overseas companies reported for 2022 alone, and $199 billion of their $217 billion in Russian gross revenue.
Many foreign businesses have been trying to sell their Russian subsidiaries but any deal requires Moscow’s approval and is subject to steep price discounts. In recent days British American Tobacco and Swedish truck maker Volvo have announced agreements to transfer their assets in the country to local owners.
Local earnings of companies from BP to Citigroup have been locked in Russia since the imposition last year of a dividend payout ban on businesses from “unfriendly” countries including the US, UK and all EU members. While such transactions can be approved under exceptional circumstances, few withdrawal permits have been issued.
US groups Philip Morris and PepsiCo earned $775 million and $718 million, respectively. Swedish truck maker Scania’s $621 million Russian profit in 2022 made it the top earner among companies that have since withdrawn from the country. Philip Morris declined to comment. PepsiCo and Scania did not respond to requests for comment.
Among companies of “unfriendly” origin that remain active in Russia, Austrian bank Raiffeisen reported the biggest 2022 earnings in the country at $2 billion, according to the KSE data.
US-based businesses generated the largest total profit of $4.9 billion, the KSE numbers show, followed by German, Austrian and Swiss companies with $2.4 billion, $1.9 billion and $1 billion, respectively.
‘The Financial Times’ reported last month that European companies had reported writedowns and losses worth at least €100 billion from their operations in Russia since last year’s full-scale invasion.
German energy group Wintershall, which this year recorded a €7 billion non-cash impairment after the Kremlin expropriated its Russian business, has “about €2 billion in working interest cash… locked in due to dividend restrictions”, investors were told on a conference.
“The vast majority of the cash that was generated within our Russian joint ventures since 2022 has dissipated,” Wintershall said last month, adding that no dividends had been paid from Russia for 2022.
Russian officials are yet to outline “a clear strategy for dealing with frozen assets”, said Aleksandra Prokopenko, a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre. “However, considering the strong desire of foreign entities to regain their dividends, they are likely to explore using them as leverage – for example to urge western authorities to unfreeze Russian assets.”
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