The Financial Diary

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Fri Jun 07, 2019 2:09 pm

About the Diary

The Financial Diary is a Nineteen Countries banking-focussed, Yohannesian-language publication which also covers a variety of nation-state topics, including current affairs, legal issues, and fiscal and monetary policies. The Diary is published two days a week by the Royal Lindblum Building Society, a division of the Bank of Yohannes, in the broadsheet format and online on NationStates, Theme: Rift.

Issues

June 8, 2019 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
June 9, 2019 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
June 10, 2019 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
June 11, 2019 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
June 19, 2019 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
June 25, 2019 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
June 29, 2019 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
July 8, 2019 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
July 12, 2019 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
October 1, 2019 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
November 1, 2019 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
November 5, 2019 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
December 15, 2019 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
January 29, 2020 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
January 30, 2020 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
February 8, 2020 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
February 19, 2020 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
February 23, 2020 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
March 1, 2020 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]
March 5, 2020 [ Forum ] [ Dispatch ]

Copyright: © Library of Parliament, 2020. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 NationStates licence. You are free to copy, distribute and adapt the work, as long as you attribute the work to claudiaintern@libraryofparliament.govt.yo and abide by the other licence terms.

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Fri Jun 07, 2019 5:28 pm

With a beautiful wee little lass and another about to arrive, Greta and Felix are about to face the most common problem for middle-income Yohannesians. They were growing too big for their lovable two-bedroom Victorian terraced house in the heart of Royal Alexandria’s popular Waterfront on the Quay suburb. The rental house wasn’t even built with a bathtub and free space was almost gone, aside from the little garage space, a minuscule laundry space and two cabinets. The outside deck couldn’t provide them with the breathtaking views they want. It’s time to buy, and something has got to give.

Luckily, what they held in store was a maturing and untouched Central Provident Fund FutureSaver account, protected from premature withdrawal and created specially for the purpose: the Yohannesian dream of suburban home ownership. Greta is a Legal Secretary at Reichenau & Partners Solicitors, while Felix is a Mid-Market Account Executive at ApolloDuo Mobile, Social & Digital Marketing Agency. To buy a new home at Alexandria’s lower quartile price they would need to have a mortgage of 330,500 NationStates Dollars (NSD). By employing some well-known connections of Felix’s father-in-law, they were introduced to architect Ägid Ribbentrop, giving an opportunity for the family to stay and build for half the price rather than having to move away from their dearly loved Waterfront neighbourhood.

However, by accessing their FutureSaver account, the government scheme has presented the young professional family with another requirement: they must’ve saved at least 76,000 NSD for a deposit. Luckily they’ve been putting aside at least 10 per cent of their net pay every week for almost eight years. Recognising the potential that the young ambitious couple offered, Ägid introduced Felix to his brother-in-law Samuel Washington, an American senior Mobile Mortgage Manager at the Bank of Yohannes.

“He spoke with the funny Yankee accent, and he called me a Fritz,” says Felix. “I don’t know what that means, but apparently I was told that he’s good with guiding young families through complex home loan applications.” A mortgage application was then forwarded to the Royal Alexandria Parliament Square Branch of the Bank of Yohannes. “It was approved the week after so that the family can finally afford their dream Waterfront home,” says Samuel. “I know they can afford the repayment, so I personally have no problem with guaranteeing their application to my boss.” Yohannesian mortgages are considered safe when they consume less than 40 per cent of the family’s gross pay, and Greta and Felix met the criterion.

With the new money from the Bank of Yohannes, Greta and Felix are now set to buy. Located just three streets away from their old rental home, the new 1970s bungalow house gives the couple a stunning new open-plan living space and inspiring dining and kitchen area. The property has an extension which sits at a lower level and meets the raised lawn for a clean indoor and outdoor flow through a new, expansive deck. “The waterfront view is breathtaking from here,” says Greta. “Now I’m happy.”

“It’s the Bank of Yohannes dream delivery,” says Samuel. “And my boss is a happy man this week.”

Greta and Felix were lucky to have struck a deal with Samuel just two weeks before the Economic Palace’s new monetary policy announcement. “We’ll be releasing a new government industry consultation paper which is set to introduce our updated mortgage bond collateral standards for 2020,” says Governor Heidemarie Vogelweide. “We strive to achieve a more standardised and transparent framework to follow the recommendations of the World Assembly in 2018.”

Besides the new set of standards, a comprehensive list of feedback submissions was also received from banks, investors and other key players of the money market inside the beltway. “The new policy framework will increase the volatility of short-term interest rates in the market,” the weekly commentary report notes. “Though this effect will be only of temporary duration.”

The Financial Diary • 8 June 2019 • 1

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Sat Jun 08, 2019 11:19 am

You and Your Finance—by specialist banking and finance lawyer Laura Schütz

By the time you read this page we will be heading into the month of June. The end of a financial year is the most crucial time to take a step back and consider the bigger picture. From the cramped office overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue, as a member of the transactional banking and finance group at Ardenfontein Köhler, I’ve worked with a diverse range of clients across domestic and international banking and finance transactions. I am fast approaching my 11 years in practice and I have been reflecting on my somewhat short experience as a specialist banking and finance lawyer over that time.

When I first started ‘fresh out of uni’ as a junior finance lawyer to advise Beltway insiders, borrowers and lenders in credit contracts and related statutes, including the requirements of the Consumer Credit Protection Amendment Act 1990 and the Truth in Lending Amendment Act 2007, the process was more calm, dignified, and unhurried; only involved papers and transactions took time. We even visited the other firm across the street with our cheque for the purchase price. We then walked back to our firm with the title documents and mailed them to the Bank of Yohannes for submission.

One of the most important issues with financial product development transaction was finding the title document for our bank clients so it could be exchanged to be sent to the Bank of Yohannes to be updated with the new information. Unlike more difficult tasks such as acquisition financing and trade and receivables finance, financial product development was, in the main a relatively dull and uninspiring but predictable process which was completed by most Yohannesian banking and finance lawyers as a vital part of each practice. Most specialist finance and banking lawyers in the Nineteen Countries were very well acquainted with the process and could do it well.

However, in the past 11 years the process has been changed in a fundamental way. With the introduction of new technologies, what was comparatively simple has grown to be more and the compliance mechanism seen at every step of the way has greatly increased. The first important change was the expansion of the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Trade’s Online Archive which moved all the title records in the Nineteen Countries from paper to electronic records. Over time the registration process was also transferred to an entirely electronic system to go with online banking. Overall, the introduction of Online Archive was a good step forward that has allowed ownership to be easily accessed, revised and streamlined. But, while it was another important part of the evolution of Yohannes’ financial regulation and supervision it was also the first of many changes which have made financial product development and transaction record keeping more complicated.

Over the years we have witnessed the introduction of further auditing, compliance, reform and record keeping. Two of the most visible consequences of the changes are, I believe, a lack of trust in the parties who are involved in the process and a desire to record and keep those records for perpetuity. The days of two lawyers meeting over tea to exchange cheques and documents are long gone. This is disheartening as the more we are sitting at our computer and the less we see each other, the less we trust each other. This cycle is in my mind self-perpetuating. As we trust each other less we do not feel trust. As we are audited more we worry about our own interests and we are encouraged to act cautiously. I don’t truthfully believe all the new changes in compliance have reduced the number of issues and unsatisfactory outcomes for clients in the process.

The introduction of more compliance through new legislation has seen financial product development, regulatory and structured transaction becoming more complicated, costly and specialised. The precision required by participants has become much more important to a successful transaction and perpetual record keeping. I am especially seeing the number of junior lawyers willing to carry out financial services regulatory is declining. New graduates and transferring lawyers would instead choose less burdensome tasks such as property financing.

With the introduction of new technologies and norms, as the law becomes more challenging it becomes critical that you receive the right advice from lawyers who can monitor your risks and make the process as smooth and easy as possible because they know the law. At Ardenfontein Köhler we are more than ready to do that for your next important project and transaction.

The Financial Diary • 9 June 2019 • 2

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Mon Jun 10, 2019 1:30 am

From the Beltway to Freedom Street

In a world filled with materialistic cravings, holding a 5-day workweek corporate job brings with it many advantages: a feeling of financial security, a pretty good salary, maybe even an easier step to take in saving for a house deposit. Still, there are some of your everyday Yohannesians who feel unhappy, who want to explore the unknown—whether it be the desire to volunteer their time and give back to the world or the ambition to start their own home-based business, or even just to finally make their childhood dreams come true.

In this week’s From the Beltway to Freedom Street, The Financial Diary meets with two former Beltway insiders who made the giant leap forward to reach Freedom Street and make their dreams their realities.

Lewis Castellon—from government accountant to sales training and consultancy

Lewis Castellon grew up wanting to wear the high-powered corporate suit. At 24, a fresh chartered accountant, he started work at Ernst & Old. After nine years, wearing the corporate towel in the largest professional services firm in the Nineteen Countries left him feeling miserable and unfulfilled. Lewis quit his dream job and flew to Laeral to meet with his securities analyst older sister. She agreed to start boutique sales consultancy Generation Xero with him and they’ve never looked back.

“I saw on reaching the highest Pennsylvania Avenue corporate ladder … you spend hours and days just going to meetings and drafting reports. You’re interacting with people, but they do not interact with you like normal people do—they’re there to represent their clients and you’re there to represent the government. I’d spend almost nine hours everyday feeling isolated, and then when I’m home I spend another three hours keeping up with my work. I don’t want to live my days like that anymore. When I was admitted to the hospital with work-related stress and depression, it was then that I decided to call it quits.”

“As a corporate citizen I saw the independence of small-business owners; the long hours they worked, but also their independence. The importance of creativity in business, and how it leads to success. The corporate way of life inside the Beltway was to achieve for shareholders regardless of the price to be paid first and to keep your head down later. I slowly became attracted to the small-business owners I met working for Ernst & Old. I liked the way they approached their work.”

“I think that people in corporate Yohannes … in general, have reached glass ceilings. We have many existing departments—administration, marketing people, the HR and the computer gurus—and that’s why as a multitasker I slowly realised that was not for me. Now, I work by myself while my sister runs the show overseas, and I like it. I meet new people just like me everyday. I am convincing because I’m passionate. My clients see that I like what I am doing and they gravitate to me.”

Johannes Aagaard—from financial adviser to adventure race organiser

Eight years ago, Johannes Aagaard, a regional manager at KornhäuselCoopers Financial Advisory and Brokerage, moved from a career in the finance industry to become an adventure race organiser. With the successful administration of three championships—Endurance Sport WakeMonsters, Holsteiner Auenland Open Adventure Race, and Little Wannsee Championship—under his belt, Johannes says he loves his job the way he liked his old job, but just wasn’t satisfied. He gave up a six-figure salary working for corporate Yohannes deep inside the Beltway to pursue his teenage dreams.

“I’d spend most of my career after graduation slaving for big, multinational firms and one day my daughter asked me, ‘Papa, what will people remember you for when you meet Jesus?’ And I’d told her that I don’t know. First, I realised I’m not making an impact, and second, I was making money hand over fist, but I wasn’t happy. I have the luxury of education and experience, but I do not have the luxury of time. One day just after the World Assembly Condemnation of Automagfreek in April 2012, I was responsible for the submission of a taxing statutory audit and review bill contribution; and then, in slow motion, I realised I was about to scream at all the sleeping district parliamentarians during the second reading of the bill.”

“I quit my job and I’m glad to have the courage to do so. I’d always been a super keen mountain biker and long-distance runner at secondary school, and I just wanted to give back to the world. I took on my first 550km adventure race and met a few of my old work acquaintances doing the same thing. We organised from our savings and the rest is history. For the next two years it was like we were doing two full-time jobs at the same time. But my work commitment was too strong—a leftover from my corporate days.”

“It’s been a tough balancing act. My role now, though, is one that I’m proud of: last week we donated 170,000 NationStates Dollars (NSD) to the Heart Kids Foundation.”

“I’m a fit man, I still do calculations, and I can answer my daughter’s question.”

“I am truthfully happy.”

The Financial Diary • 10 June 2019 • 3

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Tue Jun 11, 2019 9:49 pm

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By: Christiane Frohmann
Staff writer—industry outlooks

In 2012, as the World Assembly Condemnation of Automagfreek caused an exceptionally long and arduous credit crisis in the Nineteen Countries, everyone prepared themselves for the catastrophe that was bound to happen in the nation’s leading companies. It did not arrive.

That year’s complete disorder and confusion produced a shock for Yohannesian financial services companies. Their capital stock and bond values fell harder than those of the less overvalued manufacturing sector. But widespread defaults did not happen. “The domino effect we had seen in 1990 didn’t happen,” says Bianca Fürstenberg, a rates and foreign exchange strategist at the Royal Bank of Alexandria. “Unlike the credit crisis that had visited the Nineteen Countries before, in 2013 they’re not there.” By these companies’ abilities to bounce back, they showed that they were finally willing to learn from history. However, Bianca believes that what she has seen since for Yohannesian families has been more worrying.

“One word,” she says. “Debt.”

In February 2012, just before the crisis, many households across Yohannes held far less debt to income in comparison to their international peers. But that has since risen fast. Nikolas Bähr, a 51-year-old senior policy analyst in Dagmar who is buying a two-bedroom bungalow, knows that with debt there will also be risk. “Because of the long period of lower interest rates we’ve seen since 2014, households’ propensity to consume has risen,” says Nikolas. “For almost six years, more affordable borrowing and their wider availability have skewed spending towards the Nineteen Countries’ non-tradeable sectors.” Increasingly, more resources have been directed to non-tradeable activities such as property investing, and it’s becoming a problem for other parts of Yohannes’ economy.

It begs the question of why have household debt levels been bolstered below the surface of what is supposedly a stable economy.

Year	ICR (per cent)
2000	5.10
2001	4.75
2002	4.80
2003	4.90
2004	4.75
2005	4.85
2006	5.00
2007	4.85
2008	4.70
2009	4.95
2010	6.70
2011	8.15
2012	6.70
2013	8.00
2014	2.70
2015	2.30
2016	3.00
2017	1.60

Source: MTC 2017.

The quick answer is the extended period of cheaper borrowing seen since 2014, which has produced a spike in household spending, largely satisfied by growing imports. But income and wages aren’t keeping up. According to the Bank of Yohannes’ weekly commentary report, disposable personal income has grown by more than 8 per cent since 2014, while debt has grown by 17 per cent. To put this into perspective—real household consumption expenditure per person is now more than 100 per cent of disposable personal income. They’ve grown higher than even before 2012, and they’ve almost nullified the steady gains in earnings seen since 2011 (figure 1).

To some extent, the spike in borrowing we have seen shows that the Economic Palace’s Imperial Cash Rate (ICR) has been set at too low a level due to low inflation and a series of important domestic and international economic factors. Low Interest rates have doubly encouraged additional spending. For one, it has made borrowing cheaper for households. Cheaper debt has boosted higher levels of spending across Yohannes.

Finally, cheaper borrowing has made asset price inflation in the Nineteen Countries more pronounced, mainly in capital goods and real estate. “The audacity of hope, yes we can, and reclaiming the Yohannesian dream that we saw as the presidential election of Marion Maréchal-Le Men in 2018 … if we look back at the central themes of her campaign, they’re illegal immigration, cheap money from rich foreign investors, corrupt international neoliberalism … and the Yohannesian housing crisis,” says Bianca.

“That’s why many people voted for Marion and the GOP. They believe asylum seekers and illegal immigrants mistreat women and LGBT Yohannesians, they’re sick of seeing noodle canteen shops and mosques, and they don’t want to see countless foreigners speaking harshly in some weird-sounding language buying Yohannesian houses like there’s no tomorrow.”

In turn, gains in house prices have boosted household net worth and stimulated final consumption expenditure by resident households. Much of this is due to the strong pick-up in passive aggregate housing equity withdrawal. Cheaper borrowing opportunity has reduced domestic deposit nominal returns, which in turn means higher rental yields and capital gains for participants in the less regulated real estate industry. Martin Belka, chief executive of the Nineteen Countries Real Estate Institute, agrees.

“The returns generated have made for a very attractive environment for mum-and-dad investors,” he says. “Lower supply and higher demand for non-rental housing, particularly in leafy middle class suburbs for young professionals, have increased prices across Yohannes.” According to the Nineteen Countries Department of Housing, Rates and Valuation, this situation has produced a large amount of spending power for older property owners. More than half a million budding homeowners are then forced to borrow more from banks to afford to buy. Older homeowners are also forced to pay more as their local authority property rates increase.

“And because of that we see higher levels of spending and borrowing, reinforced by cheap money,” says Martin, who expects to sell his ninth house next week.

However, with higher inflation, less annual net migration and the official hike in ICR under a GOP-controlled Parliament in 2020, household debt supporting spending will likely fall (figure 2).

It begs us to ask ourselves—how has this debt build-up influenced Yohannes’ economic forecasts?

According to the report published by a chorus of Beltway policymakers, the gradual accumulation of household debt-financed spending we have seen since 2014 won’t destroy the economy. “Through the implementation of new inflation-targeting framework and lending practices, we’ve somewhat dampened the effects of highly leveraged borrowing,” says Assistant Governor and General Manager of Economics, Financial Markets and Banking Lieselotte Böckler. “Furthermore, despite the spike in household debt-financed spending, the declining rates we’ve seen since 2014 have kept in check our debt service levels.”

Finally, the Economic Palace is projecting current account surplus to hover around 1 per cent of GDP, and the Bank of Yohannes is not forecasting that positive balance to turn red next year (figure 3). This is welcome news in an otherwise bleak landscape.

“One of the most important factors driving this lower foreign business confidence in the Nineteen Countries economy in 2018 has been the mix of stimulatory government policy,” the Bank of Yohannes quarterly commentary report notes. The Bank of Yohannes Investment Outlook has forecast that this large increase in infrastructure rebuilding activity and fiscal expenditure will continue to boost activity in subsidised sectors of the economy. Their effects will be dampened by a downward revision to the outlooks for net migration and population growth, for instance, and the temporary wind-down of the infrastructure of nation-state significance programme in the Bible Belt.

As the Nineteen Countries head into 2020, it seems that the nation’s policymakers must finally face up to its growth slowdown.

Figure 1: What’s going on in this graph? Can you see the impact of the Automagfreek World Assembly crisis or the presidential election of Marion Maréchal-Le Men? Look closely at this graph, and join the moderated conversation on NationStates about what you and other Economics students see.

Figure 2: Bank of Yohannes Economics and Markets Research’s December 2018 Last Month of the Year Economic Review. Imperial Cash Rate, 2000-18.

Figure 3: Office of Economic Analysis and Forecast’s November 2017 Monthly Report to Parliament. Current account balance post-adjustment.

National Association of Yohannesian Cooperative Banks • 11 June 2019 • 4

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Tue Jun 18, 2019 8:33 pm

Know Your History—by specialist litigation and arbitration lawyer Jennifer Chua-Küchler

One of the most important elements in the administration of justice and the practical operation of law is the right to be judged fairly by one’s peers. We can still see the importance of this principle in some emerging economies, where the rule of law and trust in government collapse without fair trials. I am fast approaching my four years in practice and I can still hear the same question from my clients sometimes. They said: “Why do we have expensive jury trials?”

The legal system of the Nineteen Countries drew inspiration from the Common Law. Thus, it can be said that, historically, this right came from the Kingdom of England’s Magna Carta and the principles contained in the charter. We could not possibly explain the disposition of court business without considering the vital importance of the jury and their responsibility in the administration of justice. The Yohannesian origin of the modern jury was the Alexandrian jury constituted ad hoc by Frederick William I in 1509. They were local villagers summoned by the king to settle a land reform dispute between two influential property owners in the village of Altenmark. A party who won the agreements of 11 villagers would win. We can still see a trace of this today, where liability is decided by 11 citizens of the realm, or in the case of a grand jury, where a party must win the support of 11 jury members out of 21.

During my time as an editor of the Halsten Law Review, it was said that the advantage of being tried by one’s peers is the undeniable fact that 11 minds are more likely than one to arrive at the truth when the dependability or integrity of a witness is found wanting. The same holds true today, even with all the recent trial controversies and unresolved issues we’ve seen. Precisely because they are not creatures well acquainted with the instruments of law, the 21 independent jury members may be able to see the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation with fresh eyes. A lay person’s view can truthfully amend the precision of legal judgment and the meaning and power of legal thought.

It can also be said that a more diverse cross-section of communities can express the values that uphold our society to keep the law in touch with general life facts—the principle which Sir William Holdsworth, the noted English historian, said was “to bring his theories to the touchstone of contemporary commonsense.” For this reason, a judge is restricted by the law they are meant to serve.

I’d like to also touch on another role of the jury and their importance in criminal cases to stand between the state and the person or group of persons who are charged with or on trial for a crime. As I’ve said to one of my clients, there is we think the fundamental conviction in the public mind that justice, democracy and the jury are the safeguard of peace and prosperity from the state and all its aspects within the jurisprudence of our nineteen realms. The English Baron Denning of Whitchurch repeated this for clarity in 1966. He said: “The jury has been the bulwark of our liberties too long for any of us to seek to alter it. Whenever a person is on trial for serious crime, or when, in a civil case, a person’s honour and integrity is at stake, or when one or other party must be deliberately lying, then trial by jury has no equal.”

The jury system is not without its failings, however, and perhaps the most important problems of the jury are said to be the uncertainty and unpredictability of some verdicts, the cost and length of some trials, the lack of reasons in the absence of further evidence, and, for all we know, the difficulty to reach a sound conclusion for a case that involves a complex collection of facts and documents or entangling issues of law.

Under section 2 of the Certiorari Amendment Act 1939, “Any person charged with an offence punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding three months is entitled to be tried by a jury.” As a sworn body of persons, the jury has always been the bedrock of our Unity Law and, before it, the English Common Law. At Stadtbäumer & Partners we believe that they’re there to protect our unrestricted liberties to live our lives without fear of suffering, injustice, or longings of any kind.

The Financial Diary • 19 June 2019 • 5

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Tue Jun 25, 2019 3:27 am

Royal Alexandria is known by most—and traduced by many—for its rain. Home to half a million people, the Kingdom of Alexandria’s capital is the eighth largest city on the continent of Yohannes, and it has been the capital of the Nineteen Countries as well since 1871. It also holds the title of being the Realm of Fiords and Mountain’s rainiest city.

Fortunately, Royal Alexandria is well worth a visit even when there’s a gusty and wet northerly blowing. This compact, fascinating city has an undeniable creative energy, bursting at the seams with arts, culture, live performance, and fine food. In the colder months, the city continues to bustle and thrive with festivals and activities designed to break through the winter blues.

For any visitors coming to Royal Alexandria, eating out is a must on the agenda. In the central city alone, you’ll find hundreds of eateries: cheap and cheerful family establishments, tiny hole-in-the-wall places, and pillars of the Yohannesian cultural fine dining scene. On for the entirety of the coldest month of July, this year’s Craft Beer and Sausage Festival is bigger than ever, perfect for foodies from other Germanic nations looking to visit for the latest in restaurant innovation.

Another item on your Royal Alexandria to-do list: experience some culture. The rainiest city in Yohannes has got it all. Visit the National Museum of Women in the Arts for a spot of Yohannesian women’s history in contemporary art, or wander City Gallery of the Realm to immerse yourself in the story of influential Yohannesian nation-builders through the ages. Step into one of the city’s independent theatres for a lively musical, a stunning dance show, or a side-splitting comedy set. If you happen to be here during December and January, you can also see the latest movies from around the Nineteen Countries at the annual Summer Realm Film Festival.

Royal Alexandria is famously walkable, and many visitors will find they have little need for a car if they stay in the central city. Here, you’ll find opulent hotels, economical boutique backpackers, and self-contained apartments to rent. If you do find yourself itching for a bit of exploration, adventures further afield are easily accessed via public transport or rental car. Little Wannsee’s Flower Garden and Natural Heritage Reserve is a wonderful way to enjoy native bush in the heart of the city, while energising walks abound in the hilly suburbs of Friedrich Grove, Green Forest, and Charlotte Bridge over the Main.

It’s not for nothing that Royal Alexandria was named the nation’s prettiest rainy capital by the Nineteen Countries Cultural Heritage Foundation. With more bars, cafés, and restaurants per capita than America’s New York City, Royal Alexandria continues to maintain its national reputation as the Yohannesian city to visit.

Inside the Beltway—the favourite idiom of Yohannesian political scientists

From Money for Christ and Vote 2018 to Marioncare and the Two-Power Standard, the political idioms “inside the Beltway” and “Beltway insiders” can be found almost everywhere in Yohannesian literature. From time to time written as “below the Beltway” by some authors, they are used to showcase things relating to Yohannesian politics which are influenced by decision-makers in the capital’s Beehive. The Beltway can be divided into three districts: Economic, which is dominated by the Bank of Yohannes buildings around Parliament Square; political, which is dominated by the Parliament House buildings along Pennsylvania avenue; and naval, which is dominated by the Commonwealth Navy Wharf to the west of the Royal Port of Alexandria.

If you’re driving through the Beltway districts this winter, you may find your interest piqued by an old windmill on the horizon. De Moor, which belongs to the Embassy of the Dutch Democratic Republic of Knootoss, is a full-sized 18th-century colonial windmill. It’s open to the public, allowing visitors to experience a little piece of pre-industrialisation Nineteen Countries. Just three blocks away, the Politico’s Coffee, owned and operated by the Embassy of the Allied Provinces of Laeral, offers a relaxed atmosphere with an exquisite selection of cabinet food and both hot and cold beverages.

Drive through the capital’s embassy district to see the consulates and embassies of foreign governments in Royal Alexandria, followed by a coffee and a yummy bite to eat along the waterfront.

Flower Garden and Natural Heritage Reserve—where both young and old appreciate the beauty of our world

A leafy middle-class suburb for young professionals, Little Wannsee is home to one of Yohannes’ largest and most eclectic green festivals. The Flower Garden and Natural Heritage Reserve has been presenting a selection of flowers and bushes each spring for almost 20 years. Its success can be linked to the diversity and quality of its flowers, as well as the wide range of other activities on offer.

“This isn’t just a conservation initiative, it’s become much more than that,” principal architect of the Nineteen Countries Cultural Heritage Foundation Martin Speer says. “This spring event is a 14-day exploration into outstanding bushes and flowers throughout the city. There’s simply no better way to explore and discover central Royal Alexandria, in my view.” As the more discerning backpackers and tourists will appreciate, it’s a labour of love for those who open the gates of Little Wannsee each year. The Flower Garden and Natural Heritage Reserve is built on the community ethos of preserving nature for real people.

The Bank of Yohannes—the banker of corporations and nations

As an outward-looking, internationally-focussed institution, the capital’s Bank of Yohannes has historically specialised in the direct deposit of clientèle accounts, networking assistance and consultancy to major companies and foreign agencies, and notable one-off investment opportunities and transfer payments between government bodies, private corporations, and countless polities and prominent individuals.

“Our position as a responsible financial institution and capital provider has given us the confidence and trust of multiple corporate entities, public institutions and rating agencies,” chairman Sir Matthew Gilligan says. “Not just domestically in Yohannes but also overseas, where our team will always be there to serve you.” As a composite institution overseeing countless independent firms in over 100 nations, the Bank of Yohannes is structured to provide a quality alternative to even large chartered banking with its competitive interest rate for international clients. Its team of leaders have extensive and first-hand banking experience: they have worked on a variety of business issues, both within the Nineteen Countries and abroad.

The Financial Diary • 25 June 2019 • 6

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Mon Jul 01, 2019 7:29 pm

Monthly Report to Parliament—June Fiscal Quarter 2019 Economic Summary

The Monthly Report to Parliament—Economic Summary is a monthly summary of the Nineteen Countries economy. It includes the latest indicators of the state of the Nineteen Countries economy, such as gross domestic product (GDP) growth and core inflation. Some data from functioning economies such as the United States of America and the Republic of Turkey may also be used as economic datum, in accordance with the © NationStates Reporting Standards for Grounded Nations (RSGN).

Economic expansion	[+]	+0.25%	Monthly gross domestic product growth
People not working	[+]	0.070%	Monthly movement of unemployment rate
Monetary policy	[+]	0.037%	Monthly inflation change
Nation-state surplus	[+]	$19.1b	Monthly current account surplus change
Imperial cash rate	[+]	0.10%	Monthly short-term bill of exchange movement

Office of the Chief Economist point of view

The amount of imported goods the Nineteen Countries economy can afford per unit of exported goods fell by 0.75 per cent in May, with goods export prices falling by 0.42 per cent and goods import prices rising by 0.35 per cent. Exported semiconductor prices fell by 1.43 per cent in May due to higher research and development (R&D) cost and less consumer spending, whereas machinery manufacturing prices fell by 0.08 per cent due to lower industrial machinery prices and less agriculture, construction, and mining machinery demand. Imported petroleum and automobile product prices rose by 1.88 per cent in May, whereas the volume of petroleum and automobile products imported fell by 3.68 per cent. Despite falling in May, the Nineteen Countries’ ratio of export prices to import prices is still higher than the levels of seven years earlier.

The sales turnover and stock levels of household and personal goods providers rose by 0.42 per cent in May, with 13 of the 20 largest retail and wholesale companies by revenue in the Nineteen Countries reporting an uptick in sales volumes. The volume of aggregate retail sales, excluding automobile and petroleum sales, rose by one per cent in May. Pharmaceutical production and other retail healthcare sales volumes steal the spotlight, rising by two per cent in May, which followed a weak month for the Generics and New Goods in Pharmaceutical Price Indices where sales volumes eased by 0.83 per cent. These industry group indices measure the change in price for a fixed basket of goods and services provided by chemists, elderly care providers, health supplement stores, healthcare equipment and services providers, and medical stationery goods outlets. The Bank of Yohannes mentioned that the proposed changes in Central Provident Fund’s core FutureSaver schemes under a GOP-led Parliament could have been one important reason behind the increase in sales volumes for chemists and support services for older people.

The United States of America’s Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has recently hinted that the Fed would cut the Federal Funds Rate (FFR) soon, citing “a hit to the economic outlook from rising uncertainty by the Trump administration’s trade policies.” In response, Economic Palace Chairwoman Heidemarie Vogelweide left the Imperial Cash Rate (ICR) at 2.15 per cent on 27 May, further postponing the official hike in ICR that has long been expected under a GOP-controlled Parliament. The Bank of Yohannes reported that equity transaction volume on the Royal Alexandria Stock Exchange was up 9 per cent in May compared to April, with the average daily value of traded equities amounting to $16.4 billion, NationStates Dollars (NSD).

The middle point for Yohannesian real estate prices was $640,000 in May according to the Nineteen Countries Real Estate Institute, while the Nineteen Countries House Price Index had registered an uptick of one per cent over the quarter. The Ministry of Economy, Industry and Trade’s Collective Urban Housing and Affordability Index ranked homeownership affordability in Yohannes “disappointingly low,” with median price in Royal Alexandria increasing by 1.3 per cent on a house price index basis to reach $1 million for the first time in Yohannesian history.

Expansion of the economy

Gross domestic product 2019	Monthly GDP growth at current market prices
Expenditure method	$41.8 billion
Per capita growth	$65.35

Source: World Microcredit Foundation.

According to the Encyclopædia Maxtopia, the GDP of a country is the monetary measurement of the market value of all final goods and services produced in that country for a stated period of time. In the Nineteen Countries, the most important way to track the state of the economy over the years is to check its real GDP—that is, the value of economic output adjusted for price changes (i.e. inflation or deflation).

Economic expansion reached 2.2 per cent in the year ended in the March quarter, while the economy grew at a steady pace by 0.25 per cent in May, which was slightly above market expectations and 0.08 per cent less than April. The pace of GDP growth has been slower over the past two quarters, suggesting that policy actions such as the government’s higher skill and qualified migrant requirements and stricter foreign investor rules have helped the economy move to a more stable long-term footing. GDP growth in May was bolstered by an upside in total building and construction activity. Business investment in capital goods expanded by one per cent in May, following the currency intervention uncertainty which had caused three quarters of business uncertainty.

Retail sales data remained relatively steady, supported by tangible and movable personal property sales, while household consumption rose by 0.47 per cent, largely driven by an uptick in restaurant and beverage spending. Online business activity continued to show a strong performance, growing by 7.9 per cent to generate $120.7 billion in sales, with online payment services now accounting for 40 per cent of domestic online preference. The Export Industry Credit Administration (EICA) published its latest report on tradeable (e.g. capital equipment production) and non-tradeable activities (e.g. property investing) in the Nineteen Countries. Tradeable activities grew by 0.11 per cent in May while non-tradeable rose by 0.14 per cent.

BOY business sentiment studies	April (%)	May (%)
Will have more workers	37.1	36.2
More people will lose jobs	24.9	25.7

Source: Bank of Yohannes.

The Continental Dry Index (CDI) is a measure of monthly shipping activity, and is widely used by Yohannesian economists and policymakers as an indicator of Yohannesian economic trends. The CDI showed a downward trend of 2.71 per cent in May, reflecting rising fuel consumption, repair and crew costs, and low-demand projection for merchant vessels in Yohannes’ largest trading partners. Participants of the Bank of Yohannes Monthly Polling showed that consumer sentiment had remained flat, reflecting lower taxpayer future expectations. Nevertheless, the month-to-month trend in consumer confidence has been steadily increasing since the release of the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook FY 2017/18 Report, showing that the outlook for employment opportunities, income growth, and price stability has generally remained favourable.

The Bank of Yohannes has forecast that agricultural production and manufacturing will decline in the June quarter, with GDP growth easing to 1.9 per cent in the year ended 30 December 2019, before rising to 2.2 per cent in the 2020 calendar year. The Chambers of Industry and Commerce Yohannes’ Composite Leading Indicator also has real exports growth easing due to labour market constraints and the mix of stimulatory government spending in 2018 resulting in changes in domestic infrastructure investment next year.

Money matters

According to the Encyclopædia Maxtopia, gross federation-issued borrowing is the general government gross debt (federal or realm, constituent country, and local government) in the Nineteen Countries excluding government stock, treasury bill, and Yohannesian commercial banks’ settlement cash held by the central bank (Economic Palace).

Fundamental realm government borrowing	December 2015 (billion $)	% of GDP	December 2020 (billion $)	% of GDP
Gross borrowing issue	7,372.99	49.3	6,063.05	36.3
Net fundamental issue (excluding Bank of Yohannes state-owned funds)	5,336.20	30.8	4,908.99	29.4

Source: Office of Economic Analysis and Forecast.

To protect their customers, Yohannesian banks must hold settlement cash (i.e. insurance) in the Economic Palace. The government is also required to hold a Realm Guarantee Account (RGA) in the Economic Palace, which keeps track of transactions involving gold, foreign exchange reserves and bank deposits. Transactions by government departments will create cash flows between the RGA and other settlement accounts, while transactions between commercial banks on behalf of their customers (e.g. daily transactions, home mortgage, private investment) will create cash flows between their respective settlement accounts. In the year ending 30 December 2019, the Royal Lindblum Building Society is forecasting that this centralised system will process roughly 1.2 million transactions, worth approximately $2.8 trillion in total (16.7 per cent of GDP).

Year to Q4 (billion $)	2017	2018	2019	2020
Face value of fundamental market issuance	680	650	660	780
Market issuance cash earnings	680	640	640	750
Market issuance to be repaid	430	1,060	810	1,010

Source: Office of Economic Analysis and Forecast.

The Imperial Cash Rate (ICR) is the interest rate set by the Economic Palace on overnight borrowing and lending between commercial banks and the Economic Palace. The ICR is used as a tool to influence the direction of the economy and to safeguard price stability. The ICR is also used to ensure yearly inflation meets the Economic Palace’s explicit inflation rate target. Having hiked the ICR by 10 basis points in May, Economic Palace Chairwoman Heidemarie Vogelweide is now keeping the ICR steady at 215 basis points.

While wage growth is forecast to be higher than annual inflation as the economy continues to grow and supplies become stretched, the Chair of the Board of Governors believes that “a hit to the United States of America’s economic outlook from rising uncertainty by the Trump administration’s trade policies” means a waiting period should be considered to ensure the resilience of households and banks. It is expected that futures traders will increase the pressure on the Economic Palace to ease the pace of interest rate jump until the first half of next year. The Nineteen Countries Shareholders Association is also forecasting “a low probability of ICR hike when the Board of Governors meets next month to discuss national monetary policy settings.”

Core inflation is the rate of price changes of goods and services in the Nineteen Countries over a long period of time, excluding volatile goods such as grocery food and crude petroleum. Exclusionary measures are used to exclude the prices of volatile goods from Economic and Demographics Statistics Yohannes’ Nineteen Countries Consumer Price Index (figure 1). Analysts and policymakers use the common CPI (headline) to measure inflation by tracking the prices of goods that are bought frequently or in large quantities, such as clothing, education, food, and transport services.

Figure 1: What’s going on in this graph? Can you see the impact of the Automagfreek World Assembly crisis or the presidential election of Marion Maréchal-Le Men? Look closely at this graph, and join the moderated conversation on NationStates about what you and other Economics students see.

The Bank of Yohannes in its Quarterly Economic and Financial Forecasts has forecast annual inflation to stay below four per cent until the March 2020 quarter. Non-tradeables inflation, which focuses on domestic goods and services, is forecast to rise slowly over the medium term, while tradeables inflation is projected to grow with the incremental depreciation of the Yohannesian Quertz russling. The Bankers Association for Finance and Trade’s Industry Overview has the annual inflation rate reaching 3.7 per cent in FY 2020/21.

The Financial Diary • 29 June 2019 • 7

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Sun Jul 07, 2019 9:30 pm

The Bank of Yohannes could see the construction of 79 bank branches in Hiram Land over the next five years, bringing the international lender’s local and national office count in one of UNOE’s largest countries above 400, as the bank plans to shelve its previous strategy to cut over-the-counter costs in favour of online service expansion. Figures from the Economic Palace’s Banks Performance Survey report shows the total number of Bank of Yohannes branches in Hiram land had fallen from 351 to 328 between 2016 and 2018.

“But that will soon change,” said Senior Political Analyst Jerusalem Kushner in the Von Neurath Institute’s Banks Performance Survey Report Q3 Monday live discussion with bankers.

“Looking ahead, we have upgraded our full-year net profit forecasts for the Bank of Yohannes in Hiram Land for the next three years,” Mr Kushner said. “The Bank of Yohannes in Hiram Land is going to remodel and change its strategy.”

The news came as Hiram Land central bankers confirmed that the Hiramian-Yohannes Banking Company Limited (HYBC) will again work with the country’s central bankers next year on independent reviews of its capital models, earnings quality, and risk-taking behaviour.

“The proposal seeks to ensure foreign banks will have less say over how much capital they should hold against borrowing failures,” the Parliament of the Tenth Republic of Hiram Land announced yesterday. Hiram Land lawmakers are looking to trim regulatory complexity and remove irregularity by amending the country’s capital adequacy statutes. The latest move from Hiram Land’s capital city means large national banks in the Tenth Republic must soon shelve their own models, and adopt the new capital requirement methods published by Hiram Land regulators. The Republic of Hiram Land Government believes that in doing so the country can reduce unnecessary credit risks.

Dame Eleanor White, Chairperson of the Bank of Yohannes Group Audit Committee, agrees.

“Greenfield’s proposal announced yesterday would mirror our previous internal models to judge our off-balance-sheet exposures, weighted according to risk, but with the latest safeguards,” Dame Eleanor said. “Believing in the principles for responsible banking, vis-à-vis capital level and comparability across institutions, we have no problem with the Hiram Land Parliament’s proposed changes.”

The new amendment aims to ensure foreign and local financial institutions will work within the parameters of accepted legislative standards.

Despite regulatory changes, HYBC is looking two steps ahead to capitalise on the opportunities provided by shifting customer demands within the industry. While almost a quarter of HYBC’s mortgage applications over the first half of this year have been completed online, up from 20 per cent last calendar year, the bank’s regional offices have experienced a resurgence in face-to-face customer interaction.

The bank said older, wealthier customers prefer solving problems in face-to-face meetings. “While retired older Hiram Landers and superannuitants are happy to do their banking online, it takes real conversations, ideally in person, to solve tricky problems and satisfy their needs,” Chief Financial Officer Maria Hallström said.

“And here at HYBC, we are ready to seize all the ample opportunities Hiram Land—a rich country with a friendly government—has to offer.”

Ms Fransiska Fältskog has been designated as Branch Manager of the first full service local branch to be built in Hiram Land’s largest city next month. The Ramvarkistan Central Business District branch is scheduled to be open for business on 7 September 2019. Employees of the Ramvarkistan CBD office will consist of locally recruited front-end bank branch employees and clerks.

HYBC is planning to increase its staff in Hiram Land by 352 to 17,398 in the September quarter.

The Financial Diary • 8 July 2019 • 8

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:21 pm

The Answers We Seek—by constitutional and administrative law specialist Wiebke Weiß

A public defender is a salaried lawyer employed by the State. He or she acts for the defence of people who cannot afford to retain counsel in criminal proceedings against them. He or she is the opposite number of the Assistant Nineteen Countries Attorney or realm prosecutor. The title, if not the concept, was founded in the United States of America, where the first public defender department opened in 1914. Similar departments and posts have been established in other parts of the civilised world, such as Australia, Marche Noire and Maxtopia. I am fast approaching my six years in practice and I can still see the same newspaper article sometimes. They wrote: “Why are there no public defenders in Alexandria?”

In this country, those who cannot afford counsel may acquire assistance under the Accused Legal Assistance Act 1914 and Offenders Rights Amendment Act 1939. They may also be assisted by a duty solicitor. The Law Commission received information that in most cases, duty solicitors are limited to advice and act on behalf of their clients in court only in circumstances ancillary to trial, but in Royal Alexandria, the duty solicitors may serve under the Accused Legal Assistance Act 1914. Those suggesting a public defender for the Kingdom of Alexandria said this was the best system for making available legal representation for those who could not pay for it. However, even if that is true, that in itself does not necessarily prove the appeal of a public defender scheme among the taxpayers of this land. While it is possible that such a scheme could be made cheaper than a reformed legal aid scheme, I don’t believe it would be otherwise.

One of the strong points of an independent legal profession is the diversity of its members. A legal profession that is—and is known to be—independent of State influence or power is one of the mainstays of the Rule of Law, and it is the important foundation of a civilised country. Both the Law Commission and Realm Lawyers Association take very seriously the submissions of law-abiding citizens and independent legal aid advocates. We believe that steps such as these and the working of the duty solicitor scheme help ensure that persons appearing before the courts are given the opportunity to gain and retain counsel. We recognise that in some areas of Marche Noire and the United States of America, there is proof that the creation of a public defender scheme has produced satisfactory outcomes for the falsely accused. It appears to have functioned effectively despite the theoretical reasoning that State employees are defending accused persons who are being prosecuted by the State.

A number of submissions to the Realm Law Commission had advocated a public defender—in the form of a district attorney—for the Kingdom of Alexandria. But, there is also proof that in other parts of America, the scheme has not worked very well. For instance, following the publication of a report by the Committee on Poverty and Administration of Federal Criminal Justice, the United States Congress rejected a public defender system for the federal courts in 1964. They believed that the success of a public defender scheme will be depended on the amount of funding the State is willing to give for it. Taking into account the unique national identity and history of the Kingdom of Alexandria, the Realm Law Commission has found the scheme not fitting for this country. I agree with the Commission’s findings.

My points are as follows:

It is true that the existing Alexandrian legal aid system should be evaluated, but a partially privatised public defender system is not the answer. Legal aid and the duty of fair representation for the accused in criminal cases should be made possible by improving the present system and duty solicitor schemes in our kingdom.

The Financial Diary • 12 July 2019 • 9

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:32 pm

The GOP in Parliament, who have rallied against “Asian foreign investment” since 2014, are now proving to be a major Asian foreign investor’s most important political allies inside the Beltway.

In the important third reading of the bill yesterday, 57 GOP lawmakers joined 162 Christian Democrats and Greens to pass the Bank of Yohannes and Bank Pambudia Memorandum of Understanding and Investment Act. Replying to the summing-up debate on the bill in its final form, diplomat Helga Weiß dubbed it “Yohannes First’s Pambudia Friendship Act” in a contentious International Diplomacy and Advisory Committee hearing this morning, stressing the need to maintain good commercial relations with every “sensible new world” country—a sign that the once-tight alliance of right-wing nationalists and populists has been weakening as Marion Maréchal-Le Men’s presidential approval ratings decline.

Pambudian Foreign Minister Danian Ramadhan said the Federation will invest at least $70 billion in the Kingdom of Alexandria over a nine-year period using capital from Bank Pambudia. The news came after reports that Chancellor Annabelle Thorndon-Stevensonn will be discussing ways to lift existing limit on Pambudian investors’ portfolio flows into the Nineteen Countries, giving the Pambudian Federation another privilege not enjoyed by many foreign investors from Oriental countries in the Nineteen Countries.

The GOP turnout for the bill is stark evidence that Yohannesian attitudes on Asian foreign investment and immigration from Oriental countries are rapidly changing after lawmakers in the Bible Belt country of Burmecia had finally elected in August to give undocumented Asian migrants a path to citizenship. Long-running stigmas around Oriental immigration and Asian foreign investors are starting to weaken as second-generation Asian Yohannesians are slowly making their mark in local communities across the Nineteen Countries as family doctors and shop owners.

Perhaps more importantly is the fact that many Yohannesians have started to realise that xenophobia could potentially disrupt future economic growth. “Economics is the study of how individuals and societies choose to use the scarce resources that nature and previous generations have provided,” said Zoe Nilsson, Co-leader of the Green Party.

“As the Nineteen Countries and its people continue to discover the existence of more Oriental countries beyond the International Incidents in 2019, 2020 and beyond, it’d make no sense for us to restrict ourselves by refusing to engage with idiosyncratic Asian countries.”

Under the memorandum of understanding signed by Pambudian Foreign Minister Danian Ramadhan, the Bank of Yohannes will also assist Bank Pambudia on its aim to scale up financial leverage for low-carbon and climate-resilient investments. The Bank of Yohannes will also work together with Bank Pambudia to help large-scale Pambudian private-sector investors with financially viable infrastructure projects to invest.

Bank of Yohannes Chairman Sir Matthew Gilligan will meet with Pambudian policymakers next week to explore the best tools for strategic asset allocation of Bank Pambudia’s $78 billion nine-year investment. The Financial Diary has learned that the Yohannesian transport, logistics and distribution sector, which had generated around 6 per cent of the country’s GDP in 2017, was predicted to benefit particularly from Bank Pambudia’s investment partnership with the Bank of Yohannes next year.

“The Kingdom of Alexandria’s logistics community will welcome this investment from Pambudia with open arms,” said Manfred Hartmann, spokesman for the Nineteen Countries Railways and Maritime Transport Union. “Port services and water transport, including port terminal operations and support services like stevedoring, ferry and freight vessel services, need more investment so that we can accommodate expanded traffic and alleviate congestion over the next 10 years.”

The Economic Palace and Marion Maréchal-Le Men have both sent positive signals, and are not expected to stand in the way of the agreement’s implementation.

Bank of Yohannes shares have closed 3.7 per cent higher tonight at $13.09 on the Royal Alexandria Stock Exchange (RASE), as bullish investors absorb the company’s latest update.

The Financial Diary • 1 October 2019 • 10

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:16 pm

Saint Jutta’s Day, or the Day of Forgiveness, is a three-day Yohannesian holiday that celebrates forgiveness, healing and reconciliation. The process of healing begins with forgiveness, and Saint Jutta’s Day is known as a pretty and vibrant day of life and God’s exculpation as taught by the Lord Jesus Christ.

In 1945, the Royal Alexandria Orchestra first performed the Symphony of Harmony, an extended musical composition taken from a poem written by the medieval Christian nun Jutta Krämer. Crucified to death, she prayed for those who had betrayed her. Eight decades down the track and the third week of December marks the beatified nun’s most eagerly anticipated song of harmony across the Nineteen Countries. The first week of a “Yohannesian Peace” will see a whopping 2,012 Symphony of Harmony release parties happening simultaneously across 21 East Coast cities of the Kingdom of Alexandria.

Royal Alexandria’s major celebration takes place on Monday December the 18th from 10:00 am, spilling out of Little Wannsee’s Flower Garden and Natural Heritage Reserve next to the Embassy of Great Nortend. The Flower Garden promenade concert will make the central business and heritage districts come alive with a local Germanic peoples’ food market featuring the likes of the Rainbow Pride Parade, Commonwealth Navy Veterans’ Storytelling for Children Event, and Round the Bays’ Fun Runs and Walks; church choir of the Old St Margaret’s Pro-Cathedral; native canoe race by the Yohānnesi Tertiary Students’ Association; and on the last day, Capital Beltway’s flag-waving public singing sponsored by Parliament’s Yohannes First Committee.

Quarterly Report—retail prices have steadily increased

The night before Saint Jutta’s Day is also the time for the Bank of Yohannes to release its quarterly report. Inflation in the Nineteen Countries has been increasing for some time, and there has been definite strength in retail prices. Retail prices, defined as the prices of the goods that ordinary yohannesians must buy in stores, account for an important share of final consumption expenditure by resident households to meet their everyday needs in the Nineteen Countries. They take into account the prices of goods found in large supermarkets and small dairy shops and those bought online. Collected and published by the Monetary Policy Committee for each year since 2017, the average of retail prices in the Nineteen Countries has grown by 1.8 per cent. This is a marked change from the years after the 2011 World Assembly Condemnation of Automagfreek and Gholgoth Crisis, when retail prices in Yohannes were generally flat.

While external factors affecting domestic and imported costs have increased retail prices since the days of 2012, another less known factor that has influenced prices is the extent of price competition in Yohannes’ retail sector. Over the past few years, retail price competition has not been as fierce as originally forecast, resulting in upward pressure on margins. Alongside more household spending, retailers have faced an unusual currency intervention cycle. When economic conditions in Yohannes become stronger, a series of connected appreciations in the Quertz russling would act as a brake on the activities of export-dependent companies. However, since Marion Maréchal-Le Men’s go-ahead for the Bank of Yohannes to intervene in the currency market, the Quertz russling has lingered at a lower level compared to the strength of economic activity. In general terms, this has meant that competition from imports has been weaker than originally forecast for almost two years.

The Navy Officer’s Tale—aboard RPS Commonwealth

The RPS Commonwealth is the flagship of Asiatic Carrier Battle Group One—a collection of battle-ready cruisers, destroyers and a carrier air wing, which contribute to the Nineteen Countries’ forward presence in the Orient and the New World, beyond the International Incidents. They protect Yohannes’ foreign trade and investment; and in anticipation of an attack by enemy combatants, they ensure sustained operations in support of friendly forces.

Out-of-Character (OOC) information: Under construction draft; posted for safe record keeping

The Financial Diary • 15 December 2019 • 11

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:31 pm

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By: Claudia A
29 Jan, 2020 5:19 pm EYT

Interest rate derivatives market players always look forward to the next turning point of a cycle. That’s only to be expected when we take into account the fact that those who could predict early—and right—will reap the most benefit. Sadly, this also means they would too eagerly try to predict the next turning point on some occasions, going forward recklessly even when the Economic Palace has not decided to ease or tighten its policy yet. The Financial Diary has seen it happen many times. We believe that they’re making the same mistake again, now.

Every cloud has a silver lining—Cash Rate to go up by five basis points “only”

Heidemarie Vogelweide said last month’s new policy statement was drafted to show that the balance of risks has shifted to the upside, with the currency gaining ground against the Universal Standard Dollar (USD) on a steady to strong basis. Despite concerns related to increasing debts found in the country’s underperforming shipbuilding industry, Governor Vogelweide announced that we will see a hike in the Imperial Cash Rate (ICR) by “only five basis points,” with the economy growing at a slightly faster pace in the third quarter. She also promised a new series of policies which are aimed at alleviating pressures on urban house prices. In terms of core inflation, the Bank of Yohannes has released its Core and Common CPI (headline) commentary. They believe that the rate of price changes of goods and services, excluding volatile goods such as grocery food and crude petroleum, will stay at three per cent. This is in line with earlier predictions made last year.

Don’t ride so high already—confidence indicators say it’s not increasing

In a seemingly self-contradictory way, business confidence has not increased, with less employers intending to hire more workers and more part-time employees believing that they will lose jobs. There are many underlying reasons for both—many small and medium-sized businesses are still concerned about the Executive Council’s policies last year, with Marioncare taking the biggest share of blame this quarter, and next month’s Report to Parliament indicators pointing to weaker growth in retail sales and lower business investment in the aging metals and mining sector.

Setting expectations too high—the alternative to increasing tax is breaking earlier promises

Increasing government consumption this year means higher public debt. However, the Executive Council has enjoyed a modest increase in tax revenues so far, which are forecast to stay on the upside next year. The current Executive Council can afford to continue last year’s planned spending which it had promised to the general electorates. However, the Financial Diary is expecting Chancellor Annabelle Thorndon-Stevensonn to have a bumpy ride soon. The costs of the Infrastructure of Nation-State Significance Programme and Superannuation through the Central Provident Fund Scheme are set to increase again next year. Is it true the Executive Council can’t afford their promises?

The changing faces of Yohannes—more millionaire migrants in our suburbs

Population growth is set to continue unabated this year, with net migration of high net wealth and high income individuals from countries of the Orient set to increase. This will provide more fuel to the fire already raging, further increasing house prices in popular inner-city suburbs undergoing extensive gentrification. We expect to see new funding increase for the residential construction sector. This will come at the expense of the productive sectors of the economy, with productivity growth in the tradable sector of the economy forecast to be lower next year.

Outlook for next week—what can we expect to see?

The Financial Diary is expecting export prices to trend slightly lower, with increasing imports amid higher commodity prices largely driven by fuel and other essential industrial supplies. Low-end manufacturing will continue to face considerable pressure, with strong competitors finally making their presence felt from Alpes, Joseon, Saarkon and other new trading partners.

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Wed Jan 29, 2020 9:31 pm

Flexible students, strong women, open-minded leaders.

Queen Louise College revealed its secondary school visa waiver partnership with the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Republics and the Bank of Yohannes yesterday which will allow senior teachers from the Soviet Republics to work and volunteer in its classrooms through the government’s Rainbow Diversity Partnership.

Queen Louise College is a private all-girls’ secondary school with a roll of 1,037 students from Year 9 (12-13 years olds) to Year 13 (17-18 years old). The announcement made Queen Louise College the first private school in Yohannes to establish an international schools’ partnership with the government of a foreign country and the Bank of Yohannes. Only nine other state and state-integrated schools have worked together with foreign governments to bring foreign teachers to work in Yohannesian schools without applying for a visa.

“I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Republics for choosing our school as the first private school in its Rainbow Diversity Partnership with the Bank of Yohannes,” said School Principal Heidi Hannig. “One of the many concerns voiced by our parents has been the importance of learning a second language and the benefits that learning a second language will bring for our students’ minds. This includes learning about Russian-speaking countries, and speaking Russians and its regional variations—there are many important overseas Russian-themed communities out there.”

Dmitry Bychkov of Soviet Moscow will join Queen Louise College as a Year 12 History and Russian teacher next month. He has taught a wide range of courses and subjects with 20 years of teaching experience in his home country.

“In the Soviet Republics, I started from the bottom, teaching in village schools and progressing slowly to finally teach at the capital city’s most reputable international school,” said Bychkov. “From reading its brochure and meeting its senior administrators, I know that Queen Louise College is a good school. I look forward to meeting my new students and their families.”

A team of attachés from the Embassy of the Union of Soviet Republics visited Queen Louise College last year. Not expecting too much at first, they were left impressed by the enthusiasm of the parent teacher association—more than 60 per cent registered parents pledged to support the bilingual initiative of the Embassy. The Bank of Yohannes and the Ministry of Education received a letter of intent from Principal Heidi Hannig, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Fri Jan 31, 2020 9:54 pm

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The Stranger’s Guide to Yohannesian Macroeconomic History
Yohannesian Quertz russling ▼0.00509% I Settlement Cash ▲0.00372%

The Yohannesian Parliament adopted inflation targeting with the transfer of the mandates to the Economic Palace from the Bank of Yohannes in 2004. The Central and Realm Bank Amendment Act, which introduced official inflation targeting in Yohannes, was the Seventh Social Democratic Government’s most important contribution to Yohannes’ legal heritage framework. Many voters believed the Opposition’s claim in 2002 that the economy was underperforming badly and that one of the key solutions was to transfer the authority and power in decision-making from the Bank of Yohannes to “a more neutral” monetary authority created by legislation.

The Seventh Social Democratic Government promised voters that they would deliver “a series of reforms, ensure a firm monetary policy is in place by late 2005, and reduce interest rates and tame medium-term inflation pressures on the economy.” The compulsory objective of the Amendment Act was to maintain price stability, with long-term employment outcomes added as its secondary objective in October 2010, just before the general election. The government at the time also recommended that putting intermediate targets on the amount of money in circulation should be included as the Economic Palace’s third objective, but the Party for the Forest and the Environment opposed that recommendation during the second reading of the proposal.^[1]

The Federal Republic of Germany and the Swiss Confederation were the innovators of monetary targeting. I’m sure you already know about the Deutsche Bundesbank from Wikipedia? The Deutsche Bundesbank successfully handled a significant inflationary shock and serious political problems caused by the German monetary union and reunification process, while the Schweizerische Nationalbank successfully handled a series of inflationary outcomes caused by a major shift in the money demand and moved from annual targeting to its five-year growth projections. The trials and errors of the German and Swiss central banks—and their experiments with monetary targeting through the 1980s—were the inspirations for the introduction of the Central and Realm Bank Amendment Act in Yohannes.

The Central and Realm Bank Amendment Act, as it stands, says that the Economic Palace must work together with the Bank of Yohannes and Parliament, to formulate an effective monetary policy that encourages good long-term employment outcomes for the people and maintains price stability in the country.

Out-of-Character (OOC) information: Under construction draft; posted for safe record keeping.

In-Character (IC) information

1. The Party for the Forest and the Environment is the fourth largest political party in Yohannes. Its leader, Zoe Nilsson, is the incumbent Electoral Member for the Cowrie electorate. See viewtopic.php?p=34622777#p34622777

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Sat Feb 08, 2020 5:35 pm

By: Sophie Weihmann
Business commentator—movement in the banking industry

Settlement cash movement in the last 24 hours
Yohannesian Quertz russling ▼0.00237% I Universal Standard Dollar ▲0.00190%

The Bank of Yohannes’ entry into the New Transeurasian commercial banking market is finally set in stone with the planned construction of two full service local branches in Moscow next year. Under the memorandum of understanding with the National Freedom Coalition Government, the Yohannesian multinational lender has chosen Southern Downtown Moscow and the Mytišši County as its first base of operations in New Transeurasia. Three new operations and customer service centres will also be built to assist the bank’s operation in New Transeurasia’s largest city.

Linda Oberländer, general manager of Moscow District operation, said the Bank of Yohannes is planning to have 400 branches in New Transeurasia by 2028. To comply with the New Transeurasian National Assembly’s requirements—to guarantee financial inclusion by promoting access to banking services, affordable lending, and financial advice for superannuitants and the elderly—at least 150 branches will be built in rural regions. “Our rural, community-based branches will employ only locally recruited front-end staff, with multi-branded ‘smart’ talking automated teller machines as well as support people,” said Ms Oberländer, referring to the bank’s promise to support regional economic development and the local community.

A 73-page accompanying report by the independent advisory firm Benedikt Hipp Legal Banking, hired to assist in contract drafting and review, illustrated some of the most pressing operational challenges the bank will face in New Transeurasia next year.

“Increasing regulatory pressures and environmental management will be something the bank must look into next year, especially in countries like New Transeurasia,” said banking commentator Maria Schnelle-Hildebrand, an investment treaty and commercial arbitration specialist in Royal Lindblum who had warned the bank in June about overextending its operations outside Yohannes. Benedikt Hipp accepted her findings in its Future of Commercial Banking report, stressing the need to spend “millions of dollars” on new cybersecurity upgrades and Fintech modernisation.

Amid mounting criticism of its inability to meet existing regulatory regimes on credit quality and anti-money laundering in some World Assembly member states last year, the bank’s decision may come as a surprise to many at home, with many business commentators already expressing serious doubts about the bank’s decision to establish its presence in “a former communist state” and to “follow through with its promise” and provide the expected rural-based services.

The agreement comes just six days after the Board of Governors announced that it had set aside $14 billion to procure new technology, intended for the bank’s joint venture in the Grand Empire of Alpes a Septentrionali Imperium, and that the bank would commit itself to funding the costs of (General Assembly) Resolution # 474 in Yohannes.

Both Benedikt Hipp Legal Banking and the Office of Embassy and Consulate Programme’s social media spokeswoman have so far declined to comment.

Bank of Yohannes shares have closed 0.7 per cent higher tonight at $11.90 on the Royal Alexandria Stock Exchange (RASE), as bullish investors absorb the company’s latest update.

Copyright: © Library of Parliament, 2020. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 NationStates licence. You are free to copy, distribute and adapt the work, as long as you attribute the work to claudiaintern@libraryofparliament.govt.yo and abide by the other licence terms.

5 Nov, 2019 1:07 pm EYT • Association of Yohannesian Banks

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Wed Feb 12, 2020 7:21 pm

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By: Vanessa Fiolka
Staff writer—latest industry insights

The Office of Embassy and Consulate Programme has granted IBE Bank Eimsbüttel a market authority permit to establish 20 branches in the Principality of Catalonia next year. The move comes as part of the institutional bank’s gambit to work with big corporate, institutional and government organisations across the principality, marking IBE’s first market foothold outside Yohannes. Catalonian Foreign Minister Carles Borges approved the agreement after a comprehensive meeting with Catalonian monetary authority representatives yesterday.

According to the Parliament of Catalonia’s latest official news updates, IBE will operate ten branches across Catalonia Proper. Six banking centres will serve Barcelona and two regional branches will be built in Girona and Menorca, while the Overseas Territories will receive 10 ATM home centres. IBE received the go-ahead to join the Economic Palace’s settlement cash programme in September, allowing the bank to register itself as a Realm (Federal) Bank. Under section 85 of the Central and Realm Bank Amendment Act 2004, only a bank deemed to be sufficiently large to qualify under the Bank of Yohannes’ deposit protection regime may apply to become a registered bank under the settlement cash schemes. Both IBE Bank Eimsbüttel and the Office of Embassy and Consulate Programme’s social media spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

As of this update, IBE has not filed a building consent application with the provincial authority of Barcelona yet, a prerequisite to establish a physical bank branch in Catalonia’s largest city.

Bank of Yohannes $26.680 ▲0.61% HASF Materials $17.990 ▲0.07% Royal Beaufort $39.250 ▲0.18% VMK Steel Works $25.580 ▼0.31%

Thomas Mannschatz, a banking commentator from Halsten University, said the decision to expand in Catalonia came only after the Board felt sure the bank would be able to effectively participate in the Government’s settlement cash schemes and, at the same time, afford to gain a foothold in the new market.

“The IBE Bank Eimsbüttel Board of Directors is aiming to build new partnerships with corporate, government and institutional clients in Catalonia Proper and form an alliance with local relationship managers and product specialists. That said, I’m doubtful that you’re going to see IBE succeeding across Catalonia Proper next year—they will need at least three years to gain a better understanding of the new market, not one.”

“If IBE is genuinely looking to establish a firm foothold in Catalonia, they should wait and not try to do too many things at once next year. Participation under the settlement cash schemes will come at a cost to the bank next year—frankly, I still consider IBE a regional bank, not federal.”

Mr Mannschatz said the Board did not include IBE’s international expansion and market entry strategy in its annual report to shareholders in 2017.

IBE Bank Eimsbüttel opened its doors in at least 18 locations in East Lindblum last year, with another batch of 57 full-service branches planned for construction in the Kingdom of Alexandria.

The bank estimated it would hire up to 700 additional front-end staff in Yohannes and 120 locally recruited employees in Catalonia by the end of next year.

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Tue Feb 18, 2020 8:35 pm

Resource Management—by specialist environmental and resource management lawyer Carola Nkosi-Mehltretter

The contaminating influence of potentially toxic elements on sediments is increasingly being recognised as a pressing problem all across Yohannes. They include metals and persistent organic pollutants—and, most of the time, the presence of these contaminants require local government management and environmental remediation. For instance, we have seen it before in the Royal Port of Alexandria, which is an important shipping port in our second largest state and rents its facilities to foreign importers from over 100 trading partners of Yohannes.

An International Bureau of Water Safety report last year found that sedimentation rates in the Royal Port of Alexandria were “disappointingly high,” and a follow-up report by the Environmental Commission concluded that the continuing accumulation of sediment would “seriously reduce” water depth. The Green Party argued that it would pose a threat to growth. As a result, a dredging programme was needed to maintain water depths in the port to allow continued shipping access. In a post-Cabinet press conference for the press gallery this morning, Marion Maréchal-Le Men estimated that at least 2 m³ of sediment would be dredged starting next year.

In our Independent Review for the Government Inquiry into Soil and Sediment Contamination, we reported that once contaminated sediments have been cleared from the harbour area, they must not be dumped at sea and they must also be treated as controlled and extractive wastes. The Little Wannsee upstream of Royal Alexandria flows through chemicals manufacturing and heavy industrial regions in the Rainbow Country. Thus, sediments in the harbour area are contaminated with arsenic, chromium, lead, mercury and organic pollutants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the highly toxic polychlorinated biphenyls.

The Government has chosen to tackle the problem of dredged contaminated sediment by treating it in specially built treatment plants. There, dredged materials are directed to pass through multiple sieves and rotary screens to remove coarse fractions greater than 63 mm from the sediments. The majority of the contaminants are contained in the fine sediment fractions which are left behind—silt and clay minerals are effective at absorbing contaminants. The separated coarse sediment fractions have lower contamination levels, ready to be used as materials in the construction industry. Meanwhile, the fine sediment fractions undergo dewatering process, ready to be sent to the local government’s landfill sites. The Government aims to reduce landfill waste by removing coarse fractions from dredged materials around the port area.

We believe that the Government will follow through on its current plan—the removal of sediments from the port area will filter out pollutants destined for the five Bays of Melkor Unchained. The Environmental Commission reported last year that the process would remove an estimated 75 per cent of additional toxic metal contaminants from the Little Wannsee by 2022. Left untreated, they will be discharged to the Bay Area.

The Government’s sediment management strategy this year can be regarded as a site-specific approach to environmental protection. A truly effective, multi-issue approach to environmental protection, based on site-specific prerequisites for contaminated sediment management is one which examines erosion and sediment control on the river basin scale—that is, to mitigate the effects of contaminant concentrations in source areas. From a policymaker’s viewpoints on environmental solutions, they are increasingly being seen as the most effective sediment management plan.

At Röher Schoensee Environmental Law, we have the capability and depth to deliver success on your resource management projects.

The Financial Diary • 19 February 2020 • 16

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Wed Feb 19, 2020 6:40 pm

Parliamentary Submission—Justices of the Peace Act 1787 (Archaic) archived document

By: Kayla Whitehead & Partners
Amended: 1 Mar, 2020 2:57 pm EYT
Certified copy, formalised by Clerk of the Committee

The Constitution of the Justice of the Peace Institution was established by the passing of the Justices of the Peace Act 1787. Tabled by inter-party consensus of the first Parliament in Yohannes, the purpose of the act was to create a modern judiciary branch influenced by Western political and legal ideas, so that the Nineteen Countries could become a modern, industrialised nation-state. The foundation and subsequent development of the Justices of the Peace ultimately made Yohannes an independent civilised country, with its own legal history and unique tradition. The Act is the second oldest piece of legislation in the Nineteen Countries, entering the chamber of Parliament after the Foreign Mission Act 1787.

The judicature is the three founding institutions of Yohannes, and is directly or indirectly cited by many Acts of different persuasions, from the main body of the original Electoral Act 1790 to the express statutory provisions of the modern Gender, LGBT, Racial and Religious Minority Act 2016.

Officers of the Justices—Registrars, Deputy Registrars, and other officers

A Registrar of the Justices of the Peace of the Nineteen Countries, the officer who is responsible as a member of the machinery of the courts on the ground, and may apply moderation into contracts, modify or be tasked to modify, and otherwise do and shoulder all other acts and things machinery of judiciary may do or shoulder, must be appointed in accordance with the Realm Public Body Act 1848. There must also be appointed such Deputy Registrars and other officers required for the conduct of the Justices’ business. The Registrars, Deputy Registrars, and other officers have the duties and powers described by the Realm Judicature Amendment Act 1959.

In accordance with that act, for a person to qualify as a member of the Association of Realm Justices’ Registrars, they must meet the following criteria:

Be a person who holds a valid study or working visa, residence visa, or citizenship in any of the 19 constituent countries.
Be a graduate of a nationally accredited tertiary institution with a Bachelor of Civil Law (course code: BCL or equivalent), with supporting documents, including references and an official transcript of school recommendation.
Be a person of sound mental and physical capacity, in accordance with the Realm Mental Capability and Priority Act 1973 and the Realm Judicature Amendment Act 1959.
Be a person who is eligible to apply for the Certificate of No Criminal Conviction, in accordance with the Realm Mental Capability and Priority Act 1973 and the Realm Immorality Act 1939.
Be prepared to undertake an empire-wide examination run by the Realm Ministry of Justice, from which ten per cent of the highest scoring students will be accepted as a successful Registrar-in-Training.
Be prepared to further their study, part time whilst working, in a four-year adjunct courses run by the Realm Ministry of Justice.
Be a person of independent and inquisitive capacity.

The Registrar must collaborate in the decision-making process of the Justices’ Courts. They must undertake the machinery of the judiciary and the burden of such responsibilities. They are responsible, before the Justices’ Court, for the sound management, participation and supervision of judiciary machinery, including but not limited to:

The declaration of Realm Subpoena at the federal level.
The management of national and regional court proceedings.
The preparation of hearings of the courts thereof.
The administration of adjunct or consequent hearings of the courts thereof.
The drafting of recorded court matters and minutes.
The delivery of relevant information to different parties.

The Head Judicature—seniority among themselves

The Head Judicature of the Justices of the Peace comprises the Realm Chief Justice and no less than six, and no more than eight, Justices of the Peace appointed by the Office of the Emperor. The incumbent of the Office of the Chief Justice is the head of the judiciary branch, and presides over the Justices of the Peace leading the lower courts of the realm, and in accordance with the introductory principle of the Rule of Law, has seniority over all other Justices of the Peace and Judges in the judicature of the Nineteen Countries. If they are ill, or outside Yohannes, or otherwise unable to perform their duties, then the incumbent of the Office of the Deputy Chief Justice, in consensus with the two incumbent members specified as Senior Justices of the Realm, and in accordance with the Realm Judicature Amendment Act 1959, may perform the duties and exercise any powers of the Chief Justice in their place.

The membership of the Head Judicature of the Justices of the Peace is made up as follows:

The Right Honourable Olivia Christensen, 19th Chief Justice of the Peace.
The Honourable Greta von und zu Musäus, 37th Deputy Chief Justice of the Peace.
Unfilled vacancy, 26th Justice of the Peace of the Third Order.
The Honourable Elisa Griffin, 29th Justice of the Peace of the Fourth Order.
The Honourable Jonathan Yang, 27th Justice of the Peace of the Fifth Order.
The Honourable Annemarie Hänel, 13th Justice of the Peace of the Sixth Order.
The Honourable Rebecca Teichmüller, 16th Justice of the Peace of the Seventh Order.

No person can be appointed as a Justice unless they have previously been appointed as a Judge of the National Court, or is appointed as a Judge of the National Court at the same time. Every permanent Justice continues to be a Judge of the National Court. A Justice continues to hold office until they cease to hold office as a permanent Judge of the National Court. The President of the Electoral College may appoint retired judges of the National Court who have not yet reached the age of 80 to be acting Justices of the Peace for a term of no more than two years. An acting Justice of the Peace has the immunity, jurisdiction, powers, privileges, and protection of judicature standing, delegata potestas non potest delegari, of a permanent Justice of the Peace, to the extent that they who hold the Office of the Chief Justice have authorised them to act.

If, due to natural causes or otherwise, one or more of the other Justices of the Peace cannot be present to exercise their duties or execute their powers, the remaining Justices are compelled to continue the hearing process, or adjourn the hearing for another time. If the remaining Justices resolve to start the proceeding, they in their collective authority may act and direct any interlocutory decision, as the Justices of the Peace, in relation to the proceeding. If, due to natural causes or otherwise, all of the Justices cannot be present to exercise their duties or execute their powers, then a Registrar of the Justices of the Peace must undertake in writing the decision of adjourning the sitting to another time.

Under the provisions of the Realm Judicature Amendment Act 1959, Justices of the Peace have seniority among themselves, prior in tempore, potior in iure, according to the dates of their admission and the office which they held before becoming incumbent of the Office of Justice of the Peace.

Judicature Structure—powers conferred by statute

The judicature of the Nineteen Countries must be free of the difficulties and impediments of state to federal jurisdictions found in the judicatures of many foreign countries. As such, the judiciary must be organised as a unitary judicial system under the Justices of the Peace comprising the National Court, Intermediary Appeal Court, and inferior courts of limited statutory jurisdiction, of which the latter must be organised into the Regional Courts, the Coroners, the Court Martial, and the Courts-Martial Appeal Court. The Regional Court must be organised into specialist divisions which include the Disputes Tribunal, Commerce Court, Civic Court and Public Court. A Regional Court must include, as one of its divisions, the Disputes Tribunal, without the functions and procedures of a court of law. The courts are to be divided according to their jurisdiction—as superior courts or inferior courts, of which the former must include the Justices of the Peace, Intermediary Appeal Court, National Court and the Courts Martial Appeal Court, and the latter, exercising defined statutory jurisdiction only, must include the rest of the courts not named explicitly.

In accordance with the Realm Judicature Amendment Act 1959, circumlocution is to be used to identify inferior courts for the exercise of judicial authority conferred by statute, to be defined as any court of judicature of inferior jurisdiction to the National Court. Provisions of the Realm Judicature Amendment Act 1959 states that they are the Coroners, Disputes Tribunal Referees, Disputes Tribunals, Municipal Magistrates and Regional Courts. Their statutory classification is conclusive, with functions and procedures to resemble those of an administrative tribunal as and when required, in place of a judicial court. A body may be constituted as a judicial authority, outside an existing formal court structure, and therefore has the privileges and powers of such authority in exercising adjudicative decisions. The authorities and corresponding responsibilities of the courts named are final, in accordance with the Rule of Law.

National Court—of the Nineteen Countries

The collective bodies created for the purposes of statutory jurisdiction as the National Courts of the Nineteen Countries are the pillars of judicial decorum and integrity in Yohannes. The organisation of such court is made up as follows:

The National Court of the Kingdom of Alexandria.
The Regent’s Court of the Regency of Lindblum.
The Royal Court of the Kingdom of Burmecia.
The Grand Ducal Court of the Grand Duchy of Dali.
The National Court of the Grand Duchy of Donata.
The Merchants’ Court of the Noble Republic of Treno.
The Grand Ducal Court of the Grand Duchy of Kradenmark.
The National Court of the Duchy of Blomgren.
The Merchant’ Court of the Merchant Republic of Alseca-Lorin.
The Merchant’ Court of the Merchant Republic of Landburg.
The Serene Court of the Principality of Ahlgren.
The National Court of the Unitary Republic of Molander.
The National Court of the Democratic Republic of Cederstrom.
The Princely Court of the Royal Realm of Cleyra.
The Duke’s Court of the Duchy of Gizamaluke-Grotto.
The High Court of the Duchy of Ice Cavern.
The Princely Court of the Principality of Mandragora.
The High Court of the Free and Frauenmundigen City of Crescent.
The High Court of the Free and Frauenmundigen City of Coral.

A National Court bench constitutes the Chief Justice of the Land and no less than 60, and no more than 80 National Court Judges. A National Court is to be represented by a judge sitting alone, although it may sit as a full court of two or more judges. An incumbent of the Office of the National Court Judge, under the body of the National Court, exercises original and appellate jurisdiction, with original jurisdiction including all matters outside the statutory jurisdiction of a Regional Court—namely, civil claims exceeding the exact value of $1 million, and criminal proceedings involving only the most serious offences of indictable nature, such as homicide, kidnapping, sexual violation, and others included by existing and future provisions.

A National Court has the powers and privileges to exercise inherent jurisdiction, or the powers and privileges of such jurisdiction derived from the Rule of Law; and equity courts all through the land. As such, a National Court has the jurisdiction, to grant protection for children and persons of unsound mind; to punish for contempt of court; to grant bail and to discipline the officers of the Justices; to rectify unsound decisions; and to ensure public bodies will act within the limits prescribed by the Responsibility of a Realm Ministry. Accordingly, a National Court has the powers and privileges to exercise appellate jurisdiction, and has therefore the powers and privileges to hear and determine appeals in civil and criminal cases heard in a Regional Court, including but not limited to cases heard before the Civic Court, Commerce Court and Public Court.

Appeal is as of right, except in civil cases where the claims in dispute is $1,000 or less—in such cases, leave of the court will be required.

Intermediary Appeal Court—the passive wall

Regional Court—of the Nineteen Countries

The Financial Diary • 1 March 2020 • 18

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Fri Feb 21, 2020 9:51 pm

Putting Community First

The Royal Alexandria Orchestra is pleased to be an active partner of an organisation dedicated to the education, support and empowerment of those diagnosed with cancer. The Yohannesian Cancer Society’s annual fundraising effort will take place on Friday March the 13th from 8:00 am, with Amy Schildwächter’s The Melodies of the Sea scheduled to begin at 2:00 pm. Admission fee in Parliament Square is $2 for adults and $1 for children, with all proceeds going to the Cancer Society.

The Melodies of the Sea focuses on the themes of hard work and perseverance for young working-class men—that all men are created equal, and should be judged according to their works. Orchestra managing director Beatrice Berneck thinks it’s regrettable that parts of the work are still relevant in this day and age.

“I will never forget that I started at the bottom, and that many people must start at the bottom too,” she says. “Some of the themes that you see in this 1918 play still appear in our society today—that even for the lucky ones, their parents, grandparents, or even their great-grandparents started at the bottom too.”

Music director Torben Schindler is aiming to bring his audience a close interpretation of the very first play of The Melodies of the Sea. He admires Bettina von Arnim and confirms the illustrious poet has always enthralled him. “There is no shame in starting at the bottom and working your way up through hard work and dedication,” he says. “This play focuses on the sense of achievement and pride you can get by working hard, and for some, by working smart.”

Cancer Society National Volunteer manager Bianca Trump looks forward to working with the Royal Alexandria Orchestra and supporting a work that will offer relevance to the local community. “Schindler always believes that his audiences should not be passive onlookers,” she concludes. “We hope to create the same sense of community solidarity next month.”

The Yohannesian Cancer Society is currently the leading non-government organisation dedicated to ensuring universal access to cancer care and raising money and awareness for cancer research in Yohannes. The Cancer Society complies with the mandates set forth in WA General Assembly Resolution #425.

Our major partners in 2020
The Bank of Yohannes is proud to be a major sponsor and official bank of the Royal Alexandria Orchestra, one of the oldest national performing arts companies of the Kingdom of Alexandria and the largest orchestra in the Nineteen Countries.

Ardenfontein Köhler has been a recognised business partner of the Yohannesian Cancer Society since 2010. We are proud to support the selfless work of the Cancer Society’s many volunteers across Yohannes.

The Financial Diary • 23 February 2020 • 19

Posts · by **Yohannes** » Tue Feb 25, 2020 7:48 pm

Opinion—commentary, editorial and analysis

Entering 2020 and another decade and many business owners in Yohannes would sit down, a little bit introspective, relaxed and pondered: what this year will bring for them?

Many business owners will continue working hard as they have always done and are looking at their next holiday and starting to plan accordingly, to make good use of their time, probably grinding away for 40 hours or so a week. For some, they’ll think they can’t take this anymore, saying, “Should I go part time (can I), or maybe sell instead?” The steps to a fresh start strengthen the soul and provide new challenges. Then, there are the brave Yohannesians, who sold their business to create a new life with a different kind of career. Many will look to imitate what they are already doing; some will look to buy existing businesses that complement their skill set and passions well. The minority will explore the unknown to start something fresh—trying to prove the world wrong, the Mark Zuckerberg kind.

Looking closer to home, my mother’s experience was to improve on what she was already doing, but doing it the way she thought a commercial bank would be like—client-centric and innovative, without crazy rules and procedures to dictate her success. The politics required to progress was probably the one thing she hated most.

Don’t be fixed in your ways

Having a strong business model that makes money for you and augments your personal growth journey as the owner is important—finance is an indispensable key aspect. Whether it’s a start-up stage, buying an existing business, growing your business or a revolutionary kind of business, they all need funding. This has been mentioned by citizen Lewis Castellon in a previous issue: the importance of creativity in business, and how it leads to success. But Yohannesian banks are strict when it comes to financing a new business or self-employed client, and over the past few years they seem to have become tougher as more banks begin to adhere to an uncompromising rule-based system.

It’s going to be easier for a start-up needing little capital—such as starting your very own hand-me-down store or online clothing business—to get the finance they need. If you’re a sensible first-time entrepreneur, a Yohannesian bank will probably allow you to create a small overdraft or pre-assessed credit card limits up to $25,000 without much wrangling. If equipment will be needed by your business and you have industry experience like a farm manager or an energy and chemical plant operator, then business equipment financiers can also provide finance for capital equipment without significant funds requirement. Interest rates and conditions are higher, but they almost always will match capital equipment depreciation with effective use.

In Yohannes, to buy a business already in existence or operated on the ground, you’ll probably need at least 40 per cent of your own money, give or take based on your credit report and experience. For instance, buying a business you already work and fundamentally operate will give you greater leeway. Even most middle-class households in Yohannes don’t have $100,000 lying around so end up securing the 50 per cent against the equity in their home and 10 per cent by voluntary contributions from friends and families. Many banks like this as it keeps you motivated and reduces the risk of them losing money if your business fails. That said, they will scrutinise you closely before you can get the funding you need—they see it as their responsibility to make sure they don’t have to take away your house. Yohannesian banks don’t like selling people’s homes when they can’t pay back what they owe to the bank, especially in the small Bible Belt states—the media, always looking for sensational quick-cash opportunities, will be more than happy to inflict some serious damage on the bank’s reputation. This means less clients for the bank, meaning less money for the shareholders.

Not going for broke

When it comes to ambitious start-ups in Yohannes, it’s probably smart to leave debt out completely except for a few credit card or overdraft here and there. Business angels are probably your best friends. Looking abroad, today’s American giants such as Facebook started with already large sums of capital to fund future expansion before borrowing—though not everyone will come out the other side.

One thing many business owners don’t get is that in the first three years, they’ll struggle to get finance—say, wanting upgrades on the new house or rental property. Yohannesian banks will require you to have at least one year of good trading results, and many of the local ones will ask for a two-year record. One thing we often see is the business owner, quickly and without warning, finds their business performing well and may have been for six months; they don’t understand why the bank just don’t see it that way.

A Yohannesian bank almost always work on the previous two years before this, when the business owner was probably still struggling. The bank will look at your income or profit and loss statement for the year, but they tend to be more sceptical than the business owner or his or her accountant. There are some important things that will give a Yohannesian business owner the edge over their competitors if they need to finance their start-up or once their business is up and running.

To prepare a validated budget as best as they can at the start and each year to measure is one of the most important things a business owner in Yohannes must do, even if it’s badly written in Microsoft Word. This gives the bank the things they need to evaluate the business. Some large Yohannesian banks also have partnership schemes with the Government to help the business owner.

Plan in the bag

Creating a sound business plan, even a basic one, can really help get your finance moving.

Claiming expenses to reduce your tax payments is something many business owners in Yohannes will do, but doing it too much will make it harder to show the profit you need to buy new assets. The Financial Diary recommends for you to get your statements done after the financial year has ended, which is a good time for you to get the business finance you need. If you don’t like this, there are some non-bank lending solutions out there: with the support of your accountant, they will use six months of your existing value-added tax for goods and services record from your state—actually, it wouldn’t be 2.50 per cent fixed annually for many of us!

To throw away your career and go this way can terrify many Yohannesians, even if they have the skills and are staying in their industry. By looking at the Bank of Yohannes’ business sentiment studies last year, the one biggest thing we can see is wasted talent. To central bankers, the labour force and employment indicators are just that—statistics. But for many of us, a negative outlook for employment opportunities means our society has to some extent failed to embrace those brave enough to go out there and build a successful business, and those still overcome by excuses and the fear of the unknown.

A question of us

Does this mean that the unique Yohannesian model, our own little piece of social market paradise with Yohannesian characteristics, has failed us?

The Financial Diary • 5 March 2020 • 20

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