Deltaria

[jamescfm]

Jakanian President meets with Deltarian First Minister amid regional instability

[Rogue]

OOC Source: Caritas Europa

Cahtice: Last May the Deltarian economy took a hit as uncertainty and tensions on financial markets and the continent of Majatra drove the economy to shrink. Now, in september, the economy has reportedly been shrinking with -3.2%, far more then was expected earlier. At first early reports suggested the economy to shrink by -3.1% in december, that estimation has thus already been broken and signs for the coming months are not looking good. Unemployment has skyrocketted from 7% to over 11% in just a few months and inflation is at its highest rate in years, over 4%. This sudden and extreme fall for the Deltarian economy is mostly attributed to the lack of government involvement in the private sector as well as the lack of clear mechanisms to limit the damage of a recession like this. The Deltarian government had not created a sovereign wealth fund, that could have been used to great effect during this recession, nor had they put in place a action plan for if such a crisis would occur. To make matters worse for Deltarians foreign investment is also retreating from the country, creating a shortage of cash and means to lift the Deltarian economy back up.

The government meanwhile is unable to turn the tide. Reports from within the cabinet seem to suggest that 2/3rds of the cabinet refuse to adhere to the First Ministers directive that orders them to look at ways to reduce the budgets in their ministries. Instead these ministers have banded together with like minded "sceptics" in the Imperial Senate, blocking the passage of strong spending cuts to mitigate the immensily growing debt and stop the deficit spending caused by the crisis. While the Federal government is squabling amongst itself regional authorities, particularly in Doron Akigo and Dissuwa, have started their own small programs in an effort to help their struggling populations. With Doron Akigo launching a 1 billion "bread water and shelter" program to feed and provide shelter to those that lose their home and Dissuwa hiring more people into the new refineries to mitigate the effects of unemployment there. Protests have already been going on in Cahtice and Balgrad, demanding the federal government to present plans to work on the economy and some even calling for the rebelious ministers to resign. These ministers include foreign minister Kasnarova, Internal minister Sikorová, Tourism minister Rušil and others who are, besides blocking cuts to their ministries, also blocking any attempt at costly ways to fix the crisis, resulting in immense anger amongst the population.

As the crisis worsens and the Deltarian economy continues to decline some wonder what their future will look like in the seemingly continious decline of the Deltarian economy.

[Kubrick]

TBTK Krp offers to intervene in Deltaria; seeks international expansion

[Rogue]

OOC Source: ABC News

Cahtice: Deltaria is on Fire. As the government remains unable to find a compromise amongst itself in the midst of one of the most severe economic crisis in the last century protests in major cities seem to intensify. The government of First Minister Nováková still find itself in a endless stalemate between ministers refusing to cut budgets and ministers desperately trying to pass measures that mitigate the effects of the crisis. The First Minister seems to have lost control over her cabinet, prompting regional governments to take the reign themselves and pass local budget cuts and motions to mitigate the worsening effects of the crisis. Furthermore the First Minister has notified Vanuku's TBTK that the Deltarian state will not accept its help, stating that, "Deltaria, despite being in a crisis, cannot allow itself to be saved by foreign parties. In weak times like these it is essential we maintain the integrity of our economy despite it being the hard choice. By selling ourselves out to foreign investors we will at the end pay the price. We thank TBTK for their offer but have to reject."

As expected the economy has continued to decline with the growthrate now sitting at -3.5% and unemployment further risen to over 13%. While stores are still able to provide enough food to fill the shelves more and more people are unable to pay regular food in stores due to losing their job or receiving pay cuts in their salary. This situation has led to thousands taking to the streets to demand change. The main reason for the growing protests is the stalemate within the government and senate, which has caused the entire legislative and executive branch to paralize in the wake of the crisis. Not a single bill to mitigate the effects of the crisis has yet to be passed and the large spending cuts proposed by several senators have been endlessly debated but have yet to be voted upon thanks to delays from the sceptic faction within the KDU. Now the country stands at a dangerous crossroads with protests growing and calling for the resignation of the government while at night these turn violent. For the third night in a row Cahtice turned into a partial battlezone as violent protestors put cars on fire and attacked riot police. In other parts of the country things have been relatively calm but protests have been growing in cities like Balgrad and Naban.

Rumours have emerged that First Minister Nováková is preparing drastic action to turn the tide but many within the population fear that the sceptic factions of the KDU prove to strong to stop. Nováková's approval rating has seen a drop since the beginning of the crisis almost half a year ago, with 78% approval rating before the recession and a 61% approval rating now, a drop of almost 17%. While the situation is at its worst point since the beginning of the recession some reports seem to suggest the situation is stabilizing at this all-time low.

[Rogue]

OOC Source: RP Defense

Cahtice: The Ministry of War and Imperial Armed Forces Command Staff have, in a joint statement, stated that the Deltarian military will, "minimize its activities to the essential and halt any major development and procurement programs." In response to the severe recession the country is currenty experiencing. According to Army General Petr Toman, the highest commander of the Imperial Armed Forces, any scheduled exercises have been cancelled until further notice and major troop, fleet and aerial movements have been limited to only the necessary. The Czar Dusan base in Malivia will remain operational but its ships and aircraft will remain in port and grounded with only one Slava-class cruiser assigned on patrol duty if necessary. Major weapon procurement programs, like the planned construction of additional AA missile systems have been cancelled for the foreseeable future and also R&D projects have been halted. All this in response to the economic crisis wrecking the nation. "The military, while maintaining most of its budget, still cannot afford to spend all its money while countless of Deltarians are struggling to make ends meet. We have cancelled or postponed exercises, procurement and R&D projects and will only finish the sea trails of our new aquisitions after which these will also return to port."

According to Toman the military intends to maintain a, "defensive state of readiness", still operating its aircraft but on a limited scale to patrol Deltarian airspace. The navy will also be utilized for essential tasks only with the current plan only allowing the new Kirov Battle-Group to operate actively to protect the Deltarian coastline and the Majatran sea. The Nemec-carrier and its strike group have returned to port and will remain there for a undisclosed period of time. The planned modernization and refit of the DNS Mrazek supercarrier of the Nemec-class has also been postponed, likely keeping the ship in port until the end or near end of the crisis when it may happen. It is unclear when the military intends on stepping up activities again as the end of the economic crisis in Deltaria is still nowhere in sight.

[Aquinas]

Nirakhpurians return to Branovice

[Rogue]

OOC Source: The Bubble

Cahtice: Faced by the deepened economic crisis and a cabinet unwilling to listen to their own boss the First Minister Nora Nováková has this morning announced the sacking of her entire cabinet, replacing it with a fresh and new cabinet more in line with eachother. According to Nováková the bickering and stalemate, "hurt the ability of our government to move forward and end this crisis which has lasted for nearly a year and affected so many ordinary Deltarians. I decided to sack my cabinet no matter how hard it may be. Some of these ministers have been with me and with Deltaria for long but we need new and descisive leadership. I have proposed a new cabinet to the floor of the senate and expect every senator to vote in favour, for Deltaria." It is reported that while being patient for the first few months of the crisis Nováková was becoming more and more frustrated by the lack of cooperation and the oppossition to her orders within cabinet. This eventually let her to decide that enough is enough. Rather then keeping the experienced but stubborn ministers in the cabinet she sacked it, putting new inexperienced but ambitious ministers in their place. Furthermore Nováková also pressured senators to accept the new cabinet and pass the spending cuts currently on the floor, which would free up much needed funds to be used in a future plan to lift the economy back up as well as ensuring the debt wont rise at the stagering rate it currently rises at. It is estimated that the Debt to GDP has risen from 50% before the crisis to over 81% now, a unbelievable increase of 31% simply because the government refused to pass the much needed spending cuts.

With a new cabinet on the horizon and the long awaited spending cuts likely to be passed market confidence is slowly improving but is far from where it needs to be. Protests have also slowed down as the ministers they deemed responsible have now been fired and many hope that this new situation will finally oil the gears of the government and get some much needed relief into the economy. The growthrate is still at -3.0% however and despite the hope of change the crisis is far from over according to most analysts.

[Rogue]

OOC Source: Pinterest

Cahtice: The national airline of Deltaria named Deltarian Airways (better known as Delta-Air) has requested a substantial aid package from the Deltarian government. The airline, which has only been fully active for several years, got into severe financial trouble several months ago in the midst of the Deltarian economic crisis gripping the country. The public-private airline lost most financial assets from its private wing, resulting in severe losses. Furthermore the lack of customers created by the crisis further brought revenue down. Ending in a severe crisis within the airline. Now its directive board has put in a formal request with the Ministry of Finance for a aid package of at least 4 billion to cover the losses of recent months and create a buffer for the remainder of the crisis. There has been severe criticism on the request with many ordinary citizens saying, "The fact they have the guts to request government aid while i cant get aid for my bussiness. Its such a shitty attitude. I dont need to fly with Delta-Air. I can fly with other airlines. Honestly fuck them."

The government is however sympathetic to the airlines request, likely caused by the strategic and prestige importance of having a national airline. Due to Deltarian Airways being half in government hands the government also has an obligation to save it from bancruptcy according to inside sources. Furthermore the new reshuffled government is reportedly preparing a major reform and investment package to drag the Deltarian economy out of this major crisis. The growthrate has stabilized at -2.8% over the past few months but this still means Deltaria finds itself in a large recession. The largest problems for the government are the growing debt, which currently stands at 90% of the GDP and the large unemployment rate which is 15% now. With this rumoured package the government wants to achieve a "total turn" in the Deltarian economy, pushing the economy back to a path of growth and "speeding up the economic transformation to create jobs and ensure that we wont repeat the same mistakes again." This package is however still months away from being implemented and the Deltarian economy continues to be severely weakened.

It is expected that Delta-Air will receive the requested aid in the upcoming reform and investment package of the government when revealed, allowing the airline to survive the crisis. Several trade unions have already announced strikes if the airline receives the full amount requested without conditions attached to it.

[Rogue]

OOC Source: Pinterest

Cahtice: In a highly publicized event the First Minister Nora Nováková and her cabinet revealed a new Grand Economic Plan also known by the name of the Grand Transformation Act to the public. The new act, designed to lift the Deltarian economy out of its recession, consists of a series of reforms and investments designed to restructure the Deltarian economy in such a way that it will start to grow again. Not only newfound growth and prosperity is the goal of the plan however. Another large aspect of the plan is speeding up the Deltarian economic transformation with the goal of focussing more on information based sectors and less on manufacturing based ones. The new plan and subsequently the new government policy is one of a diversified and well structured economy. The plan describes the new information based sectors and reserves over 200 billion to invest in these sectors in cooperation with both Hutorian and Deltarian private partners. Besides information based sectors the government wont forget the manufacturing sector. While in the plan the government recognizes the slow dissapearance of civilian manufacturing it underlines the governments desire to maintain a strong military-industrial complex and thus military manufacturing industry. This MI-Complex currently gives over a million Deltarians a job and the government sees it as a new vital aspect of the Deltarian culture and economy. The main focus of the new plan is however clearly on individual bussinesses and the information sector. The total "Grand Transformation Act" will reserve over 1 trillion in funds to kickstart the Deltarian economy and make it more resilient for the future. Companies both small to large sized will be able to apply for a grant or loan at the newly established Commission for Financial Management and Distribution or CFMD allowing these companies to either save themselves from bancruptcy during the crisis or use the opportunity to evolve themselves for the period ahead. 100 billion within the reserved funds will be directly invested by the government in job, shelter and food programs to support the struggling portions of the Deltarian population, making sure that no Deltarian sleeps without food or shelter at night.

Investments
Most of the remaining budget, amounting to more then 700 billion, is going to be directly invested by the government itself. These investments will be distributed by the Ministry of Finance and spread accross the entire Deltarian economy. The funds will be used to keep vital infrastructure well maintained, such as airfields and major roads, but will also be used to heavily invest in sectors themselves. These investments could include the government fascilitating the creation of bussinesses by using tax incentives and direct investments into certain areas, making these cheaper, but could also include the strengthening of internet infrastructure for information based companies. The manufacturing sector will also be aided to preserve as many jobs as possible during the transition. Investments into this sector include direct subsidies to factories in order to keep them open or the quicker designation of industrial zones to ensure factories can open quicker if desired. The Military-Industrial complex will also receive direct investments as the state owned DDS will receive a total of 5 billion extra in state aid to keep it running. Remaining funds will all be used in the effort to further regulate and organize the economy. New regulations introduced in the Grand Transformation Act will initially cost the Deltarian economy a estimated 100 billion but will in the long term bring more revenue and a more stable economic situation to Deltaria. Taxes on corporations have also been slightly increased to partially make up for the massive investments into the Deltarian economy.

The Deltarian government has encouraged Hutorian companies to aid information based companies in Deltaria to get through the crisis, resulting in over 30 billion worth of investments pouring into a diverse range of Deltarian companies such as Echo Games and MicroWeb allowing these companies to keep running and surviving the crisis. The national airline of Deltaria, Deltarian Airways, has also received the requested 4 billion in funds to get through the crisis and make up for losses. This has however caused some trade unions to strike on several occassions in the last month.

Restructuring and Preparation
All these investments and regulations are meant to revive the Deltarian economy and break it out of its recession within a year while trying to achieve great economic growth within 6 years. To prevent a major crisis like this in the future the new plan also lays out a guideline for the government to work with in the coming years. Going with the GTA reforms is a set of restructuring actions mandated by the government in an effort to make it easier for the government to intervene in the private sector in case of a recession but also allowing the government to put in place certain countermeasures that automatically kick in when a crisis appears. The most important one of these countermeasures is the new "emergency budget" allowing the government to draft a scaled down version of their regular budget every year which would kick in in case of a crisis without senate approval. This would allow the government to cut spending efficiently without the stalemate that occured in the beginning of the great recession. Furthermore the GTA reform pressures the government to come up with additional measures and reforms in the coming years that both limit the chance for another crisis to occur or allows the government to weather such a crisis more easily and with less chaos then the current crisis was handled.

All these reforms, investments and restructuring measures will take effect next month when the Grand Transformation Act will officially become law. Today was the signing ceremony with several ministers, the First Minister and private partners. First Minister Nováková explained the new act in detail and stated that, "with this bill. We will lift the Deltarian economy out of this recession and allow it to flourish once more. We have learned from our mistakes. Now lets fix them."

The growthrate still indicates the recession is ongoing, with it sitting at -2.2%. This new act however combined with renewed market confidence is expected to quickly bring Deltaria out of the recession. Unemployment will remain a problem for the coming years with early projections expecting the current unemployment rate of 16% to only drop to 12% within the next 2 years, still a large unemployment number for a developed economy. With the economic transition finishing in a estimated 4 years however the government is confident the unemployment rate will continue to drop as the Deltarian economy grows again. One critical point of this plan is however its tremendous costs. With over 1 trillion invested over just 6 years early estimates state that the Deltarian debt to GDP rate will rise more to a total of 101% in 4 years time. This increase in debt is unnaceptable to some of the more hawkish and fiscally conservative members of the KDU ruling party but these voices are not being heard as the task of dragging the Deltarian economy out of its recession is deemed more important then keeping the state debt in check.

[Aquinas]

Suspected Pahladgarh spy found dead