tammy guides to pan. it's 1st titles since 2009 is reminded now about top story. the u. n. is holding a conference to draw attention to the problem of war to scarcity. a quarter of the world's population already lacks access to safe drinking water. the you, when say is the shortage will increase in pot. you to climate change a w business is out makes with daniel, be tough with that i wish i could. and some more the same. you discover stories that just a click away find out best documentary on you to

really good morning to see the world as you've never seen it before. describe now t d w document training. what secrets lie behind these walls? discover new adventures in 360 degrees and explore fascinating world heritage sites. d w world heritage is 316. get the app now. ah ah. it's a rate hike that toughest decision the fed has had to making a good long while. but will this increase the risks to the shady banking sector will get the view from wall street. also coming up, environmentalists condemned the e new green gross washing rules saying that they don't go far enough. we'll get the

breakdown from brussels. also on our show, we take a look at sri lankan $3000000000.00 pay out from the international monetary fund. can it help the country get back on track? is that time again? d. w. business, welcome. the federal reserve has raised its benchmark lending rate and a controversial decision that could hit the already embattled banking sector. fed chief jerome powell announced the court appoint boost. it's ongoing efforts to bring down suddenly high inflation. but higher interest rates have recently been blamed for causing the collapse with high profile lenders, such as silicon valley bank elements. and teddy austro is in new york with more in this forest teddy, tell us more on the feds thinking behind this well, this certainly was a very tough decision for the fed is balancing. if major priority is to maintain

financial stability. here in the u. s. a caught on me but also to team very high inflation record high inflation we've seen over the past year has been harm americans, wallace. alternately, painting inflation did win out. the fed has calculated that duty so will not push the banking sector over the edge. but it certainly is paying attention to that turmoil just 2 weeks ago, right. we heard debates about whether or not that was going to do a more aggressive hike. and now we talked about a potential pause. they decided to do a quarter point hike. now the question is, of course, at what cost will that come? what does it say about the state of the u. s. economy going forward? whoa, there is always the question. putting the banks to the side right of recession, there was optimism at the beginning of this year with some good data coming out

that we may not only see a soft landing, but we may not see a recession here in the us at all. now some of that fear seems to be coming back, even with good data coming in, that placement is cooling. the fed certainly is looking at it and saying that it's very sticky. the labor market is incredibly strong, which is good for workers eyes. they feel that they need to put more pressure down and with credit tightening, of course, that always a possibility that investments will be taken away. there will be layoffs and depressing of wages. and of course, okay, including the banks back into it all. we heading for a credit crunch. well, there was hope right in the beginning that silicon valley bank, this was somewhat contained because of the depositors are so concentrated tech sector. the tech sector has been incredibly susceptible to the federal in 1st grade

. hi. we see a lot of damage there, but of course this hasn't been fully contained. we have seen some smaller regional banks affected signature bank failed. we've seen issues with pack west today. first republic is still trying to stay afloat. and overall, what we're looking at is the fed believing indeed that this isn't going to be a contagion that will spread. we'll have to wait and see the treasury department, however, has said that it will find ways to back stop other smaller regional banks. should they fail much like they've done in silicon valley bank? all right, well hopefully we'll be able to borrow some money to get you a new mike that teddy sorry for the sound quality that. but thank you teddy, for that from new york. now to smother global business stories making news, an expert panel expects germany to avoid recession this year. the government's council of economic experts as the economy will grow 2 tenths of sent this year due to a more stable energy supply efforts to replace russian energy exports have gone better

than expected. official data showed a u. k. inflation unexpectedly jumped to 10.4 percent in february. the rise was driven by higher food prices. high energy costs were also a major factor in ports reached a record, a 132000000000 euros work last year. more than double the amount in 2021. it's in bob way has launched a new 300 megawatt coal fired power plant to help ease power outages, blackouts, lasting as long as 19 hours of crippled businesses and households in recent months . the new power plant is largely funded by a chinese state run company. the international monetary fund has agreed to a $15600000000.00 funding deal for ukraine aimed at showing up its economy, which the invasion has crippled. ukrainian officials, hope the i m f deal will encourage their allies to provide financial support by

reassuring them. ukraine is pursuing strong economic policy. is you proposals to fight green washing? have been slammed by environmental groups saying the plans have been watered down. rosie butchered has more from brussels. daniel, this is all about the european union trying to clean up and clamp don't on green washing. so we're talking about companies, boasting about environmental credentials, which don't necessarily stack up in fact, and i think it's something many consumers will be familiar with that feeling of going through a store or browsing online and trying to find a way to spend your money in a more sustainable or environmentally friendly way and consumers might be met with products which claim to be, for example, ocean friendly or causing half as many admissions compared to competitors or similar products. and consumers might think, is this too good to be true? and what the you is saying is that sometimes that is indeed the case. now brussels

has come up with new proposed rules under which companies will be obliged to back up their green claims to substantiate them with cold, hard scientific evidence that those claims will have to be submitted to independent verifiers. sanctions for breaching these rules could include temporary exclusion from a public funding. so we'll have to get in line here. if these rules do indeed come into force. now virginia think of interest is the european environment commissioner, and he gave us idea of just the extent of the mess. the european commission is trying to clean up here more than half of the claims we see in the european market . they are weak, misleading, or even based on nothing at all. and this undermines trust and penalizes companies, businesses who are the ones really taking effective steps and making real efforts

towards the greater sustainability. there are also too many different environmental labels and discrete confusion. so rosie, tell us more about how these proposals have been received. it seems some environmental groups are not happy. there definitely is criticism being leveled at these proposals. now some environmental groups have come out and say that these suggested laws, well, they are promising bond that they simply don't go far enough. now, one of the criticism is that there is no real single standard which is being applied to these environmental claims. there's no one method by which companies will have to substantiate their claims. no. the counters this the european commission by saying that a didn't want to pursue a one size fits all approach. beyond that, some groups are also not happy that there is still a possibility for bronze to claim their products are carbon neutral. so to say they're offsetting the emissions associated with their products. either by,

for example, planting trees or buying carbon credits. and we've had some groups, for example, carpet market watch and, and geo saying the just ain't simply such a thing as a carbon neutral banana for example. now this is not the end of this story. these are just proposals at this stage. that means they still need to be debated unapproved by the european parliament you lo makers and also by you, member states will watch this space. these are proposed laws could indeed be beefed up, tightened in future, or indeed water don't. rosie, thank you very much. moving to sri lanka now, which has received $330000000.00 from the international monetary fund. it's part of a $3000000000.00 bailout package to be dished out over the next few years to shore up the countries struggling economy of the payouts come with stipulations attached requiring sri lanka to tackle the corruption and economic mismanagement that drove

the country into crisis. after much anticipation, sri lanka is finally slated to receive a total of $3000000000.00 from the international monetary fund as part of its bailout package. the funds will help the country begin to dig its way out of its worst economic crisis and 7 decades. but the package has conditions, sri lanka must commit to tackling the corruption and economic mismanagement. that is to blame for the current situation. sheila, going to be the 1st country in asia where the i'm of will do a deep diagnostics on corruption and governments. and the report will come out in september which will provide a roadmap for what needs to be done in terms of improving governance and reducing corruption. last year, sri lankan took to the streets to demand accountability from their government. the protest led to the ousting of former president go to buy a roger pack, so his family had long been accused of stealing assets and driving the countries finances into the ground. under current president or neil wicker m a singer,

things seem to be stabilizing sri lanka, central bank said that the reserves have improved and that the black market no longer controls the foreign currency trade. and it's come at a cost to ordinary sri. lumpkins taxes have gone up. energy subsidies cut even with a bailout. the road to recovery will be long. we asked sri lankan treasury secretary, my hinder siri was donna whether the public would be likely to accept the sweeping reforms in 3 forms. although the idea some difficulties, but it really didn't in the very short period, but going ahead that would be reported to so that, that you wouldn't be able to, you know, reduce or make it a negative implications that are coming off of, you know, i think it's not making them right in the context of you have to do,

and we are looking forward basically, income industry forms in a much now for a reminder of our top story, the federal reserve has raised its benchmark lending, right by a quarter point is a battles inflation the chairman jerome powell hinted that further right types could be put on hold. higher interest rates have close terminal in the banking industry. and you're up to date with d w business. remember, we're also on youtube. check out the d. w. the news channel for me and the business team here invalid. thank you very much for watching a fight for freedom in georgia, a controversial bill, dr. spouses into the streets. then the pro russian government is actually

giving it, it's a great victory for a demonstrator, but will at last focus on d. w. conflicts own with sarah kelly as the fighting rages in russia's war of aggression against ukraine. the international criminal court has issued a warrant for putin's arrest. my guest this week on conflicts own had called the deportation of children, a genocide and demand justice, ukrainian, and p and chair of the parliamentary committee on integration of ukraine for the u . ivana. clean push. inside that joins me from 2 conflict zone to them. in 60 minutes. on d w. o, you become a criminal pre climb aol already know who's come to

take. ah, about hackers, paralyzing tire societies. computers that out some are you and governments that go crazy for your data. we explain how these technologies work, how they can go in for and how they can also go terribly. watch it now. you too with hello and welcome to focus on europe. it's great to have you with the massive produce in georgia have highlighted to do.