bidding process and squander limited public funds – funds which could have otherwise been used to help citizens lead better and more productive lives. complicit companies overbid and then overcharge the government to fund bribes or kickbacks to government officials in order to obtain necessary approvals for infrastructure projects or contracts. the result is that scarce resources are stolen in these schemes and the general population pays the price. sadly, we have seen too many examples of this type of behavior. but banks in the united states are on notice. they are aware of their obligation to look for transactions that support corruption schemes, often involving agents and consultants receiving payments on large infrastructure projects. all too often these intermediaries are the conduit for kickbacks. 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches the schemes to provide the bribes can be simple or complicated : cash payments ; free family vacations ; payments for personal credit card bills ; payments to friends, spouses or significant others for non - existent services ; payments to shell companies controlled by the government official ; free cars or housing, or the rental or sales of these assets at below market values. the list goes on. some clear examples of this type of egregious behavior include : 1mdb in which billions in debt guaranteed by the government of malaysia was illegally siphoned off by criminal actors and corrupt government officials so that the country was left without the promised infrastructure. this was a brazen scheme carried out by corrupt government officials in multiple countries and was supported by corrupt bankers. in response, the u. s. and governments across the globe took strong action against the individuals and financial institutions involved and helped recover billions of dollars to offset losses from the scheme. another example is the construction and engineering firm odebrecht sa using its subsidiaries and shell companies in the british virgin islands and belize to facilitate at least $ 788 million in kickbacks to government officials and political parties. the schemes involved paying consulting and agency fees to shell companies who then facilitated payments to government officials. the most prominent scheme involved petrobras, the energy company majority owned by the government of brazil. the u. s. government worked with law enforcement in brazil and brought criminal charges against odebrecht and was able to recover billions from odebrecht and related entities to help offset the theft of national resources. and the fifa scandal put a spotlight on corruption in sports – there was a global cabal of fifa officials directing corrupt payments to executives around the globe controlling “ fut

recovered somewhat. but, even outside of this area, business fixed investment has been disappointing. several factors may be at play here — including earlier uncertainty surrounding the presidential election outcome and the fact that capacity utilization rates remain unusually low at this point in the economic business cycle. while the election uncertainty has been resolved, i would expect business fixed investment to only rise slowly in the year ahead. in contrast, the trade sector has performed surprisingly well in 2016. this sector had to contend with headwinds created by weak growth in final demand by our major foreign trading partners, as well as the impact of earlier dollar strength on the nation ’ s export competitiveness. however, i ’ m not sure that i would take much signal from this performance. the improvement in trade seems to have been driven mainly by weakness in imports, particularly for capital goods, and by some one - off factors, such as the surge in soybean exports last quarter — both of which are unlikely to continue. with respect to inflation, we are making progress in pushing toward our 2 percent objective. in particular, headline inflation has risen this year as the earlier declines in energy prices have dropped out of the year - over - year figures. and, core inflation has remained broadly steady, running at 1. 7 percent over the past year — as measured by the personal consumption expenditures deflator that excludes food and energy. this stability is noteworthy, because one might have anticipated that lower energy prices and a firmer dollar would have pushed core inflation a bit lower. also, household inflation expectations — which at times in 2015 appeared to be at risk of becoming unanchored to the downside — have been broadly stable. the university of michigan long - term inflation expectations measure has generally remained in the 2. 5 - 2. 8 percent range of recent years. in addition, the new york fed ’ s survey of consumer expectations measure of 3 - year median inflation expectations has stabilized in 2016 in a range of 2. 5 - 2. 8 percent, after declining modestly over the course of 2014 and 2015. implications for monetary policy if the economy grows at a pace slightly above its sustainable long - term rate, as i expect, the labor market should gradually tighten further, and the resulting pressure on resources should help push inflation toward our 2 percent objective over the next year or two. assuming the economy stays on this trajectory, i would favor making monetary policy somewhat less accommodative over time by gradually pushing up the level of short -