Certification gained

Certification gained

YOUNGSTOWN

Involta has achieved the Cisco Cloud and Managed Services Program Advanced certification. This certification recognizes Involta as having achieved a level of expertise to sell and deliver cloud and managed services.

Involta completed a rigorous third-party audit of its services that confirmed that it delivers best-in-class services to meet client demands, according to a news release.

This partnership also will allow education among Cisco and Involta of the variety of product offerings and, in turn, the ability to sell cloud services powered by Cisco.

Mexico to auction shallow exploration blocks in Gulf

MEXICO CITY

The Mexican government announced plans Tuesday for an auction of exploration and shared-production rights on 15 blocks of potential oil fields in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The blocks cover 3,440 square miles (8,908 square kilometers) and contain potential reserves of up to 1.58 billion barrels of crude equivalent.

Energy Secretary Pedro Joaquin Coldwell said that the blocks are expected to start producing oil by 2020 and that investment in the projects could reach $11.25 billion over the life of the contracts.

The Energy Department said the blocks will be put up for bid on a shared-production basis with an initial exploratory period. The contracts would run for 30 years. The bidding is scheduled for March 2017.

Home construction posted solid gain

WASHINGTON

Construction of new homes posted a solid increase in June, led by a surge of building in the Northeast and the West.

The Commerce Department says housing starts rose 4.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.19 million from 1.14 million in May. That was the highest level since February. Construction of single-family homes rose 4.4 percent to 778,000.

Home construction jumped 46.3 percent in the Northeast and 17.4 percent in the West.

During the housing boom of the mid-2000s, housing starts sometimes ranged above a 1.7 million annual rate. In the bust that followed, they fell below 600,000. Over the past year, they have mostly stayed between 1.1 million and 1.2 million

IMF: Brexit will drag down world economic growth

WASHINGTON

Britain’s decision to leave the European Union will reduce global economic growth this year and next, the International Monetary Fund says.

The IMF is shaving its estimate for worldwide growth to 3.1 percent this year and 3.4 percent in 2017. Both estimates are 0.1 percentage points lower than the bank’s previous forecast in April.

IMF chief economist Maurice Obstfeld said the bank was prepared “as of June 22” – the day before Britain’s vote – to slightly mark up its global forecast, citing unexpectedly strong growth in Europe and Japan and a partial rebound in global commodity prices. “But Brexit has thrown a spanner [wrench] in the works,” Obstfeld said

Associated Press