18/12/2013 Asia Business Report

are lifted on Romanians and Bulgarians on January the 1st. Timer

for business news live from Singapore. Under pressure.

Executives face questions from unions over proposed job cuts. How

one of the world's most iconic motorcycle brands as masking an army

Asian market. Welcome to Asia Business Report. We start with

Australia and its national flag carrier which is currently in

financial dire straits. Qantas management is set to slash 1000 jobs

and cut cost estimate. The cuts were announced this month after a profit

warning was issued for the six months to December. Profits remain

weak and credit ratings have been slashed by standard and Poor 's. --

Standard Poor's. They have them pushing the Australian government to

loosen restrictions that they have. They have a law that is peculiar

that allows them to have only 49% foreign ownership. Virgin has been

able to access foreign capital. Qantas needs to make changes. It

needs to bring its costs down. It seems the government is indicating

that they are open to things but it will take some time to do it. It is

not like there will be able to access cash tomorrow as soon as the

government says yes. And they have already basically stepped in and

said they would pump in new investment into Qantas and indeed

this is lifted. Exactly. It raises the question of if the cap is

lifted, who will in best ? We don't know. What is the future of Qantas?

There is competition from virgin Australia. The future, as they go

through these times is going to get better over time. In the short term

they are hurting. They are saying that the yields or their fares are

down. Virgin's are growing. Qantas will have to add them idea of taking

control of two thirds of the Australian market and leave Virgin

to the last third. So, they have to be a mean organisation ? A thing

that is inevitable. Terepo to be job cuts, restructuring which is going

to lead to more pain and will be unpopular. They needed to survive.

-- there will need to be job cuts. Tony at that an answerphone to help

states affected by the closure of manufacturing facilities. Most money

comes from the Federal Government. Victory and South Australia are

expected to contribute. South Australia says the package is

inadequate. The trade deficit in Japan has expanded 35% and net

soaring power bills due to the nuclear crisis in 2011. Government

figures show a deficit last month marking the 17th straight month of

deficit. It runs off the back of car shipments. Hefty oil and gas

purchases. The Central Bank is expected to raise borrowing falling

a sharp rise in inflation. Surging vegetable prices pushed the

inflation to a 14 month high, reinforcing expectations it will

raise rates despite India's stalling economic expansion. The head of the

US Central Bank is about to announce the winding down of quantitative

easing. The Federal Reserve has been buying $85 million in bonds every

month to keep down long-term borrowing costs. What will it mean

as Ben Bernanke and is the processor pumping money into the economy?

The flood of cheap money from America's Central Bank was supposed

to lower rent costs and boost the US economy. Is the job done? In

Virginian there's a of optimism. After this business, it is hard to

not feel cheerful around the rainbow colours but they have another reason

to feel good. That inventories running low. It is great news. Sales

are up. People like product. Provided people like the product and

we keep selling it, we will keep hiring people to make it. This week

he took on another employee. He plans to add more in January. Hiring

at businesses like this one has helped push down the nation's

unemployment rate to 7%. Is it time for America's Central Bank to start

turning off the stimulus taps? One reason it may hold fire is that the

economy is still not back to normal. The economy is obviously not back to

where anybody would want it. We have 7% unemployment and a very low

labour force participation. The reason that unemployment has come

back as well as it has is heavily because a lot of people dropped out

of the labour force. Confronting economic challenges is nothing new

to this group which included past and present chairman of the Federal

Reserve to mark its 100 anniversary. With a world's largest economy

gaining momentum, those inside the Spalding, America's Central Bank,

had indicated they will move towards winding down their extraordinary

stimulus measures. -- inside the Spalding. Whether the process begins

on Wednesday will fall to the next chair. High traffic and fuel prices,

that is one of the reasons people are opting for a motorcycle instead

of a car. China and Indonesia are the biggest markets for motorcycles.

One of the brands as trained to cruise into the market. Motorcycles

are everywhere in Asia. They are usually Japanese, Korean, Chinese.

Typically, they are cheap and small. Now, under the name wants to muscle

in on the market. Harley Davidson. It is not like you and we threw

traffic on and it has traditionally focused on its home market and the

US. It has been expanding and the iconic brand is now forecast at 40%

of its sales will come from international markets next year.

Bill is the great-grandson of the founder. Use says the global

recession promoted a new strategy. The great part of being a global

company is that it allows us the opportunity to be flexible because

we know that the world economy is not always going to be a consistent

pinnacle. There is going to be ups and downs. Hopefully,

Harley-Davidson can lean on the upwards side of that and continue to

grow. Harley-Davidson has more customers and its home town of

Milwaukee than it does in all of China. Why is that the case? 40 is

the birthplace of Harley-Davidson. -- Milwaukee. 110 years of

established business. It makes a difference. China is a new market

for us. We have put a strategy to grow the brand in China and we are

tracking to that strategy. Chinese authorities have put restrictions on

to wheeled vehicles and quite a few of their cities will stop is the

second set ? Not really. We have faced this and other parts of the

world. Japan is a very good example. Users were not able to write to

wheel heavyweight motorcycles in any of their freeways or interstate

systems. Now you can because of our government affairs people going in

and developing policies along with the Japanese government to allow

this. Harley-Davidson has had famous riders like Elvis Presley and even

the pub. These bikes don't come cheap. Whether it can adapt to

Asia's different case and income levels remains to be seen.

You searching the Internet for this year question at Google has released

its most popular search terms. Vietnam is a late to the party,

making that favourite search term 'Gamgnam Style'. -- 'Gangnam Style'.

Psy is hugely popular in Asia. It is an indication that Psy is here to

stay. It seems like in India and Thailand, the trend seemed to be

more driven towards at the domestic market. That is right. Bollywood and

cricket score high on the list in India and it goes to show what the

cultural unifies are. In India it is all about movies and in Thailand it

is all about comedy and song. Tell us, what were some of the unexpected

transfer must hear? -- unexpected results from this year. The haze and

Singapore, typhoons and Japan, the Typhoon in the Philippines. What is

surprising is what people are searching for. People turn to the

Internet as a first source. They see it as a tool to get real-time

information on the crisis. In the Philippines, for instance, you will

remember that there was a fight a few weeks after the hit of the

Typhoon. The term for the fight was the region of Leyte which was the

strongest region hit by the Typhoon. Even amongst the crisis, a polite

turning to find out information about their favourite boxes. --

boxers. That was Asia Business Report. Goodbye for now.

Headlines: A British government ministers of the London surgeon who

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In Italy, secretly filmed footage it triggers an enquiry stopped