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lawful. Now on BBC News, all the latest | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
business news live from Singapore. Japan's Prime Minister looks set to | :00:00. | :00:19. | |
pledge billions of dollars of aid during his visit to Africa. | :00:20. | :00:26. | |
And cooking with gas, why feeding a family in India is becoming a tough | :00:27. | :00:28. | |
task. We start today with the Japanese | :00:29. | :00:42. | |
Prime Minister, who is visiting the African state of Ivory Coast as part | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
of a trip to the continent. His trip will be the first by a Japanese | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
Premier and eight years and is -- in eight years and is aimed at boosting | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
his international profile. He is set to visit Mozambique and Ethiopia. | :00:57. | :01:03. | |
You will be accompanied by a delegation of business executives | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
from up to 29 companies. Japan is a major donor to Africa and has | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
pledged an estimated $14 billion in aid over the next five years. It is | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
expected to spend billions more in private investment. I asked what | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
exactly the prime minister is doing in Africa. | :01:24. | :01:26. | |
This is a sign that he would like Japan to take Africa much more | :01:27. | :01:31. | |
seriously and would like Japanese companies to look harder at Africa | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
for investment opportunities, and is a new market. In the past, Japan has | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
looked at Africa as a place where perhaps they were sold a lot of | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
second-hand Japanese cars and also gave a lot of aid, but it has not | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
been seen as a market for Japanese products. As we have seen with China | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
in the last few years, Africa is growing very fast. Many African | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
economies are growing extremely fast at the moment, and people are | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
starting to see Africa in a very different way. That is what the | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
Prime Minister is trying to push. Do not look at Africa as a place where | :02:08. | :02:10. | |
we just give money to help, but look at it as an opportunity. | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
Do you think part of the reason for the trip is to try to counter | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
China's growing influence? How successful dip in Japan would be at | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
that? Japan has been in Africa a lot than | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
China will stop if you go to African countries, you will see the | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
ubiquitous Toyota hi Lux everywhere you go. African countries are very | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
familiar with Japanese products, but it is China that has been making | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
the" , particularly -- making the big inroads, particularly with | :02:44. | :02:49. | |
consumer products. I do not think there will be competing | :02:50. | :02:51. | |
head-to-head. But other part of this, with the rival whether China, | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
what a minister has been doing since he came into power is trying to get | :02:57. | :02:59. | |
Japanese companies to look elsewhere, not just investing in | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
China. China -- Japan is very dependent on China as its biggest | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
export market, but he would like Japanese countries to look | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
elsewhere. Southeast Asia, India, Africa South America, to try to | :03:13. | :03:20. | |
counterbalance the dependence on the Chinese market. | :03:21. | :03:23. | |
To India, where one of the nation 's biggest expenses is subsidising fuel | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
for its people. In an attempt to offset the week at -- recent hike in | :03:28. | :03:35. | |
fuel prices, they are considering raising the quantity of gas they | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
provide every fantasy. -- family. But it is an election year, are they | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
trying to appease citizens, and can make for the exercise? | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
-- can they afford. On course for delivery. This woman | :03:51. | :03:58. | |
receiving her second gas cylinder in less than one month. Feeding a | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
family of eight people has been a struggle for her over the last | :04:04. | :04:06. | |
couple of years. Her son, the sole breadwinner, does not earn enough to | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
support a huge family. A recent hike in cooking gas prices has made like | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
even more difficult. TRANSLATION: How can anyone afford such an | :04:18. | :04:20. | |
expensive cooking gas cylinder? I prepare the evening meal in the | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
morning to avoid using extra cooking gas. | :04:27. | :04:29. | |
The recent hike in nonsubsidised cooking gas prices has impacted many | :04:30. | :04:37. | |
families across the country. Over 23 million households still use cooking | :04:38. | :04:40. | |
gas cylinders. Distributors say that there is growing public anger | :04:41. | :04:46. | |
against price hikes. When there is a price increase, the customer issues | :04:47. | :04:54. | |
that resentment at the distributor level, because they cannot contact | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
the oil industry. As the first contact person, we have to face the | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
rat of the customer. -- rat of the customer. The | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
government provides a subsidy for nine cooking gas cylinders consumed | :05:11. | :05:13. | |
by every household annually. With an election in the offing, it wants to | :05:14. | :05:17. | |
do more. That could come at a high price. The government loses nearly | :05:18. | :05:24. | |
$12 on every subsidised cooking gas cylinder that is sold in the market | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
like these. Despite that, this -- there is tremendous political | :05:30. | :05:31. | |
pressure to increase the subsidy for cooking gas. That could be a tough | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
task, considering that the overall finances of the government are not | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
in good shape. India's oil subsidy bill is already | :05:41. | :05:42. | |
running higher than the government had accounted for in this financial | :05:43. | :05:47. | |
year. This means any move to increase the cooking gas subsidy | :05:48. | :05:54. | |
would further squeeze the government exchequer. With the recent local | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
state elections, the ruling Congress party suffered a heavy defeat. With | :06:00. | :06:06. | |
elections around the corner, the current leadership is desperate to | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
woo voters. But with the economy not in good health, the government will | :06:11. | :06:18. | |
find out that it's -- that it simply does not have the money to provide | :06:19. | :06:21. | |
help to those suffering the heart cost of living. | :06:22. | :06:28. | |
China has released its latest trade numbers for December and the | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
official barter -- dataset exports rose from last, while imports were | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
up by over 8%. It leaves the country with a surplus of just over 23.5 | :06:39. | :06:45. | |
billion dollars for the month. It leaves the nation with a trade | :06:46. | :06:51. | |
surplus of close to $260 billion for diverting. | :06:52. | :06:58. | |
Several car brands have posted record sales. Luxury car to mount | :06:59. | :07:05. | |
has been growing in emerging markets such as China and India as income | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
levels rise. Carmakers have also benefited from a recovery in the US, | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
one of the biggest markets for luxury cars. | :07:16. | :07:17. | |
Asia's satellite operators are hailing the potential of a new | :07:18. | :07:23. | |
technology developed by an American firm, which slashes the cost of | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
lodgers. The rocket Company, space X, this week sent at second | :07:27. | :07:35. | |
satellite into orbit, offering launches that undercut established | :07:36. | :07:37. | |
players. They empty shakeup the rocket business, which will help | :07:38. | :07:51. | |
Asian operators expand their reach. An important mission for satellite | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
technology in developing countries. Developed by the American firm space | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
X, it is the second Falcon nine rocket sent into orbit, this time | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
for the Asian operator. This blastoff marks a big step in | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
improving the reliability of new technology that can drastically | :08:13. | :08:14. | |
reduce the cost of lodgers. Cutting the launch cost is enormous, because | :08:15. | :08:20. | |
the actual launch can cost as much as the satellite itself, $100 | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
million or more. If you can take $50 million out of the launch cost, that | :08:26. | :08:31. | |
is money you do not need to recover from customers who are paying for | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
communications services. One of the world 's leading satellite | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
operators, SES, became the first to bet on the technology last month. | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
That is when the SES eight was launched into geostationary orbit, | :08:47. | :08:53. | |
36,000 kilometres above the equator, extending the firms 's reach across | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
South Asia and Indochina. The operators say demand for satellites | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
is exploding and it is partly being driven up by the increasing number | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
of people wanting high-definition television services, said to be | :09:07. | :09:09. | |
growing at a rate of 6% each year. This control room, operated in | :09:10. | :09:17. | |
Singapore, transmits the signals of more than 100 channels across Asia, | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
beaming them up to satellite across the region. Another benefit is | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
improved coverage for mobile phone and Internet services. SES says the | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
opportunities for emerging markets like India, Vietnam and Indonesia | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
are astronomical. What we have been able to do with space X is a board | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
the launch of the satellite programme, which on a conventional | :09:43. | :09:46. | |
rocket would not have been possible. I think this is the proof | :09:47. | :09:49. | |
of the pudding, which ensures that many smaller satellite programmes, | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
that are appropriate to the demands of smaller developing nations, will | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
now become viable. It seems the sky is the limit. Space X hopes to | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
eventually recover the first stage of the rocket, so it can bring it | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
back to her for a controlled landing. If they can be reused, that | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
could reduce the launch costs even further. | :10:13. | :10:18. | |
A very quick look at the markets. Investors and traders are reacting | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
very little to the mixed bag of Chinese data that we saw earlier. | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
Markets are down over caution of the jobs report in the US. | :10:30. | :10:42. | |
The top stories this hour: relations between the US and India have | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
worsened - the diplomat arrested and strip-searched in New York has been | :10:47. | :10:49. | |
charged with fraud and asked to leave the country. | :10:50. | :10:52. | |
A Pakistani police chief, one of the country's most prominent opponents | :10:53. | :10:55. | |
of the Taliban, has been killed by the Taliban in what they say is a | :10:56. | :11:01. | |
revenge attack. Insurance companies are starting to | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
count the cost of the recent storms, as they prepare to | :11:06. | :11:06. |