24/02/2014 Asia Business Report

the Scottish independence debate. It's only the second time in nearly

a century the full UK cabinet has assembled in Scotland.

Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.

Finance leaders from the 20 biggest economies set a new goal: Generate

$2 trillion in additional output over the next five years.

Filipinos in Hong Kong are helping boost local business.

Welcome. The world 's most powerful finance leaders want to boost global

economic growth by more than $2 trillion in five years. The group of

the world 's 20 largest economies made the pledge over the weekend at

the meeting in Sydney, Australia. A need to generate an average increase

of 2% over and above the growth already predicted. The U.S. Treasury

Secretary said it was a significant arrangement. As we look across the

world, we see a global economic recovery but one in which activity

remains weak and global demand is still deficient. That is why the

decision in Sydney to focus on growth strategies is so

significant. These strategies can help address the near term to

troubles of weak domestic demand and high unemployment as well as

long-term obstacles that require structural reform. Chinese financial

Minister said that the evidence of slow growth in the Chinese economy

will continue. He said that if future substantial and is to be

sustainable, it needs to be dealt with. -- expansion. We contributed

to 50% of the global growth in 2009 and 2010. That is not sustainable.

Our contribution needs to be 50%. It may be low in the future. That is

possible. We should gradually lower the liquidity and leveraged ratio

and make sure that our money is spent on things on which we should

spend money. Meanwhile, we should make our financing more disciplined

full on one hand, we should they jest bad debts. On the other hand,

we should prevent local government from borrowing too much money. I

recently spoke to the managing director of the World Bank.

I asked him how the G20 group came up with a figure of $2 trillion. The

first important element is that growth is the name of the game.

International organisations are supporting that objective. The

precise figure is based on analysis provided jointly by the World Bank,

the OECD and the IMF, which support and provide analysis to that. Those

are the most important thing. Growth is the name of the game. Growth

should benefit everybody. Growth which brings equality matters. Where

will this money be coming from to drive this growth? Many countries

around the world have a bulging Budget deficits. It isn't just about

the Budget and taxpayers' money. It is about making the economy work

better. It is about leveraging private money. It is about

structural reform. In certain countries, it could be the labour

market or tax reform or the property market, et cetera. It is not so much

about money at reforming the economy and reforming it correctly. Is there

the political will that to reform? -- there to reform? That has been a

problem of a economies over the past decade. It has been a problem for

3000 years. The good news is that it is easier when everybody agrees that

that structural reform should be carried together. It is not just

singling out one country or another. Everybody faces structural

reform issues. It doesn't matter your country. Jointly, we can do

better. It is a great message. You mentioned Asia. Asia has been the

growth centre over the past few decades. How much will Asia, in your

view, contribute to this growth? It has been a growth engine for years.

It will contribute to the great engine ahead. 40% of global growth

originated in Asia. Hotels usually look to upgrade their

facilities to attract the top dollar but in China, some hotels are

looking to downgrade themselves. This is because Chinese government

officials are now banned from using luxury hotels as part of new curbs

on spending. I spoke with one expert from a hotel group and asked him

what this austerity drive means. All that has happened here is that since

November 2012, there has been a pulling back of government employees

spending money in international 5-star hotels or in 5-star hotels in

general in China. That has meant that international operators have

taken a short-term reduction in their day-to-day business in bars

and restaurants in the hotels. As international hotel operators, what

we all do is look for other segment of business to replace about

business. There are many other types of segments of business in the hotel

industry that user hotels who are not government officials. As

international operators, we bring a lot of people into China, tourist

and business travellers and those are the people who tend to stay in

internationally branded hotels. Is your strategy now to attract more

mainland and foreign tourists rather than government business? It is

government, business travellers, and one of the things which is happening

all across Asia and China leads the way he is the emergence of domestic

travel. The statistics are compelling. Since the mid- 70s, as a

percentage of GDP, China was spending 28% of the GDP on building

infrastructure. Since 2009, it is spending 45% of the GDP on building

infrastructure. When you build roads of and ports and airports and

high-speed rail, people can travel. When people can travel, they use

hotels. That 435,000 additional people coming into China is all on

the back of this massive infrastructure spending happening in

China. That has been happening in the last 20 years or so. It causes

people to be able to travel where they were not able to travel before.

When they travel, they need hotels. ROM and international operator's

point of view, we bring in tourists and business travellers from outside

China. We are now cater to the Chinese travellers that travelling

within the country. -- from the international operator's point of

view. When people leave home to go

overseas for work, it is a financial decision. They are not the only ones

to benefit. Entire industries are emerging to service foreign workers.

In Hong Kong, thousands of Filipinos are employed as domestic workers.

Their income has spurred demand for companies to help them send the

earnings home. Relaxing and catching up with

friends on the weekend. Filipinos, hundreds of miles from home, have

come to Hong Kong to work. You may be forgiven for thinking that we are

no longer even in China. You won't hear much Cantonese or Mantineans

being spoken in this part of town. -- or Mandarin. Filipinos are here

in during the day. To cater to their needs, dozens of businesses have

appeared in a shopping centre. This domestic helper has worked in Hong

Kong for almost 20 years. I worked here for my family. This is for my

kids' education. This is so that they have a good life. Because we

are very poor in the Philippines. She sends home about $400, half the

salary, every month. Cash remittances are vitally important

financial lifeline for people all over Asia. Globally, India is the

largest recipient. That is followed by China. The Philippines has about

$26 billion. This man worked for one of the many companies which offer

remittance services. His is part of a bank and charges $2 50 per

transaction. He says that competition is getting fierce. Year

after year, banks keep coming in. Now you can see all over, in this

building alone, there are about 30 or 40 tellers fighting for this

remittance. To stay ahead, they offer discounts in an effort to

attract customers. Other companies are going further, even organising

singing competitions to sell their brand. These women came to Hong Kong

to support their families. Their presence is generating a whole

industry in the host city. Before we go, a quick look at the

Asian markets. Share prices are starting to show a mixed as

investors give a lukewarm reaction to the Group of 20's latest

commitment to spur faster global economic growth. That's it for this

edition. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter. Sport Today is up next.

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