05/03/2014 Asia Business Report


05/03/2014

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Dowler's phone had been hacked. Time for Asia Business Report.

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7.5% growth, that is what China is aiming for this year at its annual

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leaders' meeting. Australia sends emergency relief to farmers hard-hit

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by a drought in eastern part the country.

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Welcome to Asia Business Report, by Rico Hizon in Singapore. We kick off

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in China, and its Parliament has become its annual meeting in

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Beijing. In its opening speech, the Premier said they were hoping for an

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expansion this year. We go to Beijing now, where we go to Beijing

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now, where we're standing by outside the great hall of the people. What

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is the latest? The delegates here at the opening of the national People's

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Congress have been listening to a speech by the Chinese Premier. This

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is widely viewed as a rubberstamp parliament, but it does, in terms of

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what is being discussed here, give a sense of at least the broad

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direction of travel of Chinese reforms. In the speech, I think

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there will be a lot for inspectors and finance ministers across the

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region to be very pleased about. They talked about the need to tackle

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local government debt, which is something that has caused a lot of

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concern over the past year or so. He talked about continuing to

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liberalise interest rates, continuing banking reform, and

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further injections of private capital and privatisation in

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state-owned industries. Also, the important headline figure of the

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7.5% growth rate for this year. There will be a sense from some

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people, given the fact that there is this consensus that China needs to

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undergo these painful structural reforms, but the fact that that

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growth rate has been kept at 7.5%, but there hasn't been any lowering

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of the growth rate, will lead some to question how serious it really is

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about embracing the pain that those reforms are going to require, and

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when it is that China will accept that the growth rate needs to come

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down. Pollution is also the top of the agenda. Reforms, particularly

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energy pricing, to boost non- fossil fuel power, any idea when we will be

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getting more details on the implementation? No, we don't have

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any further details. Some of those measures we have heard outlined give

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us a little bit more of a sense of what China wants to do this year to

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tackle pollution. This is a grave and growing area of public concern.

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It will be interesting, I think, although we have seen some of the

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usual turgid Communist Party speakers, the Premier speaking about

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the Communist drive, there has also been a heavy dose of reality in the

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face of the continuing economic difficulties that the local economy

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faces. He said that the global economy is undergoing profound

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adjustment, and competition is getting fiercer. " we are at a

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critical juncture in were our path upwards is particularly steep. " .

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Thank you so much for the update. For more on China's growth target

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and other top business news from around the world, please visit the

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website. In Australia, the economy grew 2.8% in the final quarter of

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last year. That is compared to the same period in 2012. That is better

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than the 2.5% many had been forecasting. The GDP data came after

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the reserve bank decided to keep its interest rates at a record low for

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the seventh straight month. The governor of the bank said that

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growth had mainly been driven by the mining industry, and an insatiable

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demand for Austrade's national resources from China. -- Australia.

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Two things that stand up and net exports, contributing quite

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generously to the growth. And, the RBA mentioned yesterday that they

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are expecting growth to continue, and they came fourth with numbers

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that reflected that. Can it be sustained this quarter? I think that

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is quite an important question. One of the important questions is how

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much increase can be expected in imports? On the whole, I think there

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will be enough and net exports and consumption to offset a mining

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sector slowdown. I think the RBA is expecting... They expected it to

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slow down further this year. This is a bit of a trade-off, and I think

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growth could come under a bit of a pressure in the coming quarters. The

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RBA wants to rebalance away from too much mining revenue. They have also

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stated that they will be moving away from a reliance on investment in

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infrastructure construction. A decline in investment from the

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Australian government, and also a decline from the Chinese, which has

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been a main buyer of Australian resources. I think if you delve into

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the details, you will find that it is not an imminent risk at this

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time, because China will still need to offset with some targeted

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infrastructure spending, particularly with upgrading. That is

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in line with bringing pollution lower. For the moment, I think the

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mining sector in Australia need not be unduly worried yet. Emergency

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relief is on its way to drought ridden farmers in eastern Australia.

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Many people are forced to sell or slaughter cattle. There is a

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mounting psychological cost of communities, where once fertile land

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has turned to dust. This contains scenes that some viewers may find

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upsetting, from Tamworth in New South Wales.

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They pray for rain in these parts, it is traditionally some of

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straight's best farming country, but much of the land is barren. The

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drought, 400 kilometres north of Sydney, is the worst in living

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memory. Many waterholes are dry, crops have failed, and livestock

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sold off to make ends meet. For many farmers, life is a struggle. When

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times were good, how much water would be in this reservoir? In

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normal times, this would be three quarters full to fall. -- full.

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People become very depressed, and as we know, some people take it that

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next step, the final step, which is very sad. It has been more than a

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year since this corner of eastern Australia had rainfall. The ground

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is turning to dust. Once upon a time, this dam would be full of

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water. As debt and depression mount, there is still hope that the

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drought will be shortly that, but for some on the land, they wonder

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how long they can survive. To keep their land viable, many farmers are

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being forced to sell their prize cattle. In the New South Wales city

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of Armadale, the saleyards has been awash with livestock. Very

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depressed. There has been no restocking interest, and if the

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cattle are not good enough to go to an abattoir or a feedlot, the price

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was very low. The big dry shows no sign of leaving. The fight to

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survive continues. The one village, this farmer has sold a quarter of

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his Angus beef herd, as the financial effect of the drought

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intensify. 30% of the income gone for the year, Sony to try to make

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that up in the next 12 months. I don't see how we are going to do

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that, it is a real concern. You get to my age, and you worry about where

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you are going to go. Drought relief has been approved by the Australian

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government. This is a country that is well used to nature's extremes,

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but this drought is testing the community like never before.

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Making headlines also, Japan is suspending transactions involving

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bitcoin. The move follows a collapse of a bitcoin exchange last week,

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which the government is still tried to explain. It was at one time the

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largest coin exchange. It may have lost 800,000 bitcoin to hackers.

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A quick look at the Asian markets, which are currently in positive

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territory. China has announced that it has maintained its growth target

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for this year, at 7.5%. Thank you for joining us.

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Our top stories: I'm just going to bring you some other stories, but I

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think we will bring you this first. Rebekah Brooks from News of the

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World says she knew

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