05/03/2014 Asia Business Report


05/03/2014

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Milly Dowler's phone hacking. Time for the latest business news.

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7.5% growth, that is what China is aiming for this year at the start of

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its annual leaders meeting. Australia sends emergency relief to

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farmers hard-hit by drought in the eastern parts of the country.

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Welcome to the Asia Business Report. We start with China and its

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Parliament has begun its annual meeting in Beijing. In its opening

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speech, the Premier said that the world's second economy is aiming for

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a expansion in 2014. -- 7.5% expansion.

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The delegates have been listening to a speech by the Chinese Premier.

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This is widely viewed as a rubber stamp Parliament. But it does give a

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sense of the broad direction of travel of Chinese reforms. In the

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Premier's speech there will be a lot for investors and finance ministers

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across the region to be pleased about. He spoke about efforts to

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tackle local government debt, something that has caused concern.

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He spoke about continuing to liberalise interest rates. He heads

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at further injections of private capital in state-owned industries.

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And of course, the important headlines figure of 7.5% growth.

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There will be a sense from some people, this consensus that China

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needs to undergo painful structural reforms that the fact the growth

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rate has been kept at 7.5% that has not been any lowering of the growth

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rate that some will question how serious it is about embracing the

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pain that the reforms are going to require and when it is that China

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will accept the growth rate needs to come down.

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Fighting pollution is also at the top of the agenda. Reforms to boost

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non- fossil fuels, any idea when we will be getting more details of

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implementation? We do not have further details. Some of the

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measures outlined give us more of a sense of what China wants to do this

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year. It is a growing area of public concern. Of interest in the speech

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is although we have seen a little bit of the usual Communist Party

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official speak, such as the socialist modernisation drive, there

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have also been doses of reality. In the face of the economic

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difficulties, he said the global economy is undergoing profound

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adjustment and competition is getting fierce. We are at a critical

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juncture where the path upward is steep. Analysts will be analysing

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whether the reforms go far and fast enough to lighten the uphill

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struggle. That is outside the great Hall of

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the people in Beijing. You can get more on that on our website.

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In Australia, the economy grew by 2.8% in the final quarter of 2013

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when, compared to the same period in 2012. The GDP figure comes a day

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after the country's central bank has decided to keep its cost of

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borrowing on hold at 2.5%. The central bank's governor said the

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resources sector is set to decline. Economic growth had been driven by

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the mining boom and demand for national resources from China. Two

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things that stand out on net exports. The IBA expects consumption

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to hold up. -- RBA. Can this be sustained this quarter? That is an

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important question. One of the questions is how much will occur

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with future exports. Overall I think there will be enough that exports to

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offset the mining sector slowdown. But we see a statement that the

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resources are spending is going to decline significantly? Absolutely.

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They are expecting this. It peaked in 2012. They expected to slow down

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further this year. This is a bit of a trade-off. Growth could come under

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pressure. But they want to move away from the reliance on mining. They

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have also stated there will be removing away from reliance on

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infrastructure and construction. There is decline from the Chinese.

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Absolutely. But if you delve into the details, you will find there is

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not a risk. China will still need to offset infrastructure targets and

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infrastructure spending. For a while, Austria the's mining should

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not be too worried. -- Australia's. Emergency relief is on its way to

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drought hit farmers in the eastern part of Australia, with many forced

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to sell or slaughter cattle. It is not only inflicting a financial

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toll. There is a mounting psychological cost. This film

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includes scenes that some viewers may find upsetting.

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They pray for rain in these parts. This is traditionally some of

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Australia's as farming country. But some of the land is barren. The

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drought is the worst in living memory. Many waterholes have dried

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up. Cops have failed. Livestock sold off to make ends meet. For many

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farmers like as a struggle. In normal times, this would be three

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quarters full. People cannot find a way forward. They become very

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depressed. Some people take that next step, that final step. It has

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been more than a year that this corner had significant rainfall. The

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ground are turning to dust. Once upon a time this would have been

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full of water. Debt and depression Mt. There is still hope that the

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drought will be short lived. For some, they wonder how long they can

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survive. To keep land viable, many farmers are being forced to sell the

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prize cattle. In the New South Wales city, the saleyards has been awash

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with livestock. There is no restocking interest. Nobody is

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buying stock to put back on properties. If the couple are not

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good enough to go to a feedlot or abattoir, the price is low. --

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cattle. The drought shows no sign of easing its grip. Not much rain is

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forecast for autumn. This man has sold a quarter of his beef herd. 30%

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of the income is gone. We have got to try and make that up. I do not

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see how we can do that. It is a real concern. You worry about where you

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are going to go. Drought relief worth more than to read and $85

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million has been approved by the Australian government. -- 280 $5

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million. This drought is testing the community like never before.

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In other business News making headlines, Japan is considering

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taxing bit coin. It follows the collapse of an exchange, which the

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government is still trying to explain. It is at one point the

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largest exchange and filed for bankruptcy protection last week. It

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said it may have lost some 850,000 that coins to hackers. A class

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action suit is being considered. Let us take a look at the Asian

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markets. Most of them are positive territory. US stocks rallied

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overnight as concerns about the confrontation between Russia and the

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Ukraine has eased. With the Congress reiterating that growth this year

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will be at 7.5%. Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Australia

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all in the positive. Thank you for investing your time with us. Goodbye

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for now. Here are the headlines: It has been

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a day of danger and diplomacy in Ukraine. Russian forces

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