25/07/2014 Asia Business Report

year's storm left over 1 million consumers without electricity.

Let us go to Singapore now for the latest business news.

Propping it up. South Korea unveils a $40 billion stimulus package to

help its struggling economy. And the deadline passes for Malaysia

airlines customers to cancel their tickets and get a refund. Welcome to

Asia Business Report. $40 billion will that be enough to bolster South

Korea's economy? The government is hoping the answer is yes. The

announcement of a massive stimulus package to try and increase

activity. With fragile domestic demand and weaker exports, the

economy expanded 0.6% in the past three months. The government has cut

its growth forecast for 2014. The stimulus money will be used to offer

financial support to small and medium`sized companies. Earlier I

spoke to an economist from IHS and started by asking him about the

ferry accident and the effect it has had on the economy. That was an

important factor. The week consumption. Private consumption

contracted in the second quarter. That is very unusual. That was

mainly because of the impact of the ferry disaster which triggered a

period of national mourning. People cancelled festivals. Any kind of

ostentatious spending was cancelled. That is why consumption was very

badly hit. Also we are seeing signs that Korea is also struggling from

headwinds of a strong currency. How right is the government to be

throwing money at the problem? We know this is not the first stimulus

package. I think the stimulus package will help to some extent

with recovery in the second half of the year. But the headwinds from

strong currency are likely to continue to affect growth. There is

a somewhat better global environment with the US and Eurozone picking up.

We will also see some recovery in private consumption as well. The

impact of the disaster should wear off on consumers. Fundamentally,

this stimulus will provide something of an offset to the contractions in

spending that we have seen. In other news making headlines,

Amazon has reportedly lost over $126 million in the second quarter. It

has also warned that sales could slow in this quarter. It has

survived on thin profit margins, with investors being reassured by

strong sales growth. The news did not help the company's shares.

Meanwhile, General Motors earnings have slumped on the back of costs

related to the vehicle recalls. Net profits fell 85% from a year ago to

$119 million. The carmaking giant has had to recall nearly 29 million

vehicles this year mostly due to faulty ignition switches. The

deadline has passed for Malaysia Airlines customers to cancel tickets

without penalty and get a full refund if they have decided not to

fly. The airline is not saying how many

tickets have been cancelled. But there is still questions about its

future. It was struggling financially before the tragic

disasters of the next 370 and MH 17. I spoke to an airline safety

expert. I started by asking if Malaysia airlines could survive the

damage caused by these tragedies. Ultimately, that is going to be

determined by the Malaysian government. The Malaysian government

has about 7% holding in the airline. It is related to the appetite for

how much money they are prepared to lose. What are they likely to do

next? The government owns a majority of Malaysia Airlines. Will they look

at privatising it? Could there be a potential restructuring? It could be

all of those possibilities. A merger is less likely. That is because of

the cost structures in the airline. It is unlikely that any other

airline would be racing to join it. It basically means that if the

airline, if the government was to continue to back it, I suspect what

they are going to do is an absolute radical restructuring of the

airline. That includes a change in the profile and the culture of the

airline. The perception of safety is not going to be an issue. Tell us,

are the historical precedents to this? There has been instances both

ways. One example was in America, there was an accident back in 1995

with one company. But they rebranded it and became very profitable within

about a year. The year after it got the best low`cost carrier award

domestic carriers. The IMF is lowering its forecasts

for global economic growth this year from 3.7% to 3.4%.

weak start to the year, particularly in the US, as will as a number of

downgrades the outlook for some of the countries. Growth is predicted

to come at 4%. Google has met with data regulators from across the

European Union to discuss the implications of the recent right to

be forgotten ruling. An EU court ruled that links to the

relevant and updated data should be erased from searches on request. The

BBC understands that Google has informed the watchdogs that it has

received more than 91,000 requests. The EU ruling has led to censorship

concerns. In India, Mumbai's cafes have long

been a symbol of the city's diverse cuisine and culture. The cafes were

open on the 19th century with communities that have writ in Iran.

But they are slowly dying out. `` routes.

For more than 90 years, this has been the perfect place to take

shelter from the Mumbai monsoon. And from the looks of the walls and

furniture, the restaurant has not changed much since it first opened.

The 91`year`old proprietor, the second`generation owner, took over

the business in 1944 after his father died. Immediately, he changed

strategy. Until a few decades ago, it Urone

and cafes were all the rage in Mumbai. Most of them were family

businesses. `` uranium. Over the past few years, most of them have

shut down. Now less than 20 remain. His son, who runs the restaurant

now, says so many cafes are closing because the next generation are not

interested in taking over the business. Most of them prefer to

take up high`paying jobs or go abroad after receiving good

education. And in fact, he is facing the same problem. With my children?

Yes, definitely. They are not impressed with this kind of

business. My daughter and my son. They do their own things. They say

it is Redmond on this. There is a lot of labour. `` monotonous. He

plans to sell this restaurant, but says he will not do it while his

father is still alive. The reality is, these cafes are waning. With

just a few of them left, lovers of the food can only hope that the

remaining places will keep serving their specialities for as long as

possible before becoming part of history.

A quick look at the markets. They are fairly mixed at the moment.

`` Nikkei helps by exports. We saw that flat close on Wall Street. That

is it for this edition of Asia Business Report.

You are watching BBC News. Here are the headlines: At least 13 people

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