01/03/2016 Asia Business Report

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

China's Manufacturing activity shrinks again. Does Beijing need to

add more stimulus to its economy? And South Korea's answer to silicon

valley looking to high-tech industries to generate more economic

growth. Welcome to Asia Business Report.

Activity in China's Manufacturing sector shrank in February putting

more pressure on makers to provide additional stimulus for the cooling

economy. The official purchasing manager's index stood at 49, down

slightly from the previous month, and below it are 50 point mark that

separates growth from contraction. The figures come hot on the heels of

Monday's move by the central bank to add more stimulus to China's slowing

economy by cutting the amount of cash lenders must hold in reserve.

It is the first such reduction since October. I spoke to Tony Nash. It is

about $105 billion worth of fans that will be out in the Chinese

economy as of today -- funds. The reserve ratio requirement is about

70%, which means banks need to keep that much of their lending in their

accounts. On their books. That is very high, so this rate cut,

although it weakens the Chinese currency, the central bank has quite

a lot of room to continue these rate cuts if they want. That is

interesting you mentioned the weakening of the yuan. It comes just

after the weekend, where we heard China reassure its 220 partners that

they would stabilise the currency -- T20. This will bring the currency

down. What is this say about China's policy measures? I think the

G20 statement, from a Chinese perspective, they probably see that

as for other people. The central bank has not been as activist as the

bank of Japan, the ECB, the US Federal Reserve, negative interest

rates and these other things. I think the central bank sees they

have other policies they can use that still relatively restrained. If

you look at the Chinese you one, it is relatively appreciated,

relatively highly valued compared to other currencies -- yuan. It is 1%

from hysterical highs on average basis. There is a lot of room. Tony

Nash speaking earlier. A raft of new economic numbers out of Japan this

morning as well. Households Benning fell 31% in January from a year

earlier, but the unemployment rate also fell to a three-month low --

household spending fell 31%. Japanese companies increased

spending on factories and equipment -- 3.1%. In a decision they could be

seen as a blow for the US government's attempt to force Apple

to break into an iPhone used in the San Bernardino attacks, the court

has ruled against the government in a similar case. The US drug

enforcement agency and the FBI went to court to compel Apple to help

break into an iPhone cover skated from a suspected drug trafficker.

Argentina's new government has ended a 15 year battle with creditors led

by a US billionaire. The dispute's mediator announced a deal was struck

in one saris to settle all claims with a payment of 4.6 5 billion

dollars. It has been welcomed by creditors and makes good on a

promise by the President to reverse his predecessor. -- $4.65 billion.

Exports fell in February, but it still came in better-than-expected.

Exports were down 12.2% from a year earlier while imports slumped more

than 14%. Exports have been on a steady decline since the beginning

of 2015 because of weak overseas demand. How do you build a high-tech

industry? In South Korea, you poor billions of dollars into it. That is

innate need to generate new businesses. -- that is due to a bid.

The idea is to offer help to young entrepreneurs in something like him

to silicon valley. It certainly looks the part. Funky

young people in trainers writing stuff on walls. Plus more

traditional laboratories. And financial and legal advice. This is

the South Korean government's attempt at generating its own

silicon valley. This centre is part of the initiative by the ministry of

science. Some investors from abroad said they have never seen anything

involved with the government so successful. They were releasing

call. The involvement of the government is not such a bad idea --

they were really cynical. This man had an idea. Asked to help send to

sleep. It senses your sleep patterns and then transmits back to the face

the right soothing low-level sound. He is using the centre to get the

idea to market. But he feels he is a typical setting up his own company.

Koreans prefer to work for bigger employers. People need to think and

inspire, to do something by themselves, not just try to go to

big companies. We were like that before. South Korea created a heavy

industrial economy, virtually at the government's direction. The

government now wants a more creative economy, as heavy industry comes

under pressure from lower cost China and Vietnam. But a centre to foster

creativity went change and economy overnight. -- warrant. -- won't.

Ever been stuck at the office with a cold sandwich wishing for better?

Is? Is start-up is expanding globally because of demand for

premium food delivery. The co-founder spoke about the

company's plans for Asia, where it has launched in four cities. When we

look for markets we look for ablation density, which is in

abundance in Asia, a level of affluence, which is there in those

cities, and people in Asia care a lot about food, so restaurants are

incredible in terms of basic street food to Michelin starred restaurants

-- population density. What led you to move to starting a food start-up?

It is funny you asked that. I discovered food delivery at my first

job. We worked 100 hours a week. That was the fun part of the day was

eating. When I moved from New York to London in 2004, I could not find

anything decent to eat on delivery, and that is when I first thought of

the idea. One thing led to another. After graduating from business,

teamed up with co-founder. How does your business stack up against

competition such as another fast-growing delivery service in

Asia? What we really care about? We care about working with the best

restaurants getting fit you in half-an-hour, and as far as I know,

we are the only noble way of doing this on this gal -- food to you.

What are some of the challenges you face was lack if you look at food

delivery, the supply of restaurants is typically street level. In

Singapore, a lot of these places are in malls. It is much hillier in Hong

Kong in some places we're used to. We have a team of engineers and

scientists working on our algorithm so it each delivery can be more

efficient and being specific about the geographic complexities of each

market. You have raised names of dollars. That is a lot. How did you

go about doing this? Has been a challenge getting more money so far?

We have grown over 25% since inception. If you keep doing that

over two years, investors will take notice. That was one of the founders

of Deliveroo. Let's look at the markets. We have seen that the Hang

Seng is slightly higher and ordinary is in Australia gaining. But

Japan's Nikkei fairly flat at the moment. A stronger yen eating into

exporters. What is interesting is it is taking its cues from China where

we saw that using move on Monday. Cutting the bank's reserve ratios.

We are also seeing malefactor in numbers slightly weaker. --

manufacturing. That is it for this edition of Asia Business Report.

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