06/12/2016 Asia Business Report


06/12/2016

Similar Content

Browse content similar to 06/12/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

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

:00:00.:00:15.

South Korea's leading business leaders take centre stage in a

:00:16.:00:23.

federal investigation into President Park's corruption scandal. Taking

:00:24.:00:28.

advantage of India's cash crisis, a reporter tried some new and

:00:29.:00:29.

interesting apps. Welcome to this Tuesday edition

:00:30.:00:36.

of Asia Business Report. The bosses of South Korea's top

:00:37.:00:47.

companies are taking the hot seat as we speak in a series of

:00:48.:00:51.

unprecedented parliamentary hearing. It is the latest chapter in

:00:52.:00:56.

President Park's ongoing scandal as she is accused of colluding with a

:00:57.:01:01.

secret confidant to influence corporations into donating tens of

:01:02.:01:04.

millions of dollars to dubious foundations. Earlier I asked our

:01:05.:01:11.

correspondent in Seoul who is being grilled in parliament today. They

:01:12.:01:16.

are the people who run and owned the South Korean economy, they are the

:01:17.:01:21.

big household names from Samsung down to LG, Hyundai. Their bosses

:01:22.:01:33.

will be in line, I presume, and questioned by the assembly. The

:01:34.:01:36.

question will be, why do your company give millions of dollars to

:01:37.:01:42.

foundations set up by a friend of the President of this country? The

:01:43.:01:47.

defence, maybe, well, what could we do? She was saying she was close to

:01:48.:01:51.

the President. Or it may simply be, we didn't know what it was for. We

:01:52.:01:56.

don't know. Either way, these are the people in this big economy. On

:01:57.:02:02.

top of that, they are people who do not appear in public. They do not

:02:03.:02:06.

give interviews, they shun public city, but here they will be in a

:02:07.:02:10.

televised hearing, remember, Rico, in front of millions of viewers and

:02:11.:02:14.

of course being asked very tough questions. They will indeed be asked

:02:15.:02:20.

to questions by the parliamentarians, Steve, but are

:02:21.:02:23.

these companies and their bosses liable for prosecution if indeed

:02:24.:02:30.

they made the donations? They could be, eventually, but that is not

:02:31.:02:35.

imminent. I mean, individuals could be in theory, I suppose. You are

:02:36.:02:39.

absolutely right. The question is, are these companies complicit

:02:40.:02:44.

because they have to be, or was there a quid pro quo? In other

:02:45.:02:48.

words, did they give all this money with a bit of a deal under way?

:02:49.:02:52.

There were mergers being talked about, for example, with one of

:02:53.:02:57.

these companies. Was there a deal done whereby emoji was a matter

:02:58.:03:03.

happen if you give them money? -- a merger. That would be out and out

:03:04.:03:07.

corruption. Or is it something less guilty than that along the lines of,

:03:08.:03:12.

we know our rivals are giving money, widow like it, but I guess we have

:03:13.:03:22.

to go along with it and --. And briefly, is this impacting business

:03:23.:03:25.

sentiment in the country? I think it is, I have no doubt it is impacting

:03:26.:03:30.

sentiment generally in the country. We are seeing big demonstrations

:03:31.:03:37.

every Saturday. Bigger and bigger - millions of people, probably - and a

:03:38.:03:43.

real sense on the streets that people want change, and they want

:03:44.:03:47.

change from the President, certainly, and that we'll doing

:03:48.:03:49.

business in the presidential palace. But I think also from the chaebols,

:03:50.:04:04.

some of these have done time for crimes. There is a sense that there

:04:05.:04:08.

is something rotten at the top of South Korean society. The region's

:04:09.:04:25.

trade growth has slowed to 2.3% behind the global average of 2.7% in

:04:26.:04:31.

Asia. However, the region remains the top destination for foreign

:04:32.:04:35.

direct investments, attracting over half $1 trillion. Well, I asked the

:04:36.:04:39.

bank director how the loss of big free trade deals amid the rise of

:04:40.:04:44.

populism will affect the region. Going forward, definitely the

:04:45.:04:49.

environment doesn't look very favourable, but what we see... Just

:04:50.:04:54.

one answer. In intraregional trade and the strengthening of the

:04:55.:04:58.

regional value chain, which will further, at least, buffer the shock

:04:59.:05:08.

on regional trade. We also see that, still, the region exports are

:05:09.:05:13.

growing faster than imports, so, you know, the current account surplus is

:05:14.:05:18.

still going on in many countries in the region. But a free-trade

:05:19.:05:23.

agreement between the European Union and is getting very, very close and

:05:24.:05:28.

that is according to the EU trade Commissioner in an interview with

:05:29.:05:32.

the Financial Times. She said Tokyo raised concerns about similar

:05:33.:05:35.

political trouble that nearly took down the EU, Canada pact. This year

:05:36.:05:41.

has seen free-trade deals come under intense political attack in the US

:05:42.:05:46.

and Europe. In other news: making headlines, the UK central bank

:05:47.:05:49.

governor says that Britain has suffered its first loss decade since

:05:50.:05:54.

the 1860s. Mark Carney was responding to critics of low

:05:55.:05:59.

interest rates in the first speech since shortly after the Brexit vote

:06:00.:06:03.

and he said that the bank had accepted that the fall in the value

:06:04.:06:06.

of the pound would push inflation higher in 2017. China's president is

:06:07.:06:13.

reportedly attending the World Economic Forum in Davos in

:06:14.:06:17.

Switzerland in January and it is seen as a sign China is filling the

:06:18.:06:24.

space being vacated by the US under the President-elect Donald Trump.

:06:25.:06:28.

A list of top business schools has been released and a among them the

:06:29.:06:32.

London business school is ranked number one in Europe for the third

:06:33.:06:36.

time in a row. Many Asian students view owning a degree from these

:06:37.:06:40.

universities will give them a competitive edge in the job market

:06:41.:06:44.

and with a weakening pound and euro they are getting more for their

:06:45.:06:53.

money has me explain. The trend we have seen over the last

:06:54.:06:57.

ten years, students have been increasing, especially heading to

:06:58.:07:04.

the UK, the dollar has been appreciating against the pound over

:07:05.:07:08.

the last ten years. Is the exchange rate really important for parents

:07:09.:07:11.

when they pay the tuition and fees for their kids or is it just about

:07:12.:07:15.

the independence and getting that education overseas and being

:07:16.:07:18.

independent? It is a range of factors and the cost of living I

:07:19.:07:22.

would say is one consideration that parents take into when they send

:07:23.:07:26.

their kids overseas. There are other factors such as cost, sorry, the

:07:27.:07:30.

school, the environment, the exposure, other factors a student

:07:31.:07:35.

would consider. Well, Indians are adjusting to life

:07:36.:07:40.

after the surprise decision to ban almost 90% of the bank notes in

:07:41.:07:43.

circulation. Four weeks people have been queueing at banks and ATMs in

:07:44.:07:48.

an effort to get their hands on valid cash but some enterprising

:07:49.:07:53.

Indians have seen opportunity and if this cash crunch -- For weeks. Our

:07:54.:07:56.

correspondent reports from Delhi. It is still not easy to get cash in

:07:57.:08:00.

cities and villages across India thanks to the Dean Mumm Thais drive.

:08:01.:08:10.

-- demonetisation drive. ATMs have been running out of money regularly.

:08:11.:08:17.

Fear not, this could be the answer. Cash note cashnocash.com throws up a

:08:18.:08:29.

list of ATMs near you. It is Crouser lost information so let's find out

:08:30.:08:32.

if it works. -- crowd sourced information. These days in India you

:08:33.:08:41.

can't always avoid this type of queues, so how on earth do you kill

:08:42.:08:50.

time while standing in one of these? He says he finds entertainment on

:08:51.:08:56.

the phone. Demonetisation related apps are top of the charts on

:08:57.:09:00.

Android and apple phones, ranging from games to currency related

:09:01.:09:07.

songs. So, here is one called Modi keynote at which you can use to scan

:09:08.:09:12.

a currency note and it will show you the Prime Minister demonetisation

:09:13.:09:15.

speech of November eight. Let us join this festival of... If you

:09:16.:09:21.

don't want to hear speeches you can play mobile phone games and chase

:09:22.:09:24.

Blackburn yawn your phone like this. Better still, go and get a coffee

:09:25.:09:28.

while someone else stands in line for you. A Delhi -based start-up is

:09:29.:09:34.

offering agents to queue for customers for a small fee. Time is

:09:35.:09:40.

money for a lot of people right now. The bookings have really shot. We

:09:41.:09:44.

are even cancelling the bookings because are running short. But I

:09:45.:09:50.

finally have had my turn and these are my brand-new banknotes and if I

:09:51.:09:55.

want to share my experience with the Prime Minister even he has an app on

:09:56.:10:00.

the Android and the apple apps store so I can share my experience on the

:10:01.:10:06.

demonetisation drive and that is it. LAUGHTER.

:10:07.:10:10.

Very interesting and clever. And before we go and look at the market

:10:11.:10:15.

and as you can see all in positive territory for the Asian stock

:10:16.:10:20.

markets with Japan, Hong Kong and Australia following gains in US

:10:21.:10:24.

equities led by retail and technology as investors shrugged off

:10:25.:10:29.

the results of the Italian referendum. The Dow at a record

:10:30.:10:30.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS