08/02/2017 Asia Business Report


08/02/2017

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Our top story: Government lawyers have been fighting to reinstate

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President Trumps travel ban in an appeals court.

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The court has been hearing arguments from Government and Washington State

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lawyers about who has the right to challenge the travel ban and why

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it needs to be introduced so urgently.

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Visionary Swedish professor Hans Rosling, who made graphs

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and data fun, has died at the age of 68.

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And this video is trending on bbc.com.

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Barack Obama, now the former US President,

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has been enjoying his new found freedom by kite surfing

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with the Virgin boss Richard Branson.

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The pair were competing to see who could surf for longer,

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a challenge which the 44th President of the United States won.

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Doesn't he look happy? Stay with us, there's more to come.

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The Government's seen off a possible rebellion on Brexit

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by promising that parliament will get a meaningful vote

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Now all the latest business news live from Singapore.

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Rio Tinto unveiled its earnings. How did fare with iron ore earnings

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recovering? And making the switch to renewable. They look at Taiwan's

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powerplay. Good morning, Asia, hello, world.

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Glad you could join us. I'm Rico Hizon. We start off with Rio Tinto

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and the world's second largest biggest producer of iron or is set

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to reveal its numbers later today and expectations are higher. Iron

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ore is the main ingredient in steel and AB contribute. After falling for

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two years, prices have recovered in 2016, helping the company's

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performance. Earlier I ask an analyst in Sydney about the

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forecast. We expect Rio Tinto to report fall earnings for 2016,

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somewhere in the vicinity of 4.7 billion US, or 5 billion US. In 2015

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they only reported $4.5 billion US net underlying profit, we believe

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this will be the first profit the company will report for some time

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that is actually higher than the previous year. What has really been

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the main catalyst for Rio Tinto's earnings rise? Is it all about the

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recovery in iron ore prices? No doubt that iron ore will be the key

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player in terms of the improved profit outlook for this year. We did

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see iron ore across the 2016 year improved. It was a tale of two

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halves. Lowering the first half and better in the second. The first

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month of the year, the price of iron ore is looking resilient, but can

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this performance continue, or is a steep correction coming? Look, one

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would have to be careful that we don't see a price correction because

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prices don't go up forever. They do unfortunately moved down as well.

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But we expect in 2017 that China will be the big player. Still. It

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imported over 2 billion tons of iron ore in 2016. We expected it will

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import at least 2 billion tons plus in 2017. The momentum will maybe be

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slower than 2016, but certainly we believe prices will be kept

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somewhere in the $85 region for iron ore through the course of 2017. In

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other business news making headlines, India's central bank will

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review its monetary policy later today in the first meeting since the

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government announced a status budget and the second since the move to ban

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cash. Any economists expect a rate cut of at least a quarter of a point

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due to slowing inflation and a responsible budget. Joining us from

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Mumbai is... Apologies... He has shown up! Can you hear me? Yes,

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sorry, I heard your question. The Indian central bank is being watched

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closely. This is the first monetary policy revenue after the budget,

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which was announced one week ago, and the second monetary policy after

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India went ahead and banned for two most widely used currency notes.

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Most economists expect there will be a rate cut because last time when

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the central bank net when it was widely anticipated that they would

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cut rates they didn't do it for two reasons. First of all inflation was

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high and secondly the two notes which were banned by the Indian

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government... They still wanted to see the dado, what kind of impact it

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would have on the economy. At this point in time it is clear that

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inflation has slowed down and also the economy has slowed down because

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of the ban on the two currency notes. That's why most economists

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feel this is the right time for a rate cut. There's also a school of

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thought that that given the bands, which are flushed with a lot of

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funds right now, as a lot of money came back in the system, the reserve

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bank of India might want to wait for a rate cut because bank rates have

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already gone down. The lending rates have gone down. They may as well do

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a rate cut after a quarter or two when bank stock producing the

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lending rate, because this will have a large impact on the ground.

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Currently the central bank is caught between a rock and a hard place,

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whether or not to cut rates or keep rates on hold? Well, I mean, the big

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question for the central bank is whether it feels it is important at

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this point in time to go ahead with a rate cut. If you look at the

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larger Indian economy ever since the two notes were banned, it has had an

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impact. The economy has slowed down, sectors are suffering. Home and car

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sales have gone down, consumer demand has taken a major hit and

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that's why there are concerns that India had become the fastest growing

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economy over the past year, so surpassing even China. It might not

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grow at the same pace for the next few quarters. The IMF and World Bank

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have all cut their forecasts for India. The revived this, visitors

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feel it is important that the rate cut... Banks start reducing rates,

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so that businesses can borrow at a cheaper rate and consumers start

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borrowing money, so that they can start buying homes or cars and other

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imported goods, which will help revive growth. But one thing is

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clear, it will take if you quarters for the indie economy to recover. --

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Indian. The two rupee notes were 86%... I have to jump in. It has to

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have a severe impact. Thank you so much for the explanation. Later this

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week Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe heads to Washington for a

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crucial meeting with Donald Trump. The countries are close trading

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partners but ever since Mr Trump took office relations have turned

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more frosty. Earlier I asked if the sentiment in Japan had changed

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regarding Mr Trump. I think there is cautious optimism. When Mr Trump

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scrapped the TPP there was a shock wave that ran through the business

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community, but right now with Shinzo Abe's visit to America people are

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hoping that he and Trump will cut a new deal which benefits both

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countries. Is there also are concerned that the Japanese

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government is cosying up to much to Mr Trump? I think there is. Mr Abe

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is pressured by Mr Trump to for instance appreciate the Japanese yen

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or by American automobiles, which have not been known to sell at all

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in Japan. That would be considered humiliating, but I don't think Mr

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Abe will concede in that way. He already has a financial deal which

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is offering from that Japanese side, so if Trump and Shinzo Abe strike up

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something which is beneficial to both I think the community will feel

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optimistic about the Trump administration. When all is said and

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done who do you think will benefit from this US- Japan trade business

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relationship? By intuition right now is that the US will benefit a bit

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more, but in the long run through direct investment the Japanese

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business community will catch up and fill the vacuum. After relying on

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nuclear power for decades Taiwan will stop using it completely by

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2025, the government is ramping up the use of green or renewable energy

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by installing wind turbines and restoring an used areas into farms.

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Farmers are now cultivating sola energy of crops.

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These fields are helping Taiwan produce more renewable energy.

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Because the soil is damaged, most crops no longer grow here. So now

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farmers are helping produce something else instead. They earn

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money by leasing their land to solar energy companies and taking care of

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the panels. TRANSLATION: I never imagined our ancestor's land can be

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used in this way. He is one of hundreds of local

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farmers whose land is getting a new lease on life. There are projects

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like this the rout Taiwan. Whenever they can be central and local

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governments are trying to find low quality or unused land and turn them

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into solar energy farms. Solar panels have also been placed on

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landmark buildings, including this aquarium, the stadium and even this

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prison. It is part of plans to do away with nuclear energy, which

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currently produces 14% of Taiwan's electricity by 2025. That includes

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scrapping this newly built nuclear power plant before it opens. As well

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as solar panels, experts say Taiwan needs more wind turbines and natural

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gas power plants if it is going to replace the shortfall from nuclear.

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The government wants green energy to eventually produce a fifth of the

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island's electricity. Although green energy is taking over agricultural

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land, that doesn't mean a complete end to farming. TRANSLATION: Solar

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panels can generate electricity and underneath we grow mushrooms. The

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electricity we generate is clean energy. It is good for Taiwan's air

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quality and good for the world. Looking at the regional stock

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markets, as you can see most markets are in positive territory. Tokyo's

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stocks are higher, driven by a cheaper yen and gains on Wall

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Street. Thanks so much for investing your time with us. Sport Today is

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coming up next. The top stories this hour:

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President Trump hopes

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