16/05/2016 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock.

President Maduro orders a state of emergency as the United States

warns the country may be sliding towards revolt.

Live from London, that's our top story on Monday 16th May.

Amid food and power shortages, runaway inflation, protests

and political uncertainty, we'll assess what next

Norway's sovereign wealth fund says it will sue Volkswagen after the car

And here's how Europe has opened - in a big week for economic data.

And we'll get the inside track on new research into dementia.

More than a decade after the last new drug to treat the disease,

we meet the woman pioneering a potential new breakthrough

that could help millions of people around the world.

And as new photos show China's top tech workers sleeping at the office,

we want to know if you would ditch your daily commute and save on

travel time to bed down at work. You know what to do. Use the hashtag.

Hello and a very warm welcome to the programme.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has threatened to seize factories

that have stopped producing goods in protest of the government.

The country is in the grip of a severe economic crisis.

In a speech to supporters in the capital Caracas,

he said Venezuela had to recover its means

of production, to safeguard the country's economic future.

It has the world's largest oil reserves

but its economy has been severely hit by the fall in

The International Monetary Fund estimates that this year Venezuela's

inflation will rocket to 720 percent, that is more

And no surprise then that the economy will

There are now severe shortages of food, medicines and basic goods.

Our South America correspondent Daniel Gallas has more.

Average Venezuelans have grown used to getting by without some staple

food items and also some essential things like toilet paper. But now

they are having to ration water and electricity as well. The government

of President murderer it says the producers are the ones to blame.

According to him they are trying to sabotage the economy by halting

production and trying to drive production up. That is why Maduro is

trying to seize the countries and get them back to producing but the

people say it is the government that is to blame, with its price freeze.

One company, Poehler, has halted its production of beer. The government

says they are trying to sabotage the country but they say they cannot

import necessary ingredients. Venezuela is supposed to be one of

the richest countries in the world because of its oil reserves, but due

to the global fall of oil prices, this country is on the verge of

catastrophe. Jimena Blanco from Verisk

Maplecroft joins us now. Give us more perspective on what is

happening now. Nice to see you. It does sound extremely critical, very

much on edge. Explain the situation with regards to these companies that

are not able to produce goods and yet President Maduro is saying he is

going to take over and put the bosses in prison. It sounds very

dramatic. I think we are reaching a climax on a crisis that has been

developing for many years. We have reached a point where it is not just

the economic crisis, the high rate of inflation, as we have seen, a

lack of access to foreign currencies so companies can import their

primary goods to produce locally. This of course is combined with a

political gridlock that is preventing the government and the

legislature from working in a constructive fashion. And we have

mentioned the fact that the price of oil has crashed, well, not crushed,

but has been very low. It is recovering a bit. And terrible

drought conditions. Yes, in terms of the price of oil, given the spending

plans of the Venezuelan government, it is well of what it should be, and

for Maduro to maintain the spending levels of the Hugo Chavez there, it

should be $100 a barrel and it will not be there any time soon. The

drought is affecting power generation, which we have seen

translating into a shut down of the government for three days. What that

means is that basic services are not being delivered which in turn is

fuelling social unrest. At the elections at the end of last year,

Maduro's party lost its majority in the legislative body. So it is the

opposition that has the majority there, and yet he is still

controlling power. Well, Maduro and his party control the other branches

of government and there has been a very clear strategy from the

opposition in Congress to block every reform. The opposition have

tried to pass things that have gone against Maduro's government, but we

have seen the blocking of a law that attempted to release political

prisoners, for example, many of them opposition members. As the situation

continues, the opposition is going to find that its efforts to remove

Maduro from government democratically are going to be

blocked. We are in a situation where we can see an escalation of

protesting and civil unrest. Thank you for coming in and giving us

perspective as ever. It is a story we are keeping across right here on

BBC World News. Now the other business news stories.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world,

plans legal action against Volkswagen over the rigging

Norges Bank Investment Management is one of VW's biggest investors

Volkswagen has already set aside $18 billion to pay for the

Nigerian unions have called for an indefinite general strike

to begin on Wednesday unless the government reverses

Prices have risen by 67% in the country, after the slump

in crude prices caused a shortage of foreign currency.

For months motorists have been waiting in long queues for petrol

while others have been forced to buy fuel on the black market.

Legendary investor Warren Buffett is reported to be backing

a consortium bidding for Yahoo's core internet assets.

The head of Berkshire Hathaway is among a group that

includes Dan Gilbert, the billionaire founder

Any bid would be a challenge to Verizon which is seen

as a frontrunner in the race to buy Yahoo's assets.

Today on the BBC we have special coverage, wherever you are watching

us, including in the UK. It is the BBC World On The Move Day. We are

looking at the issues of migration and how the world has changed and

what the future holds. This is on the Business Live. Page. Sarah

radio and television, is radio and television, is

broadcasting from Vietnam today. Lots of special reports from her on

the BBC News website as well and also special guests including

Angelina Jolie. The story you see there, disappointing sales from H,

rising by 5% but below the 9% that was forecast. Like many, the fashion

retailer is blaming the cold spring. They always blame the weather

because it is getting the right stuff in the right stores at the

right time and the weather doesn't help. I am glad I don't have that

job! Chinese investors have overtaken

Canadians to become the largest buyer of US homes according

to a new study. They've spent $110 billion

in the last five years. Talked us through the hotspots

because the Chinese have their eye on prime property. They do indeed.

According to the study it has been done by the real estate company Asia

Society. Of the $110 billion you are talking about, the majority has been

spent by Chinese nationals buying up residential properties in New York

and California. According to this report, buyers have been paying

substantially more on average than other international buyers. Chinese

buyers, large companies investing in commercial property in the US as

well. If you think investment level is high now, it is worth noting that

the records are predicting that it will almost double between now and

2020. By then it will be $220 billion, despite the talk of a

slowing Chinese economy and Beijing's attempts curb capital

outflows. Canadians until now were the biggest foreign buyers of

Chinese real estate and Chinese investors are buying up in Canada as

well. There is a lot of chat on social media among users right now

questioning how a Chinese student can afford to buy a luxurious

mansion with sea views in Vancouver just recently for $24 million,

reportedly. Some people have all the luck! Thank you. Quick look at the

numbers. Tokyo stocks closed higher

after news that Japan's government may postpone a planned sales tax

rise to avoid damaging We should stress that these are just

reports at the moment with no confirmation yet. Just to show you

what Europe is doing in the first hour of trade because it is set to

be a big week for economic data. Inflation figures in the UK come out

tomorrow, and unemployment, wages and retail sales data coming out

later in the week. We will look at what is expected at what is

happening in the US. But first let's go to Wall Street for the details of

what is happening there today. Another busy week in the US.

Highlights that we can expect coming this week. We will get some fresh

insight into the thinking of the US Federal reserve, when they released

the minutes from the April meeting. Also the US cost of living probably

went up a bit more in April as gas prices kept climbing after falling

since last year. Economic data being released this week will likely show

that both home sales and home construction increased. And finally

the US Supreme Court will issue opinions on Monday. One outstanding

case is Puerto Rico's debt crisis and the validity of a law that would

allow the US territory to restructure some of its debt issued

by public agencies in a bankruptcy type process. We have Tom Stevenson

with us, investment director at Fidelity International. So we have

just been through the things we need to keep an eye on. You are looking

at the inflation figures coming out of the United States tomorrow. Yes,

we have inflation figures on both sides of the Atlantic coming out

tomorrow but the US figures are so important because of the Federal

reserve meeting coming up in June. There is speculation about whether

that will be the second rate rise after the one that happened last

December. It seems so long ago. It has been a long wait for the second

one, absolutely. The other issue when we talk about rate rises is the

idea that they will go up consistently but very slowly, and

that has been the message from the Bank of England, which is yet to

make a move. There is so much riding on what the US Fed has said and what

they haven't said what the words indicate. Give us the longer term

outlook. Interest rates will rise slowly in the US and we only have to

look at the economic data to see why we have had the implement data

recently, which showed just 160,000 new jobs created in America and we

had expected 200,000. The economic data is sluggish, but on the other

hand, inflation is actually reasonably high. If you strip out

food and energy, inflation in the US is running at 2%. If it goes up any

more in tomorrow's figures, then I think the odds on a rate rise in

June will be increasing. And let's get your take on the news that

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the biggest in the world, is looking to

sue Volkswagen over the emissions cheating scandal. They invest in

faults lichen. Interesting because traditionally the sovereign wealth

fund is very quiet in Norway and you don't know it is there. They are

traditionally quiet, $800 billion or so, but they have lost an awful lot

of money in false lichen. They have lost several hundred million as a

result and they are quite angry about it. In the recent report, they

singled out fault jargon -- VW for specific treatment. And I am sure

other people with money in VW will be taking note. Thank you. Still to

come on the programme: Defeating dementia. It is more than a decade

since the last dementia drug was licensed but one firm says they may

have made a significant breakthrough. We will meet their

boss. This is Business Live. From BBC News.

Before we dig deep into the brain with how it functions and

malfunctions, let's have a look at the UK economy.

The UK economy is predicted to grow at a slower rate this year and next,

that's the view of the business group the Confederation

of British Industry in their latest economic forecast out this morning.

The chairman of the CBI is in our newsroom. Good morning. Just tell us

the reasons behind your gloomy forecast. Good morning. We are

looking at a forecast of about 2% growth this year and next, down from

2.3% this year. Two key drivers for that. One, household spending is

down a little bit in recent times. And secondly, there is a rising

level of uncertainty, both at a global level, particularly around

trade from China and emerging economies, but also particularly

importantly in relation to Brexit and a lower level of investment

intentions as people are getting more cautious and dealing with the

uncertainty of that outcome. And of course the issue is that there is a

suggestion that the slow down would happen anyway, regardless of the

uncertainty related to the EU referendum. The economy is slowing

and we need to take action now, regardless of the outcome of what

happens on the 23rd of June. The one thing that we know in the

business world uncertainty reduces investment and reduces our risk

appetite and we do see an exit from Europe would reduce the level of

investment in the UK quite significantly in the short to

medium-term as people look to the best places in the world to make

their investments. Just briefly, Paul, obviously Brexit

we've discussed, but what other things would you like to see done to

help boost the UK economy? Well, I think the business community in the

UK are very focussed on growing their businesses internationally.

What we would like to see is an increase in exports, right across

the globe to Europe where we are already have 45% of our exports,

there is good opportunities, the USA is a great market, right across the

world, increase in exports would help the world enormously. Paul,

good to talk to you. A gloomy forecast for the UK economy

over the coming weeks and months, but one worth watching.

Our top story, Venezuela's President has threatened to seize factories

that have stopped producing goods in protest of the government.

The country is suffering from a deep economic crisis.

On Friday the country's leader declared

Now let's get the Inside Track on the growing global

As well as the emotional toll it takes on families,

it's also a growing financial burden on society and authorities

The estimated worldwide cost of dementia is $818 billion,

and it will become a trillion dollar disease by 2018.

In a developed county such as US, it costs

on average, close to $60,000 to look after a dementia sufferer

One company trying to bring down the cost of the disease

is Neuro Bio, they're in the process of developing a fast diagnosis

Their Chief Executive, Baroness Susan Greenfield,

Nice to see you. Nice to see you both. This is not a cure, this is

just a way of maybe being able to spot it earlier, take action earlier

and therefore, hopefully prevent some of the worst symptoms of it

further down the line? Yeah, the term breakthrough is used a lot and

I think one has to be very careful about what that actually means. On

the other hand, I think we are taking a new approach which in the

longer term could lead to an effective treatment. The dream would

be, not just to look at a so-called biomarker, that's to say a blood

test where early on you could see the problem was underway. We know

that Alzheimer's years takes 10 to 20 years underway before you get the

symptom. If you had that window to find out that something was already

happening perhaps you could intervene before the symptoms and

slow things down. The second strand we're pursuing is to stop anymore

cells dying. The medication slows things down a bit in the early

stages, that's not good enough. We need to say to someone, OK, you are

confuse and you have memory loss now and with we are going to give you a

medication and it won't get any worse. If you had a blood test that

everyone could have over a certain age, the doctor says good news and

bad news. The bad news is according to my chart in five years time, in

your case, you will probably get the symptom, but we have a medication

that stops anymore cells dying. So take it now, and then the symptoms

will never come on. That's what we are aiming to do. That would be a

breakthrough, but it is something that is not an instant one off, we

are looking at the biomarker and potential med carings and it will

take time in order to realise that dream. It takes time... It takes

time. It takes a lot of money. A lot of money. And a lot of investment.

Your history, you have been an academic all your life, you were at

Oxford University and a few years ago, neuro biothere and became a

limited company and you are with a privaty run company. It is a huge

change for you? One could devote a programme to talking about how

science is funding and the different agendas and the different

expectations and the pr and cons, but over the last three years, I

have learnt a huge amount about the private sector and what it has

allowed us to do is be really innovative. You have to take perhaps

more chances than you would if you were getting research cash.

The more you have, the more you can do in parallel and if you could do

things in parallel, you can pursue various avenues. We have had angel

investment which is in the hundreds of thousands, we can't go to big

pharmaceuticals yet because they are risk averse, they want to investment

large amounts of money for clinical trials. I think it has been called

the value of death by some pessimists. That's where we are bes

and that's where you want single millions.

Baroness Greenfield it is fascinating to talk to you. You have

to come back another day... I'm there. I'm there.

Thank you. Cable and Wireless -

one of the oldest names in telecommunications,

with roots going back to 1852 is being bought

by an American media giant today. Liberty Global have snapped up

what amounts to the remaining part of C, a business with a strong

presence across Latin America It is an acquisition vital

to Liberty Global's media ambitions. Earlier I spoke to Liberty Global's

Chief Development officer and started by asking

why they are acquiring Multiple reasons, it is a high

growth business which is well positioned to meet pent up demand

for its services across the region. Secondly, it adds tremendous scale

to our existing businesses in the region. We have two businesses in

Puerto Rico and Chile. Scale is important because in today's

environment, it is necessary for us to be able to do that, in order to

innovate and invest for customers. Obviously you are getting biggerment

you're sprawling across the globe in a more prevalent way. Many people

watching, customers might think, is that better for me or worse for me?

In terms of the competition, is there strong competition in the

markets you're going in? For our customers, hopefully it is exciting

news. We have tended to accelerate innovation and investment. Virgin

Media is a good example. We announced an investment programme to

expand our network. So hopefully more of the same and we can

accelerate things. The fact there is strong competition is important for

the customer, but in terms of your hopes of getting through into a

market where there is a lot of regulation and a lot of competition

issues, that makes it easier, presumably? No, if you step back and

look at it one of the primary reasons for us doing this, the

region actually has a lot of pent up demand for our products. When you

look at number of people who take a broadband product or the number of

people who have paid television, it is lower than the equivalent in

Europe, so over time we would hope they converge.

Tom Stephenson Investment Director

These are photos of Chinese tech workers who sleep at the office.

There is not always time to go home and rest. Some amazing pictures.

These guys bunked down in the office! I don't quite think the BBC

would approve of us doing that, but and they look very tall actually.

There you go, Ben, there is hope for you. Oh my goodness! No. That's so

not allowed. We asked our viewers to get in touch with us about this. A

viewer says, "Sleep in the office, oh no, home cures refreshes the

mind." You have got to have a break? I remember 25, 35 years ago when I

lived in Japan, long commutes and people having to work late so they

created capsule hotels! Literally, a coffin in which you sort of put your

body to sleep and came out and went to the office in the morning. I

guess, China is going to have to do something similar. Well, my team

works overnight for that early morning show which you saw a clip

of, they grab a power nap, but they are never in their underies at the

desk. This really is no work-life balance. You are at the office...

For a lot of people in China, that's their life. They move from the

countryside to the cities to get the jobs and they live in a dormitory

provided by the company. So that's their life. Tom, time is ticking by.

What do you want to look at next, the Financial Times, here comes

Jacksonville, what's that about? This is about costs. Financial

services, losing many jobs and the City of London and New York in

particular losing jobs, but interestingly the jobs are not

going, they are just leaving the City because the cost of running

back offices in big cities like London and New York has gone up 10%,

12% in the last 18 months according to this story. Unsurprisingly

companies are looking at moving out to cheaper locations and

Jacksonville seems to be the location of choice in America. The

technology means that you don't have to be in the busy place. Tom, that's

it from us. We will see you again soon. That's it from us. Have a good

day.