16/10/2012 World Business Report

Malala Yousafzai is going to have a good chance of making a recovery.

Now it is time for the latest financial news.

This is World Business Report. Here are the headlines: Sacks of cash.

Goldman Sachs appears to return to profit.

Nat Rothschild resigns from the board at Bumi, the mining board he

co-founded two years ago. He and food for thought. We focus

on how to feed Asia's growing population at an affordable price.

Good to have you with this. What A difference a year can make. Banking

giant Goldman Sachs looks to have hefty profits last year. -- this

year. Lawsuits have been dropped and settled. Increasingly, things

are looking up. So far this burning season has been

a good one for a Wall Street banks. JP Morgan and Citigroup have both

been reporting strong figures. It is unlikely that Goldman Sachs will

disappoint. Revenues have more than doubled to $7.3 billion. That is a

sharp turnaround from four consecutive quarters of falling

income. What is behind the change? A slow and steady recovery of

America's housing market is helping banks put the worst of the crisis

behind them. But it is a decision to boost liquidity that is helping

put banks back on track. A third round of asset purchases has helped

to boost stock markets and raised bond prices. That is particularly

important for Goldman Sachs. But nonetheless, it is also having to

be much more cautious. The ongoing uncertainty and the ongoing

problems in the eurozone debt crisis mean that financial

institutions are having to shore up their reserves. It is unlikely that

the next set of figures for the next quarter will tell us more

about the state of the global economic recovery.

We will be updated later when we get that news. Stay with BBC for

that. As you have been healing, Portugal's government unveiled one

of the toughest budgets in years. It is going to cut more than 4

billion euros of spending. There are painful economic reforms in

return for bailout money. It is highly controversial. It is no

surprise that Spain looks to set to delay any formal bailout request.

Many I now asking, are the policies doing one hand and good? -- more

time. Many are wondering whether this is the right medicine for

these economies. What are your thoughts? It is really causing

problems in Europe. What we are measuring all these against his

budget deficit as a percentage of GDP. If you shrink the GDP too much,

they are chasing their tails. You have got to consider that these

countries have been going through austerity for a number of years.

People have been suffering for a long time. In Portugal last month

there were protests. The protesters got a victory. The budget had to

back down on its intention to increase the pay roll tax. The

protesters feel they might have more leverage. If they protest the

government will back down. Do you think it is too far, too fast?

Greece say they want more time. Some have been arguing for some

time that when Germany is calling for is quite unrealistic. Portugal

and Spain have been given some concessions. Portugal has been

given an extra year. Spain is asking for extra space. You can't

give them too many concessions. But the debate that it GDP shrinks too

much it is a pointless exercise. You get to a point where you are

damaging the economy. When your currency is fixed to the single

currency, what is the alternative? That is the issue. If you want to

get to competitiveness, you have to let to exchange rate we can. They

cannot do that. The other thing they can do is reduce wages. Wages

are coming down. Portugal should run a trade surplus this year.

Later we will talk through today's newspapers. That will include

Portugal. Now to a shop. The saga at Bumi

continues. -- Asia. This is quite a tale. Talk us through the latest.

Quite a tale. Quite a saga. The latest twist in pole snapped what

child resigning from the board. That is the coal-mining that he

founded two years ago. He has quit due to an argument with Indonesia's

Bumi family. This is over assets. He offered to buy back the stage

from Bumi. But he said that it would be a disgrace to proceed with

what he called the proposal. Last year, Mr Rothschild called for a

clean-up of the Frome. This was due to alleged irregularities. Bumi

were planning to bring it back to square one. They see it was good

news for the from's shoulders. Deteriorating relations between the

sides is raising fears by investors. It resulted in a sharp fall in the

shares. The company's stocks has lost two-thirds of its price.

Shares did surge somewhat last week. The family is incredibly

influential in Indonesia. A sign of how influential they are, their

patriarch is a presidential candidate.

Very interesting. We will keep an eye on that.

Food. We cannot live without it and we do not like paying too much for

it. How to feed a show's population at an affordable price could be one

of the issues in the spotlight today for world today. The price of

grain and meat has soared in America. Singapore is a densely

populated open state and imports most of its food. But some

residents are trying to change things.

In the middle of the open jungle, this man is growing his own

vegetables. On this small pot of land his produce ranges from

Chinese spinach to rock melons. It is a key source of ingredients for

his family's business. He has been able to save up to 30% in costs.

Most of the food is bought from neighbouring countries. What I do

is instead of buying all the materials I keep my costs low.

Sometimes I produce vegetables that are a quality for the consumer at a

low price. A for everyday shopping, this kind of market is where locals

come to buy their fruit and vegetables. Products here are much

cheaper. But most of the food is imported. Prices fluctuate

depending on what is happening elsewhere. That can have a real

impact on shoppers here. Especially low income families, who are

estimated to spend almost half their monthly income on food.

During the last food price crisis in 2008, costs caused riots across

the Middle East and northern Africa. Here in Singapore, the cost jumped

6.5%. That is compared to 2% in 2007. He similar situation is

unfolding now. Wheat prices have risen 25% this year. Dairy prices

went up by 7% just last month. At this food centre, he prepares fish

soup with his home-grown vegetables. He hopes to start his own fish farm

as well. But with limited space in the city, not many can do this. If

food prices rise even higher, it will be hard for people to swallow.