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Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News. Now for the latest | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
financial news in World Business Report. | :00:00. | :00:16. | |
The threat of economic sanctions - the US and Europe weigh the options | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
in a bid to isolate Russia and de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine. | :00:22. | :00:28. | |
The final frontier as investors and governments eye the potential of the | :00:29. | :00:30. | |
Arctic region environmentalists prepare for a battle. | :00:31. | :00:40. | |
Welcome to World Business Report. I'm Sally Bundock. Also in the | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
programme: Singapore's topped the list as the most expensive city in | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
the world. We'll talk to our team there to find out why. But first: As | :00:50. | :00:56. | |
you've been hearing, tensions continue to rise across the globe | :00:57. | :00:58. | |
over Russia's military actions in Ukraine. As the world rushes to find | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
a diplomatic solution, powers in the West are weighing up what economic | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
action they can take that could force Russia out of Crimea. So what | :01:07. | :01:09. | |
options do the Europeans and Americans have? | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
The UK Prime Minister, David Cameron says economic and financial | :01:14. | :01:15. | |
sanctions will ensure Russia pays significant costs for these | :01:16. | :01:22. | |
aggressive actions. Details are currently scarce but the measures | :01:23. | :01:24. | |
would include financial sanctions and blocking visas for Russian | :01:25. | :01:26. | |
businesspeople wanting to visit the EU. The US Secretary of State, John | :01:27. | :01:30. | |
Kerry, has said they could also freeze assets and ban visas. And all | :01:31. | :01:40. | |
trade talks and planning meetings for investment conferences have been | :01:41. | :01:50. | |
suspended. So how could these measures impact Russia's economy? | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
And with the rouble already at a record low, and Russian shares in | :01:56. | :01:58. | |
free fall, how much longer will the Russian people support their | :01:59. | :02:00. | |
leader's military actions? With me now is Joshua Raymond, Chief Market | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
Strategist at city Index. Good morning. There is a split in the | :02:05. | :02:11. | |
Russian press this morning. Some say that it is good for the economy. The | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
weaker currency will help manufacturers. Oil prices are going | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
up. Others say that Black Monday it has impacted the Russian economy | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
badly. The Russian stock market fell between ten and 14%. If you are | :02:26. | :02:31. | |
investing in Russian stocks, that is a problem. -- 10% and 14%. Russia | :02:32. | :02:39. | |
has a natural hedge against these potential volatility is and concerns | :02:40. | :02:44. | |
because gas prices have risen. Gas will be delivered in the next month | :02:45. | :02:51. | |
have had prices raised by 10%. Russia controls most pipelines to | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
Europe, most of which go through Ukraine. The low currency means that | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
currencies will be in demand -- exports will be in demand. That is a | :03:02. | :03:07. | |
hedge to this uncertainty. You could argue that on one side of it, it | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
goes towards Russian strengths as opposed to witnesses. President | :03:12. | :03:17. | |
Putin got the backing for military action in Ukraine. To what extent is | :03:18. | :03:21. | |
he concerned about the rhetoric coming from the West about economic | :03:22. | :03:24. | |
sanctions. But it put pressure on him? My opinion is that he isn't | :03:25. | :03:32. | |
getting much pressure. We have been through this before although on a | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
smaller scale in Georgia we had a similar situation where Russia moved | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
to protect their pipelines. The one thing I would say that Russia tend | :03:42. | :03:47. | |
to be aggressive early on and Europe and the West and the G-7 tend to | :03:48. | :03:54. | |
talk up significant hostilities in terms of moves they could make and | :03:55. | :03:57. | |
we have already started to see that layout. Whether Vladimir Putin is | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
aptly shaking his boots right now, I doubt that. Russia holds the cards. | :04:03. | :04:10. | |
They have their troops in Premier already protecting the Black Sea and | :04:11. | :04:13. | |
the fleet and are protecting their assets and pipelines. The Russian | :04:14. | :04:15. | |
Parliament is booked -- backing him as well. Troops are not only in | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
Crimea but ready to go into Ukraine if needed. What impact will this | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
have if this were to escalate and worsen and therefore sanctions were | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
to be applied on London and the City? Russia is a big part of | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
London, isn't it? To commit sanctions could hurt London. London | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
being the hub of the UK economy, the UK more than other countries if you | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
look at where Russian assets are, they buy properties here and their | :04:45. | :04:47. | |
cash is in Western banks including some in London. If you look at what | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
economic sanctions would be doing in terms of freezing Russian assets, it | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
could hurt London more than people expect. | :04:57. | :04:59. | |
We appreciate your perspective. We are keeping you up-to-date on this | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
story day by day as it progresses. Let's look at Singapore. Singapore | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
has topped the list of 131 cities globally to become the world's most | :05:08. | :05:10. | |
expensive city to live in according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. | :05:11. | :05:12. | |
The city's strong currency combined with the high cost of running a car | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
and soaring utility bills are seen as some of the reasons why. It's | :05:17. | :05:19. | |
also the most expensive place in the world to buy clothes. So Singapore | :05:20. | :05:25. | |
tops the list. Then in second place there is Paris. | :05:26. | :05:28. | |
Followed by Oslo, then Zurich and in fifth place is Sydney, Australia. | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
Let's get more on this story from a person living in the most expensive | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
city. Leisha Chi joins me now from Singapore. | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
I am concerned that we have a whole team of people in Singapore. Tell us | :05:46. | :05:54. | |
how you are coping. Why is it so expensive? I've lived here for over | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
a decade and four years and years, it has become a lot more expensive. | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
It might be time to look at that salary negotiation once again. As | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
you mentioned, it has to do with the rising transport utility and costs | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
in retail. Understanding the central district district. If I went to a | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
bar or restaurant down and get a small bottle of wine, it would be | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
$25. A pint of beer is $14 and that is higher than you would get in | :06:25. | :06:27. | |
another capital such as London or New York. A lot of this has to do | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
with the currency fluctuations. The Singaporean dollar has gained 14% | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
invaluable past decade as well as a steady rise in inflation in this | :06:38. | :06:40. | |
country. That has made everything more expensive. Singapore is the | :06:41. | :06:46. | |
third most expensive country in which to pay for water and | :06:47. | :06:49. | |
electricity because this island has no natural resources and have to | :06:50. | :06:56. | |
import it all, Sally. The worrying the most expensive city but which | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
were the cheapest? According to the survey, some of the cheaper cities | :07:01. | :07:07. | |
are in Asia. You have New Delhi and Mumbai topping the list of cheapest | :07:08. | :07:11. | |
cities and this has a lot to do with the income equality that we get on | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
the subcontinent. With millions of people living under the poverty | :07:16. | :07:18. | |
line, you need a range of goods and services to cater to families. Other | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
cheap cities include Nepal as well as Damascus in Syria which is all | :07:24. | :07:29. | |
the value of the Syrian pound fall dramatically due to instability | :07:30. | :07:32. | |
that. Thank you for that. | :07:33. | :07:36. | |
There's no doubting the final frontier when it comes to the global | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
search for new natural resources or new sea routes. It's the Arctic. The | :07:41. | :07:43. | |
very idea of exploiting it horrifies environmentalists. But oil, mining, | :07:44. | :07:52. | |
and shipping companies are already dipping their toes into the frozen | :07:53. | :07:55. | |
waters. This morning in London, the business and geopolitical future of | :07:56. | :07:58. | |
the region will be debated at an Arctic summit lasting two days. With | :07:59. | :08:01. | |
hundreds of billions of dollars at stake, business, governments, | :08:02. | :08:02. | |
environmentalists, and Arctic residents have to navigate some | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
choppy waters. Nigel Cassidy sets the scene as the summit begins. | :08:08. | :08:15. | |
It is the not quite frozen Arctic, the world 's high zero. Nowhere on | :08:16. | :08:22. | |
the planet is warming any faster. This is the retreating sea ice, in | :08:23. | :08:29. | |
this case over Greenland. It is a silent call to shipping. Led by | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
Russian icebreakers, this German vessel is part of the first Western | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
Fleet to navigate the new north-east passage from Asia to Europe. It cuts | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
the previous journey time by at least ten days although little more | :08:43. | :08:49. | |
than 70 ships per year are so far using the route. It is what lies | :08:50. | :08:52. | |
beneath that is contracting investors. -- attracting. Few doubt | :08:53. | :09:00. | |
that the resources are vast. The Arctic apparently accounts for 13% | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
of the world's undiscovered oil, 30% of the undiscovered natural gas and | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
20% of the liquid is of natural gas. Hydrocarbon relied Russia has been | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
the biggest initial investor in these fragile and inhospitable | :09:17. | :09:22. | |
fields. Recent events have tempered the initial Arctic Russia. Shell has | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
pulled back from the Alaskan operations after sinking $5 billion | :09:28. | :09:35. | |
there. BP's raised new questions. Deepwater horizon tragedy in Mexico | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
-- the Gulf of Mexico had a big influence on the way countries like | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
the US and Canada and Greenland thought about regulating the Arctic. | :09:46. | :09:51. | |
That has really led to the imposition of March heavier | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
requirements, conditions on oil companies operating there. They need | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
to demonstrate that they can clean up an oil spill which is not an easy | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
task. It is not just oil companies acting in the Arctic which faced the | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
right of environmentalists. Economic development of the entire region is | :10:10. | :10:13. | |
fraught with risks as this latest summit in London brings together | :10:14. | :10:16. | |
many of those with very different ideas as to what constitutes | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
sustainable development in the high North. | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
A quick look at the markets before I say goodbye. In Australia, the bank | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
of Australia kept interest rates at 2.5%. You can see the market in Asia | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
are bouncing back after significant falls yesterday out of fear of what | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
is going on in Ukraine. The close in the US as you can see, shares | :10:41. | :10:43. | |
falling there because of worries about the situation. I'll see you | :10:44. | :10:45. | |
soon. Part-time child-care now costs more | :10:46. | :11:01. | |
than the average mortgage according to a new report. The research by the | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
Family and Childcare Trust shows that childcare costs across Britain | :11:06. | :11:07. | |
continue to rise faster than inflation, though prices in England | :11:08. | :11:09. | |
have fallen slightly over the | :11:10. | :11:11. |